HUM 2461 Humanities of Latin America SFC Fall

HUM 2461 Humanities of Latin America SFC Fall 2013 Week 4

Today’s Agenda Day 6 Week 4 • Attendance • CANVAS & HUM 2461. wordpress. com • POPOL VUH 1. Notes and Interpretation • 1 st Assignment Week 4: HW#1 & HW#3 due on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013 • Pop Quiz

Attendance

CANVAS

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TEOTIHUACAN CHICHEN ITZA AZTEC TIKAL

Reminder: Maya Periods Pre-Classic: 3500 BCE – 353 Classic: 353 – 900 Post-Classic: 900 – 1523 (1697)

Terminology Mayas religio mythic stylization / realism admiratio horror vacui Syncretism depending on period: Early: none Late: lots * Mayan art

TIMELINE Maya Civilization

Notes on Popol Vuh The Maya Sacred Book is the book of the Quiché People

Writers of the Popol Vuh What did the Mayas write on?

"writing" (tz’ib’) + "he who writes" (ah tz’ib’) ___________________ It is a description of the act of writing

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 – Diego Reynoso, town councilman – Santa Cruz Quiché, Guatemala • ca. 1700: Fr. Francisco Ximénez – Spanish translation – Newberry Library, Chicago

Notes on Popol Vuh (1 a) • Three parts: • Part 1 9 chapters • Part 2 14 chapters • Part 3 5 chapters • The oldest literary/religious printed work in Latin America (16 th Century edition). • Oral text (between 2500 B. C. E. and 1550 C. E. )

Notes on Popol Vuh • Three parts: • Part 1 9 chapters • Part 2 14 chapters • Part 3 5 chapters PART I CHAPTERS 1 -9

Part 1: Chapter 1 Just water. Creation of FLORA begins. Heart of Heaven are 3 gods: 1. Caculhá Huracán 2. Chipi Caculhá 3. Raxa-Caculhá. Chapter 2 Creation of FAUNA begins. -- Forefathers give ROLES and MISSIONS to animals. 1 st DESTRUCTION: FAUNA. THEN IT COMES 1 st creation of man: made of mud. 2 nd DESTRUCTION: mud man. THEN IT COMES 2 nd creation of man: made of wood (tzité) Chapter 3 3 rd DESTRUCTION: wooden man. Chapter 4 VUCUB-CAQUIX reigned. Not face of SUN or MOON, JUST HIM.

Part 1: Chapter 5 Hunahpú and Xbalanqué (the twin brothers) appeared. What learned VUCUB-CAQUIX is superficial, ambitious and egocentric. “not become vain” Chapter 6 Description of the DESTRUCTION of Vucub. Caquix and his two sons: Zipacná and Cabracán. VUCUBCAQUIX was injured by a discharge from Hun-Hunahpú's blowgun which struck him squarely in the jaw. Chapter 7 Story about Zipacná and the four hundred boys. Chapter 8 Death of Zipacná. Chapter 9 Death of Cabracán “Lure him to where the sun rises” Birth of Hunahpú and Xbalanqué (the twin brothers).

Notes on Popol Vuh (1 b) • Religious (creation and gods). • 4 Codex (books) found 1. The Paris Codex (1930 s) 2. The Grolier Codex (1970 s) 3. The Dresden Codex (1810, Alexander von Humbolt) 4. The Madrid Codex (Under possession of Juan de Tro y Ortolano in Madrid in 1866)

The Peresianus Codex (France)

The Grolier Codex (Mexico, 1970 s)

The Codex Dresdensis (Germany)

The Tro-Cortesianus Codex (Spain)

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.

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"

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

Notes on Popol Vuh (5) • Quiché people in 4 th 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

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

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 15241525

Quetzalcóatl (968 – 1025) 968 Quetzalcóatl to Tula arrived from east light skin red beard priest-king became demi-god monotheism civilization peace defeated by war priest-god

Quetzalcóatl 968 Quetzalcóatl to Tula defeated by war priest-god 1000 Quetzalcóatl from Tula to Chichén Itzá a Kukulkán (in Maya language) c o p i l did same for Mayan capital at c z e defeated by war priest-god T 1025 Quetzalcóatl from Chichén Itzá on boat sailed east promised to return similar in Popol Vuh

st 1 Assigment Week 4: HW#1 (1 -12) & HW#3 (1 -13) due today. Points off if HW is not typed

http: //www. famsi. org/mayawriting/codices/

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Chronology

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Chronology Olmeca Teotihuacanos Tolteca Azteca By Culture

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Chronology Tabasco Teotihuacán Tula Tenochtitlán By Town

Pre-Aztec/Aztec Dates 1400 – 300 BCE 100 BCE - 750 900 - 1200 1300 - 1521

Pre-Aztecs (English) 3 Peoples Olmecs (1400 BCE – 300 BCE) Cuicuilco teotihuacanos (100 BCE – 750) Toltecs (900 – 1100)

Pre-Azteca (español) 3 Pueblos olmeca (1400 BCE – 300 BCE) Cuicuilco teotihuacanos (100 BCE – 750) tolteca (900 – 1100)

OLMECAS Tabasco (1400 BCE – 300 BCE)

Olmec civilization is the mother culture of Mesoamerica

Typical Olmeca Artifacts A. Megalithic statues. Helmeted heads. Show a "masculine ideal. ” They have "oriental"-shaped eyes and a "jaguar" mouth, which is turned down at the corners. B. Stone altars with bas-reliefs; tombs; boxes; jade carvings.

TEOTIHUACANOS Cuicuilco (600 BCE – 450 BCE) Cuicuilc o Xitle Volcano

Cuicuilco (600 BCE – 100 BCE): 20, 000 Cuicuilco = “Place of Song / Many Colors” Cuicuilco Ehécatl (god of wind) Huehuetéotl (old god / god of old age) Xitle (100 BCE) Teotihuacán

Toltecs 900 -1200 CE Tula (North of Teotihuacan) 968: Topiltzin Quetzalcóatl Atlantes (knight warriors)