Reports on the Maya Indians of YucatanGarcía Cubas, Antonio
History
Reports on the Maya Indians of Yucatan
García Cubas, Antonio
Indians of Mexico -- Mexico -- Yucatán (State); Mayas
They also perform the _misa milpera_ (mass on the cornfield), which
they call _tich_, which means offering or sacrifice, and which is
celebrated in the following manner: On a barbecue or roast made with
little sticks of equal length they place a turkey, and the one who
officiates as priest opens the bird's beak and pours pitarrilla down
its throat. Then they kill it, and the assistants carry it off to
season it. In the meantime they have been cooking in the earth some
large loaves of corn-bread which they call _canlahuntaz_, which is
made of fourteen tortillas or broken bread filled with beans. When all
is well flavored and cooked, they place it on the barbecue with
several cups filled with pitarrilla. Now again the one acting the part
of priest begins to incense it with copal, invoking the Holy Trinity;
he repeats the Creed, and, taking some pitarrilla with a holy-water
sprinkler, he flings it to the four winds, invoking the four
_Pahahtunes_, lords or custodians of rain. He then returns to the
table, and, raising one of the jicaras aloft while those surrounding
him kneel, he places the jicara to each one's mouth for a sip. The
feast then proceeds and terminates by general eating and drinking,
most of all by the one who "officiated," who furthermore takes home
with him a goodly supply. They say that the red _Pahahtun_, who is
seated in the east, is Saint Dominick (_Santo Domingo_); the white one
in the north is Saint Gabriel; the black one in the west is Saint
James; the yellow _Pahahtun_, said to be female and called by them
_Xanleox_, is seated in the south, and is Mary Magdalen.
They very readily take their new-born babies to the baptismal font,
and they never refuse to bury their dead in the cemetery.
WOMEN
It is quite astounding how in this climate woman in general passes
very rapidly from childhood into womanhood, but this development is
still more remarkable in the case of the native Indian woman, prompted
no doubt by their mode of life and native customs. It is quite usual
to see a little Indian girl of three trot daily to the woods with her
parents to help cultivate the fields; very often her excursions extend
to neighboring villages, and she seems to make those trips of four and
even six leagues with the greatest ease, on foot; and after she has
reached five or six years, she even carries her little bundle tied on
her back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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