A comprehensive collection of Lacandon Maya oral literature, including narratives, myths, songs, and ritual speech.


 

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1. The Hach Winik ‘True People’
The Lacandones
Northern Lacandon Oral Literature
Part 2. Myths
Birth of the Gods
Bor Mäax
Hachäkyum and Akyant¿o¿ Create Their People and Kisin Creates Their Onen
Bor Mäax
Hachäkyum Makes the Ants and Snakes
Antonio Martinez
Hachäkyum Makes the Sky
Bor Mäax
Ulu¿ubir Bäarkäan Umentik Pethä ‘A Star Falls and Creates the Lagoon’
Antonio Martinez
Hachäkyum yeter T¿uup yeter Kisin ‘Hachäkyum, T¿uup, and the Devil’
Bor Mäax
Hachäkyum yeter T¿uup yeter Chäk Xib ‘Hachäkyum, T¿uup, and Chäk Xib’
Bor Mäax
Hachäkyum Uxatik Uche¿ir Ukaar ‘Hachäkyum Cuts the Mortals’ Throats’
Bor Mäax
Äkiche¿ex ‘Our Eyes’
Bor Mäax
Nacimiento ‘Birth’
Bor Mäax
Uyählehir Bah ‘The Mole Trapper’
Bor Mäax
Xurt¿an Uburur ‘The World Ends with the Flood’
Bor Mäax
Akyant¿o¿ No Permite Uxurt¿an ‘Akyant¿o¿ Prevents the End of the World’
Bor Mäax
¿Ähah
Antonio Martinez
Käwäts¿äk uho¿or Barum yeter K¿ak¿ ‘The Two-Headed Jaguar and the Lord of Fire’
Säk Ho¿or
Mensäbäk yeter Hach Winik Tukinsah ‘Mensäbäk and the Ancestor He Killed’
K¿ayum Mäax
Kak¿och yeter Uk¿ani(r) Hach Winik ‘Kak¿och and His Human Assistant’
Bor Mäax
Ak¿inchob Takes a Human Wife
Antonio Martinez
Part 3. Popular Stories
Maya Kimin ‘The Mayan Death’
Säk Ho¿or
Chäk Xok ‘The Sirens’
Bor Mäax
Nukuch Winik yeter Uti¿äar yeter Ahyäaxche¿ ‘The Ancestor, His Son, and the Ceiba Tree’
Bor Mäax
Haayok¿
Bor Mäax
Ko¿otir Käan ‘The Celestial Eagle’
Bor Mäax
Uyitber ‘He at the End of the Road’
Bor Mäax
Kak¿och yeter Uyitber ‘Kak¿och and the Yitber’
Bor Mäax
Want¿ut¿k¿in
Säk Ho¿or
P¿ikbir Ts¿on yeter Kisin ‘The Rifle and Kisin’
Säk Ho¿or
¿Ayim yetel Chem ‘The Crocodile and the Canoe’
Säk Ho¿or
Ahsaay ‘The Leafcutter Ants’
Bor Mäax
Aht¿u¿ur yeter Barum ‘The Rabbit and the Puma’
Säk Ho¿or
Ch¿ämäk yeter Chäk Barum ‘The Fox and the Puma’
Bor Mäax
Hachäkyum yeter Ahbäb ‘Hachäkyum and the Toad’
Säk Ho¿or
Pek¿ yeter ¿Ayim ‘The Dog and the Crocodile’
Säk Ho¿or
How the Toucan Got His Red Beak
Antonio Martinez
Part 4. Songs
Uk¿aay Barum ‘The Jaguar Song’
Antonio Martinez
Uk¿aay Box ‘The Gourd Song’
Antonio Martinez
Uk¿aay Käkah ‘The Cacao Song’
Juana Koh
Uk¿aay Käy ‘Fish Song’
Antonio Martinez
Uk¿aay ti¿ Huuch¿ ‘Song for Grinding’
Juana Koh
Uk¿aay ti¿ K¿uuch ‘Song for Spinning Thread’
Juana Koh
Uk¿aay Torok ‘The Iguana Song’
Antonio Martinez
Uk¿aayir Mäax ‘Song of the Monkeys’
Antonio Martinez
Uk¿aayir Tok¿ ‘Song of the Flint’
Antonio Martinez
Uk¿aayir Xux ‘Song of the Yellow Jacket Wasps’
Säk Ho¿or
Part 5. Ritual Speech: Invocations, Chants, and Charms
Ahhooch¿ ‘The Hooch¿’
Juana Koh
Ahts¿in ‘The Manioc’
Juana Koh
An Offering Chant during the Preparation of Balche¿
Antonio Martinez
Offering under a Tree
Antonio Martinez
Ut¿anir Bäche¿ ‘The Secret of the Balche¿’
Antonio Martinez
Part 6. Descriptions of Meteorological and Astral Phenomena
¿Äxp¿äri¿ ‘The Solstice’
Antonio Martinez
Lu¿um Kab ‘The Rainbow Gods’
Bor Mäax
Säkber Akyum ‘Our Lord’s White Road’
Antonio Martinez
Appendix 1: Lacandon Onen, Ceremonial Names, and Distribution
Appendix 2: Gods and Men in Lacandon Mythology
Notes
References

Suzanne Cook is an adjunct professor of linguistics at the University of Victoria. She is a former project director and principal investigator of the Volkswagen Foundation–sponsored Lacandon Cultural Heritage Project and the author of The Forest of the Lacandon Maya: An Ethnobotanical Guide.