Sisimito III--Topoxte
Page 79
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Mictlan Chen is the Maya name for ‘Cave of the Underworld’.
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Votan is the Maya name for a legendary ancestral deity. The name comes from Chiapas, Mexico.
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Tor Pa-raqan-ja: This passageway or chamber is known as the Quiet Way or Paso Silencios in the Caves of Naj Tunich.
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Tok’ is Maya for ‘quartz or flint’. The important ingredient here is silica. It is being used for its healing qualities and as a desiccant.
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Q’aq’-puaq is Maya for ‘gold’.
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Suum is Maya for ‘rope’.
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T’ot’ is Maya for ‘vagina’, but when used as an exclamation the vulgar form (cuss word) ‘pussy hole’ is meant.
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Ch’om-tuxe’rix is Maya for the ‘lobster claw’ plant, the common name for heliconia, Heliconia Spp.
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Q ‘akoj is Maya for ‘pale brown’. Zyanya is referring to Robertson.
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Chachuitl is a Nahuatl female name meaning ‘emerald’.
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The songwriters of Mr. Lonely are Gene Allan, Bobby Vinton, Aliaune Thiam. Copyright: Ripley music Inc., Feather Music Inc., Byefall Productions Inc., Sony/ATV Harmony, Kassner Associated Publishers Ltd., Feather Music LLC.
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‘Chicken’ is the army slang for a ‘recruit’.
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Chelas: Spanish speaking Belizeans often refer to ‘beers’ as chelas.
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Guaro: Spanish speaking Belizeans often refer to rum as guaro.
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Itzel-chub is Kekchi for ‘evil saliva’.
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Ch’u’j is Maya for ‘rabid’.
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Hakab is the Maya name for the Mayflower, Tabebuia rosea, also known as roble de sabana, ipe rose (Spanish), mayflowa (Kriol), pink trumpet tree, pink tecoma, and pink poui.
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Ch’u’j-k’aas is Maya for ‘rabid evil’.
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Juyub is Maya for ‘hill; mountain; unpopulated area’.
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Raax Ch’ayom Puag is Maya for ‘Green Medallion’. Other than Bas’ Green Scapular, it generally refers to the jade medallion on which is carved the images found on the Green Scapular.
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Xtyay-ach-bak-shul is the Ke’kchi name for ‘vervin’, Stachytarpbeta cayennensis (L. Rich.) Vahl. It is also known as vervine (English), verbena (Spanish), cot-a-cam and kaba-yax-nik (Mopan).
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Pay-che is the Mopan name for ‘skunk root’, Chiococca alba (L.) Hitchc. It is also known as ‘rat root’ (English), Zorillo (Spanish).
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Bati is Kriol for ‘buttocks’.
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Áak is Maya for ‘turtle’. In Ancient Roman warfare, the “testudo” or ‘tortoise formation’ was a formation used commonly by the Roman Legions during battles, particularly sieges. Testudo is the Latin word for
‘tortoise’. In the testudo formation, the men would align their shields to form a packed formation covered with shields on the front and top.
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Xtabai is a creature of the Kechlaj Komon. Please see Appendix for a full description.
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Q’eq Ha’ Wíinik: Q’eq is Maya for ‘black’. Ha’ is Maya for ‘water’. Wíinik is Maya for ‘man’. The combination here is used as the name for the Jungle Folk called Negro de Agua.
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Kus is Maya for ‘quiver’ for arrows.
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Cum Hau is a God of Death and the Underworld.
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Xicohtencatl is the Royal Guard who guarded Chiac in Sisimito I - Ox Witz Ha. His name means ‘angered bumblebee’.
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Pub is Maya for ‘blowgun’.
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Jatz’om is Maya for ‘spear thrower or atlatl’.
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Cho is Maya for ‘lake’ or ‘pond’. Here it is used for aguada, a reservoir for the city’s water supply.
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Tijoxel Ja is Maya for ‘Student House’. In the Sisimito Series it refers to the University level. Today, in Caracol, the complex is known as the Barrio.
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The building referred to here is the Caana.
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Ehecatl is the Nim-q’ij Guard (Royal Guard) who guarded Molly in Sisimito I - Ox Witz Ha. His name means ‘wind serpent’.
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The ah-k’inob was the priest with the responsibility of conducting public and private rituals within individual towns throughout the province. They preached and published the festival days, determined the appropriate steps in case of need, made sacrifices, and administered the acts connected to life cycle rituals.
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Coatl is a Nahuatl male name meaning ‘snake’.
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Ch’ajch’oj Tz’ono’ot is ‘Sacred Cenote’. Tz’ono’ot is Maya for ‘cenote’ or ‘sinkhole’.
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Sak Witzil Baah is K’an II’s boyhood name.
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Ch’ajch’oj Chiyul is Maya for ‘Sacred Waterfall’.
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Al-ch’utin-nan is Maya for ‘cousin’.
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Lool is Maya for ‘rose’. The story is that of Juan Diego and the Lady of Guadeloupe. The miracle occurred on the Hill of Tepeyac, in Mexico.
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Ajawibal Xma’ K’aaba’ is Maya for ‘Kingdom With No Name’.
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Tohil, (also spelt Tojil), was a deity of the Ke’kchi Maya in the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, Tohil was the patron god of the Ke’kchi. Tohil’s principal function was that of a fire deity and he was also both a sun god and the god of rain. Tohil was also associated with mountains and he was a god of war, sacrifice, and sustenance. In the Ke’kchi epic Popul Vuh, after the first people were created, they gathered at the mythical Tollan, the Place of the Seven Caves, to receive their language and their gods. The Ke’kchi, and others, there received Tohil. Tohil demanded blood sacrifice from the Ke’kchi and so they offered their own blood and also that of sacrificed captives taken in battle. In the Popul Vuh this consumption of blood by Tohil is likened to the suckling of an infant by its mother.
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Ikox is Ke’kchi for ‘mushrooms’.
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Aqaj is Ke’kchi for ‘wasp’.
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Páak’am is Maya for cactus (prickly pear).
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K’ah is ‘Cornsham (roasted corn grain)’; kaasham/kaansham in Kriol. It can be used as a beverage in the same manner of coffee and cocoa. It can also be sprinkled with sugar and eaten as a gritty powder. Cornsham can be boiled until thick and served as a lab, a type of corn beverage, sweetened to taste. This is called pinol in Mopan and k’ah in Ke’kchi.
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Wi-k’an is Maya for ‘uncle’.
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Kukulkan (/ku:ku:l’kän/) (“‘Plumed Serpent”‘, “Feathered Serpent”) is the name of a Maya snake deity. He was also regarded by some sources as the god with special responsibility for the Nobility. Kukulkan is closely related to the god Q’uq’umatz of the Ke’kchi Maya and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs. Although heavily Mexicanised, Kukulkan has his origins among the Maya of the Classic Period, when he was known as Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, the War Serpent.
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Since the Maya were the first settlers of Belize, some sources state that that the name, Belize, originated from the Maya word Balix which means ‘muddy waters’, referring to the Belize River. They state that it may have also come from the Maya word Belikin which means ‘Land facing the Sea’ or Road to the East�
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In the Sisimito Series, on U Wach Ulew, Quiché is used as the Maya name for Santa Cruz, Toledo District, Belize. Santa Cruz del Quiché is actually a city in Guatemala. It serves as the capital of El Quiché Department and the municipal seat of Santa Cruz del Quiché municipality. Santa Cruz del Quiché was founded by Pedro de Alvarado, a companion and second in-command of conquistador Hernán Cortés, after he burned down the nearby Maya capital city of Q’umarkaj (or Utatlán, in the Nahuatl language). The oldest buildings, including a large cathedral and clock tower in the central plaza, were constructed out of the stones of the Q’umarkaj ruins by the Dominicans. Some think it likely that it was in Santa Cruz where a group of anonymous K’iche’ nobles of the Nim Ch’okoj class transcribed the Popol Vuh, the sacred text of the Maya
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Koolnáal is Maya for ‘milpero’
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Ch’om is the Maya name of the Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus, also known as John Crow, and Carronero Comun.
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The ancient Maya used domesticated dogs on a daily basis as a food source, hunting aide, and an element in religious and spiritual rituals. Various sorts of dogs are known to have existed in prehispanic Mesoamerica, as shown by archaeological and iconographical sources, and the testimonies of the 16th-century Spaniards. In the Central Mexican area, there were three races: the medium-sized furred dog (itzcuintli), the medium-sized hairless dog (xoloitzcuintlf), and the short-legged, (tlalchichi) based in Colima and now extinct. Remains of dogs have been found in sites dating from the Preclassic through the Postclassic periods of Mesoamerica dating as early as 1200 BCE. These remains have appeared in middens, spread over yard surfaces, and near areas of sacrificial offerings. Since the deposits of dogs were discovered along with other plant and animal remains, it is difficult to decipher dog parts from those of other small mammals. In Colha, Belize, dog foot bones and teeth were found more than any other body part.
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Siaan K’aan or ‘Born in Heaven’ is the ancient name for Uaxactun, which lies some 12 miles north of the major center of Tikal. A United States archeologist, Sylvanus Morley, in May 1916, coined the name Uaxactun from the Maya words Waxac and Tun, meaning ‘Eight Stones’. Morley said that it was the first site where an inscription dating
from the 8th Baktun of the Maya Calendar was discovered, making it then the earliest known Maya date.
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Yaxha: The name of the city derives from the Maya yaxa’ which means ‘blue green water’. The site is in the mortheast of the Peten Basin region and it was located on a ridge overlooking Lake Yaxha. It was the third largest city in the region, the kingdom covering an area of 92 square miles and having a peak population of 42,000. It had its maximum power during the early Classic period (AD 250-600). (Wikipedia.)
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Maxam: This is the ancient name for Naranjo. “Naranjo” in the Spanish language means “Orange Tree.” The emblem glyph of the polity is rendered as Sa’aal, thought to mean “the place where maize gruel abounds.” Another ancient Classic Maya language name associated with the city site is Maxam. Wak Kab’na or Wakabnal could be an alternative place name, but it is not specifically linked to the site but rather its lords. (Wikipedia.)
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Nakum: The name means ‘House of the Pot’. It was a ceremonial center and city of the pre-Columbian Maya Civilization. It is located some fifteen miles east of Tikal.
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Yax Mutul: This is the ancient name for Tikal. The name Tikal may be derived from ti ak’al in the Yucatec Maya language; it is said to be a relatively modern name meaning “at the waterhole”. The name was apparently applied to one of the site’s ancient reservoirs by hunters and travelers in the region. It has alternatively been interpreted as meaning “the place of the voices” in the Itza Maya language. Tikal, however, is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the 1840s. Hieroglyphic inscriptions at the ruins refer to the ancient city as Yax Mutal or Yax Mutul, meaning “First Mutal”. Tikal may have come to have been called this because Dos Pilas also came to use the same emblem glyph; the rulers of the city presumably wanted to distinguish themselves as the first city to bear the name. The kingdom as a whole was simply called Mutul, which is the reading of the “hair bundle” emblem glyph. Its precise meaning remains obscure. (Wikipedia.)
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Topoxte: This site was named Topoxte by Teobert Maler in 1904; the name means “seed of the Ramon tree”. There is no record of the name Topoxte prior to this. The Ramon tree, commonly known as breadnut, was an important component of the ancient Maya diet. Prior to this, the site was known as Islapag, as noted in 1831 by Juan Galindo in his report to the Society of Antiquaries of London.
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Conquest of Uaxactun (Siaan K’aan) by Siyaj K’ak (378 AD).
In 378 AD, there was war between Tikal (Yax Mutul) and Uaxactun (Siaan K’aan), in which Uaxactun was defeated by forces led by Fire is Born (Siyaj K’ak’, formerly identified as Smoking Frog) of Tikal. Many Uaxactun kings later claimed descent from Fire is Born. The combined political entity of Tikal/Uaxactun dominated the Guatemalan Peten for the following 180 years. Siyaj K’ak’ might have come from Teōtīhuacān. been the general of the Teōtīhuacāno ruler Spearthrower Owl, and conquered Tikal earlier the same year. This was a watershed moment of the Classic Maya. Some scholars suggested that new kings were installed at Tikal, Uaxactun, Rio Azul, El Peru, El Zapote, and Bejucal. During the Teōtīhuacān intrusions, new rituals and images were introduced, and a new order was established in the Maya Lowlands, while others suggested a less hegemonic role of Teōtīhuacān in its relationship with the Maya.
After the conquest by Siyaj K’ak’ in 378 AD, Uaxuactun was still able to keep elite prerogatives of monument carving, temple erection, and rich burials for most of the Early Classic. During the Hiatus period (about 600 AD) between Early Classic and Late Classic, Uaxactun had a lack of architectural activity and ceramic production, coinciding with the power decline of Teōtīhuacān and Tikal. There was no erection of dedicatory monument between 554 AD and 711 AD. By the middle of Late Classic, Uaxactun showed evidences of population increase, new construction, remodeling of old structures, and appearance of new residential areas, plaza groups, and buildings. There was a time of distinctive population decrease towards the end of Late Classic. The last inscribed monument in Uaxactun was dated in 889. By the end of Terminal Classic, Uaxactun and Tikal were virtually abandoned. (Wikipedia)
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Wo’qibal is Ke’kchi for ‘eating place’. Here it is used for ‘Mess Hall’.
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Ollin is a Nahuatl unisex name meaning ‘movement’.
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Achi’l is Maya for ‘companion, friend, regidor (assistant to mayor on council). Here it is used to refer to a ‘bat-man or orderly to an officer’.
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Ueman is a Nahuatl male name meaning ‘venerable time’.
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Kohaw: War helmet of stone or pyrite, worn by Ajaws and Kaloonte’s.
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Patli is a Nahuatl unisex name meaning ‘medicine’.
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K’atun: a period of 7,200 days, approximately twenty years.
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Nik’aj-q’ij is Maya for ‘midday’.
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Banobal is Ke’kchi for ‘workshop’.
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Q’eq is Maya for ‘black’.
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Mayahuel is the goddess of the maguey (agave) plant. It was thought that the aguamiel (literally agua meaning ‘water’, and miel meaning ‘honey’) collecting in the center of the plant was her blood. The Nahuatl name of the plant is metl.
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Tlacuache: One story states that iztāc-octli (white pulque) was discovered by the Tlacuache, (opossum), who used his human-li
ke hands to dig into the maguey (agave) and extract the naturally fermenting juice. He became the first drunk. Tlacuache was thought to set the course of rivers. The rivers he set were generally straight except when he was drunk. Then the rivers follow Tlacuache’s meandering path from cantina to cantina.