1. HUM 2461 Humanities of Latin America SFC Spring 2012
Day 3
Attendance
Homework for Thursday (Day4)
Chac: finish movie / discussion
Lecture on Mayas
Popol Vuh: preliminary discussion. Read and print for class: (a) title page; (b) preamble; (c) all nine chapters of Part I only
Xavier Quijas Yxayótl: "Singing Earth"
Mesoamerican clay flutes, drums
"Music for Rain God"

2. Notes on Popol Vuh
Book of the People

3. Writers of Popol Vuh

4. "writing" (tz’ib’) "he who writes" (ah tz’ib’) _____________________________________ It is a description of the act of writing

5. Notes on Popol Vuh (1) 2500 BCE – 1550 CE: oral text
Myth: "gift of Quetzalcóatl to humans"
353 CE: Mayas invent 365-day calendar
ca. 1550: Maya Quiché MS
Diego Reynoso, town councilman
Santa Cruz Quiché, Guatemala
ca. 1700: Fr. Francisco Ximénez
Spanish translation
Newberry Library, Chicago

6. Notes on Popol Vuh (1a) Three parts: Part 1  9 chapters
The oldest literary/religious printed work in Latin America (16th Century edition).
Oral text (between 2500 B.C.E. and C.E.)

7. Notes on Popol Vuh (1b) Religious (creation and gods).
4 Codex (books) found
The Paris Codex (1930s)
The Grolier Codex (1970s)
The Dresden Codex (1810, Alexander von Humbolt)
The Madrid Codex (Under possession of Juan de Tro y Ortolano in Madrid in 1866)

8. The Peresianus Codex (France)

9. The Grolier Codex (Mexico,1970s)

10. The Codex Dresdensis (Germany)

11. The Tro-Cortesianus Codex (Spain)

12. Notes on Popol Vuh (2) Retranslation into Maya Quiché Opening 2 lines:
Are, u xe 'oher tzih.
Varal K'iche, u bi.
This is the root of the former word.
Here is Quiché by name.

13. Notes on Popol Vuh (3) Genre: near-heroic myth and history
no single hero
myth and history of a people (Quiché Maya)
origins to 1550
Coherent literary work
order, scope, unity, episodes
Popol Vuh: totality of the Maya Epoch
Next Epoch: "Holy Cross"

14. Notes on Popol Vuh (4) 4 Mythic Cycles
1st Cycle: wood "men" puppets (to line 820)
2nd Cycle: destruction of 7 Parrot & sons (l. 1674)
3rd Cycle: Hero twins become Sun & Moon (l. 4708)
4th Cycle: ½ of whole text (men learn to pray)
first Fathers to present
Heart of Heaven & Earth

15. Notes on Popol Vuh (5) Quiché people in 4th creation
First Fathers, from corn by creator
Quiché: most powerful Maya in Guatemala in 1550
Modern Quiché call their language Cakchiquel
Quiché society: patriarchal, patrilineal, patrilocal
"God" in Quiché: Dios qahavixel
Public religious drama / private divination

16. Notes on Popol Vuh (6)
Quiché (Yucatán, Aztec) calendar: sacred mystery
Quiché "count of days"
260 days (13 deified numbers x 20 days)
Solar calendar: 18 months x 20 days) + 5
year cycles only begin on 4 days (of 20 days)
13-year cycle x 4 beginning days = 52 years

17. Notes on Popol Vuh (7) Toltec / Aztec influence 900 – 1500
military & religious terms
Place: Utatlán, Guatemala (sacred geography)
Rivers, mountains, highlands, volcanoes, valleys
Quiché came from Tula (myth)
Popol Vuh: chronicle of one lineage: Kaveks of Quiché
Pedro de Alvarado conquered Quichés

18. See you Thursday
Hasta el jueves
À jeudi
Até à quinta feira