ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 20:3 PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS AMONG THE CHONTAL INDIANS OF OAXACA, MEXICO BY PEDRO CARRASCO UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 1960 PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS AMONG THE CHONTAL INDIANS OF OAXACA, MEXICO BY PEDRO CARRASCO ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Vol. 20, No. 3 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Editors (Los Angeles): Harry Hoijer, J. B. Birdsell, Eshref Shevky Volume 20, No. 3, pp. 87-118, 2 figs., 1 map Submitted by editors June 19, 1959 Issued May 27, 1960 Price, $1.00 University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles California Cambridge University Press London, England Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS L. Introduction ................ . II. The Ritual Formulae ............................................... 1. Sowing Ritual .. 2. Land Clearing Ritual (Tenango). 3. Sowing Ritual (Tenango) . 4. First Corn Ritual (Tenango). 5. Harvest Ritual (Tenango). 6. Sowing Ritual (Chontecomatlan) . 7. Harvest Ritual (Chontecomatlan). 8. Bean Sowing Ritual (Chontecomatlan) . 9. Ritual of the Blossoming Beans (Chontecomatlan) . 10. Deer Hunting Ritual (Tenango). 11. Sowing a Child's Life (Jilotepequillo). 12. Marriage Ritual (Tenango). 13; Ritual for Taking Office (Tenango) . 14. How to Divine with Maize (Jilotepequillo). 15. How to Cure Fright (Suchiltepec). 16. Another Cure for Fright (Suchiltepec). 17. How to Send Back Sickness (Jilotepequillo). 18. How to Cast Out Sickness (Suchiltepec). The Supernaturals................................ Names of the Supernaturals in the Ritual Formulae . Lightning and Water Beings . The Sun and the Moon............................. The Earth, her Animals and Plants . Spiritual Attributes of Man: Soul, Sense, and Companion Spirit Curers and Sorcerers. The Deadd.................................... The Devilil................................... Story of the Flood . Story of the Chontal King .......................... , Conclusiono.. ibliography. ppendix: The Documentsm. en .. ............................................ MAP The Chontal Area of Oaxaca, facing ..................................... FIGURES Pages 4, 5, 8, and 11 of the Booklet Containing the Hunting Ritual (Document 1)........... Pages 4, 5, 10, and 13 of the Informant's Handwritten Booklet (Document 4) ............. [iii] 11 n I V I I L 87 91 91 91 91 92 92 93 93 94 95 95 98 99 100 102 103 104 104 105 106 106 107 108 109 110 111 111 112 112 113 114 116 117 87 89 90 : : # 11 0 I. II THE CHONTAL AREA OF OAXACA 0 5 l0 * CHONTAL TOWNS O ZAPOTEC TOWNS O SPANISH-SPEAKING TOWNS O HUAVE TOWNS 20 30 MILES Map 1. The Chontal Area of Oaxaca 40 . . . . . . I. . 0. ., t, PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS AMONG THE CHONTAL INDIANS OF OAXACA, MEXICO BY PEDRO CARRASCO I. INTRODUCTION The Chontal, or Tequixtlatec, are among the least 0own Indians of Mexico. They live in about twenty ages in the mountains of southeastern Oaxaca, st of Tehuantepec. Chontal-s peaking people num- red 8,406 in 1930 (Memoria, 1940, p. 58). The most essible Chontal villages are Tequisistlan, a low- d village close to the Pan American Highway, and melula and Astata near the coast west of Salina uz. Most Chontal villages, however, are in the high untain area drained by the headwaters of the Te- sistlan River (map 1). 'The mountain Chontal call themselves li hwale puk (Spanish serranos, mountain people) as against people called laine which includes all Zapotec and onih speakers. The dominant economy is based on cultivation of corn for local consumption and of guey, from which they make mescal, their only urce of money. .I visited Tequisistlan for a few hours in Septem- r, 1949, and gathered some ethnographic data. Te- sistlan, however, is an acculturated village; only old people still speak Chontal, and the culture is ongly influenced by Tehuantepec. The information which this paper is based applies to the relatively cculturated mountain villages and was obtained a single informant, Sr. Juan Rodriguez, a Chon- now a resident of Tehuantepec but originally from hltepec, a mountain village. I met this informant for the first time in Tehuan- c in 1949. In the spring of 1951, when he was in xco City for medical treatment, he came to the eo Nacional and served as my informant for a weeks. The particular feature of Chontal culture which I d most profitable to work on with Juan Rodriguez he complex series of private rituals performed many occasions in connection with farming or e- ts in the life cycle of the individual. Lists of the erings to be presented to the supernaturals during se rituals, and sometimes also the prayers, have n written down in Chontal by the Indians. Rodri- z had once given to Mr. Thomas McDougall, an erican botanist, a little pamphlet containing the a for hunting (Mr. McDougall later gave this to Museo Nacional in Mexico). Rodriguez had also ught to Mexico several sheets of paper on which had copied a number of other rituals. Most of my e with the informant was devoted to the study of se documents. The informant was at first reticent and produced Chontal papers only gradually, perhaps hoping way to strike a better bargain (he had been hired he museum to work as an informant at an hourly ,thus he sold the papers to me as our interview gressed). The informant and his late parents moved some rs ago to the Tehuantepec area; the informant's I father used to grow corn in the archaeological site of Quiengola. The informant thus came to get the job as caretaker of the ruins. The reasons for the family's move to Quiengola were not revealed, but it is proba- ble that the father's activities as curer had something to do with it. Only after a few meetings did the infor- mant admit that both his father and mother had prac- ticed curing and that they were the source of much of his knowledge. In this paper we follow the order in which the data were obtained from the informant. After some general conversation, during which the informant revealed that he had a collection of written rituals, we pro- ceeded to work on these, the informant providing a translation of the written formulae and an explanation of the ritual. After the rituals had been translated, I obtained additional data regarding religious beliefs that could throw further light upon the rituals. The material that follows is therefore treated un- de r two he ads. Se ction II ("The Ritual Fo rmulae ") gives the written formulae and the rituals to which they pertain. They have been grouped, however, ac- cording to subject and not according to the document in which they are written. Section III ('The Supernat- urals ") contains additional data on Chontal religion and especially material that will help to understand the rituals. My conclusions are found in Section IV, and an appendix provides a description of the docu- ments and the order in which the rituals appear therein. Most of the material in Sections II and III follows as closely as possible the informant's own words. His statements, however, have often been arranged in a different order from that in which they were recorded, and clarifications or additions obtained later have been incorporated into them. For this reason quota- tion marks have been used only in literal translations of certain statements in order to stress the infor- mant's way of expressing his ideas. The length and the subjects covered in each formu- la vary widely, not necessarily because of the com- plexity of the ritual, although this is important, but also because of the varying amount of information about a particular ritual that is committed to paper. Since one of the most important elements in the ritual pattern is the precise enumeration of offerings de- voted to different supernaturals, the one item that is always written in all formulae is the number of each kind of offerings required. In some formulae this is practically all that is written, all other aspects of the ritual being presumably quite well known to the prac- titioners and thus not needed to be recorded on paper. This type of prescription, as we might call it, is ex- emplified in formula number 18. In some other exam- ples, such as numbers 5, 7, 12, 17, not all the super- naturals to whom the offerings are presented have clearly been stated on paper. Other formulae not only name the different super- [87] ': I ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS naturals to whom the offerings are presented but also include prayers addressed to them. Prescriptions oth- er than offerings, such as the required number of days of continence, are also written. Since the main facts recorded in these documents are the appropriate number of offerings to the vari- ous supernaturals, the notation of numbers is of spe- cial interest. The simplest notation system is that in which the number one (or a line) or a drawing of the object stands for a unit of the things counted. Thus to record nine, nine lines are written: 111111111. Or to denote five piles of twenty-one sticks, five rows of twenty-one lines each are written. Since the most common offerings are piles or bun- dles of sticks, the units counted in most instances are such piles, each of which must include a stipulated number of sticks. In this way 12 9 means twelve piles of nine sticks each, which the informant simply read as twelve nines (doce nueves), or 312 9 means three times twelve piles of nine sticks each. In some instances the number of times a type of offering is piled up is simply shown by notating the offerings repeatedly. For instance, 999, 999, 999 means three times three piles of nine sticks each. Or 777777777 means nine piles of seven sticks each. Often a 1 will stand for a unit offering including a certain number of sticks, and this number is written only as the last symbol in a row depicting such unit offerings. Thus 111111119 means nine piles of nine sticks each. Numbers are also spelled out, whether in Chontal or in Spanish or both. Sometimes combinations of spelled out numbers and figures appear. For instance 21 catorce means twenty-one piles of fourteen sticks each. But other times the spelled out number is not to be combined with the figure but is simply a repeti- tion of it. For instance afane lupa coli I I I (three pine branches I I I), where the three is first spelled out and then repeated as a drawing of three branches. A number may also be repeated by writing it both in Chontal and Spanish. In the document giving a cure for fright we read ciete caichi 7, that is, the number seven, in Spanish, Chontal, and a figure. Some slight variants and combinations of all these notation systems will be found in the transcribed rit- uals. In our transcription of the documents, the spelled out numbers are simply translated, whereas the ex- planation of figure notations are written in parenthe- ses. The different ways of writing numbers some- times make the interpretation of a writing not too obvious. In instances where the informant seemed to hesitate and another interpretation than what he gave seems possible, this alternate possibility has been mentioned, also in parentheses and followed by the initials PC. A few of the documents, when listing the offerings, depict the objects to be offered. In some instances there are crude drawings, such as the dog and tur- keys in the ritual for taking office, and the turkeys in the hunting ritual, in the ritual to divine with corn, and in that for 'sowing a child's life" (see number 11). A pine branch is depicted as a vertical line wi a few shorter lines on both ends as the leaves. We transcribe this symbol with a capital I. Candles a* depicted as a line-the candle-with a dot over ita the candle's flame. We transcribe this as the lette' i. When a single stick of wood is represented by a, line, we can take this as a picture symbol as well a figure. In two instances we find pictures that ar somewhat conventionalized. In the hunting ritual a ball of copal gum is depicted as a circle with a cr inside whose upper and lower ends extend beyond d circle, the upper one curving toward the left. An is symbolized by a circle or ellipse with a few do inside. In the rituals typed by the informant he u8 the symbol & where the document he copied had picture of a turkey. We have followed this transc tion. Most of the written text is in Chontal, althoug few Spanish words or phrases are occasionallyf In our transcription of these texts the original s ing has always been kept. Spanish misspellings a common, but Spanish words offer no difficulty of terpretation; a sic has been added only after wor whose spelling does not represent the correct pr ciation. The transcription of Chontal words has prese a few difficulties. Although the handwriting is ge' ally clear, a few mistakes have surely been mad the splitting of the text into separate words that not clear in the manuscripts and perhaps in the r ing of a few words where corrections seem to ha been made in the manuscript, or where n and u been confused one for the other. We have gener transcribed as tl a cluster that sometimes looks like fl or 11. The Chontal language has several la phonemes, but the writing in our documents does seem to represent them separately or consisten I had planned to work on some other aspects Chontal culture and to obtain linguistic data in or to prepare a phonemic transcription of the Chon texts in the rituals and a linguistic analysis of th but the informant had to leave Mexico City befor could attempt it. My translations of Chontal are fore based on the informant's free renderings in Spanish. Only later in the preparation of this re have some words been checked with the scant pu lished material about the Chontal language, mai so far as names of supernaturals are concerned. most cases Chontal words are given as spelled' rituals or in other sources used. My few phoneti renderings were made without any knowledge of language. In terms of the Chontal phonemic syst as published by Waterhouse and Morrison, it is they are only approximations to what the true forms should be. Chontal words taken from our01 ments are underlined when used in English cont our own renderings are not. Spanish words are lined when quoting from a text or from the info statements, the first time they appear. I II II I I 88 /IQA *t ;r/, -4 Cit/<*t it A -* , 4. 6 8 g, # s> S /oovf^-Xff / to/fXA !fX { yll/X 4X t . w. 2{f; 2 XA }v f/> X/Xx HUf/t/ X/A / j. flX, . t l J c# o-"5 ' e6 ft J ~~~~ 1--X zz g -2 av, 1?*~~~~~~~~/ . P#y-/#8 IH/A JI('* -/1l d///J/- g -;O (?t >WX: jn.{4e- ~~~~ tdn 4b t* y v - 4t ui///Itsnnss*,nmA_a-. LI-eltnz /*i,s a-'4.na e,w?L^ l/J/s//fl / XftWyAlAl- 4p; 1sJfJ $*#W ffl? r*r4t ew;a 7) t IJ-t611( C'( Aft dG ti f#4-4,) . q 's 9 i'T^t 7 qilff>,- 'f if 49 qrqvr# yrq#qyqr-7vre r'vr J,vnrf 7:::~~~~~~~ _7t2t>t + << tts/ ? 9 9t/9, . ~ n' , , 7 F YI ,tttlii-tt 779@@,,tt,, q(S S tS ff9: 6c s/CAl) 2LsC IDt /tUb fe{ ,t.Rf f>. 115/ ,rf 4 /, Jo * W o//e i5 t /flt 1;.k 4S 0 e/t4 C,A ? ,ef} >a C4ZtI -4 CA s/cs#nc4 Zt/ /r 9 r- yy6 'rl Y' / /1 j'- f2) (/979 '99)9/ 7-7- ) fry'9) 9) 99 C7't Am ti-. Csyn-r/ trcg c4 q -' 17$ -fto.j4S, st 'f. 2 f r - fl 11 H 1! /2 /42,. 12 /21:72. cp?s a- K? ??,/?7Z?! 9919-v 747*. *9 ,i#c>t,>t Ate n-, n-is a.-e?t.4 ? S i&t-t af?x ?cx n-ta Figure 2. Pages 4, 5, 10, and 13 of the Informant's Handwritten Booklet (Document 4) I II. THE RITUAL FORMULAE Herein I describe each of the ritual formulae made ailable to me. For the first ritual (number 1), how- ,r, no written document was obtained; the descrip- Iwas given to me orally by Juan Rodriguez, who 8served as an assistant to his father in perform- the ritual. In the remaining descriptions, the writ- ten formulae are described and translated, and addi- tional data, obtained orally from Rodriguez, are added. These include a description of the ritual, some de- tailed explanation of points in the formulae, and other brief explanatory notes. 1. Sowing Ritual For some time before sowing the farmer has been klecting in his house the sticks of copal wood that be used as offerings. These are sticks the length a thumb-index span and thick as the thumb, cut n the heart of the copal tree. They are red in color dfragrant. Since the copal tree grows only in the country, it is sometimes hard to get, and some pole use sticks of pinewood (ocote) instead. A writ- paper lists the number of sticks needed for each pernatural. Everything is made ready the day before sowing. ch farmer performs the ritual on his own land, dany day is good for it. Nowadays it is done se- etly. Formerly the ritual was performed openly, now the young people no longer believe in it and pk that a man who does this is a witch. For this son people don't want it to be known. The farmer must be continent for three days. The rd day, which will be the day before sowing, he gets before sunrise and goes with all his things to the iter of the field and starts counting out the sticks copal wood. He lays them on the ground in piles of number specified in the written paper, leaving some tance between piles. As he puts the offerings down, farmer repeats the words, written on his paper this rite, which name the supernaturals to whom offering is made. When all the sticks have been laid down, the far- mer sets them on fire with matches. He says, "In the name of God, I am going to light them," and lights one corner after another. He then takes a turkey, cuts its head off with a knife or a machete, throws the head into the pile of sticks, and, holding the body, scatters the turkey's blood over the fire. So doing, he names the gods to whom the offering is made: God of the Sky (lano' kemaa), God of the Earth (lano kamats'), God of the North (lano' kawa), God of the East (liyuf ma'), God of the West (lum mih ma'). No mention is made of a God of the South. When he is finished, he takes an incense burner and puts copal gum and embers in it. Remaining near the burning offering, he kneels on one knee and censes with copal; first toward the East; then he turns to the West, then to the North, then to the South (lemaina, lit. old woman), then he censes the Earth and, finally, the Sky. He then rises and takes the turkey home for his wife to cook. They invite the relatives of the house for a feast. The following day the sowing begins. There is no ritual (costumbre) this day. Usually both man and wife go to sow, but it is not required that the woman should go. Some people exchange labor for sowing, others hire laborers. 2. Land Clearing Ritual (Tenango) Para comenzar a rozar Lliguala qui mucot camax 12 9 tlapouna quiins huiya 12 9 cal acha 3 9 el machet' 3.9 latenii 3 9 lapiquiema 312 9 FIN kThe farmer performs this ritual alone before start- to clear. As in the sowing ritual he mentions the To start a clearing. Mountain, Woods, Earth: 12 (piles of) 9. To the Lord of the Clearing: 12 (piles of) 9. To the ax: 3 (piles of) 9. To the machete: 3 (piles of) 9. To the stick: 3 (piles of) 9. [This is a stick they use to keep the machete from hitting a rock when cutting the bush.] To the 'sense" of the man [i.e., the man doing the clearing]: 3 (times) 12 (piles of) 9. END supernaturals as he lays down their offerings. He should be continent the day he clears the land by burning. 3. Sowing Ritual ( Tenango) PARA SEMBRAR Lapaflia, lo llay ya, la falla cainaca, ay cuai na ma, canomna ma, tla no, camas, llano, qui mucot calaichufcoama, litine', agueno, [91] TO SOW In order to live, to pass the time, to sow the cornfield, I came to greet the God of the Earth, the God of the Woods. I will have the life. Good! i 11 I F c I i ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS cacunama, 12 9 tangaica, lipa, llano, camas, 12 9 tlapauna, qui juala, 12 9 llano qui juala, 12 9 calpaxi, faunall, 12 9 Ila paunala, uqetumi, 12 9 lenfanunla, quetumi, 12 9 lletumi, cami, 12 9 lletumi, 12 9 cape' licuenta quel fanu, 12 9 qui mama qui alli calfanu', 12 9 llinfapa cainaa, 12 9 quel cuxnu cami, 12 9 llagua cumdemla, 3 9 llagua, caja, 3 9 tlucuillna, cagua, 3 9 calhec, 3 9 calcope', 3 9 caldencut, 3 9 tlontalla 3 9 tlunchi 3 9 tlicuenta quel hucho', cacue', calhucho' que maina, 14 7 loll FIN All the offerings in this formula are sticks of pine- wood except when copal gum is specified. The offerings to the witches are to ward off pos- sible witchcraft. I will give 12 (piles of) 9 flowers [flower of the wood, i.e., copal gum]. To the God of the Earth: 12 (piles of) 9. To the Lord of the Mountain: 12 (piles of) 9. To the God of the Mountain: 12 (piles of) 9 [this is a different supernatural from the Lord of the Mountain]. To Powerful Miracle [spirit of the field]: 12 (piles of) 9. To the Lords of Thunderbolt: 12 (piles of) 9. To the Spirits of Thunderbolt: 12 (piles of) 9. To the Thunderbolt that Burns: 12 (piles of) 9. To Thunderbolt: 12 (piles of) 9. To the crow (cacalote), on account of the seed: 12 (piles of) 9. To the mother and father of the seed: 12 (piles of) 9. To the sower of the cornfield: 12 (piles of) 9. To cuxnu cami [spirits the informant does not know]: 12 (piles of) 9. To the wind of the slope (loma): 3 (piles of) 9. To the wind of the water: 3 (piles of) 9. To the whirlwind: 3 (piles of) 9. To the woods: 3 (piles of) 9. To the crow (cacalote): 3 (piles of) 9. To caldencut [?] 3 (piles of) 9. To the termites (comeie'n): 3 (piles of) 9. To the ant: 3 (piles of) 9. On account of the man witch, the woman witch: 14 (piles of) 7 sticks of pine wood. END. The offerings to the crow, the termites, and ant are to keep them from destroying the seed. 4. First Corn Ritual (Tenango) Lateja quejua llano camas 12 9 lajutl 12 9 tlin nochi 12 9 tlochinfta 3 9 lajia 3 9 tlunga 3 9 cacunama anuli queltulo malpu' elcandela de cera. FIN When the cornfield is ready to yield the first ears, the farmer goes to the field in the morning and pre- pares the ground for the offering in the middle of the field. After cutting twelve of the largest ears of corn, he lays down the offerings of copal wood to form a square on the ground, and on the eastern side of this square, places the ears of corn in two piles of six ears each. He then lights a candle in each corner of the offering, sets the wood on fire, and kills a turkey, To eat green corn. To the God of the Earth: 12 (piles of) 9. To the house: 12 (piles of) 9. To the woman grinder: 12 (piles of) 9. To the metate: 3 (piles of) 9. To the water: 3 (piles of) 9. To the fire: 3 (piles of) 9. I will give a turkey and four wax candles. END. cutting off its head as in the sowing ritual. The ears of corn are in this way offered to God or a Sun. The farmer then takes them to his neighbol who will eat them. Before this rite, corn maym eaten. The farmer must be continent the day he forms this rite. An offering is laid down on behalf of the fars wife, who grinds the corn, that she be allowedt dle the corn. 5. Harvest Ritual (Tenango) PARA PIS CAR LA MAZORGA 12 12 12 12 12 doce nueve 39 39 39 anull maxnu pela lipa' TO PICK THE EARS OF CORN (Five times twelve piles of nine), (three times nine piles of three) (or three times three piles of nine? PC), one hundred piles of nine flowers [i.e., copal gum], I :i .1 I I I i I 'I II i m i 92 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS anull llaca malpu alvela el enbidioso [y la enbidiosa] (o el brujo has been written over the words in brackets) 14 9 loli FIN As the informant himself pointed out, the recipi- Os of the first offerings are not mentioned. The a bird [i.e., turkey], four candles. To the envious man [and the envious woman] (or the man witch): 9 (piles of) 14 pinewood sticks (or fourteen piles of nine sticks? PC). END. last offering of pine sticks is the only one in which re- cipients (the witches) are named. 6. Sowing Ritual (Chontecomatlan) PARA CEMBRAR para mofalla leinaca primero toponoma' lanocamas 111111119.111111119.111111119. 999. && un guojolote (sic) lono camas 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 111111111111111119 999.999.999.999.999.999. 999.999.999 sigue atras lijuala. 11 1111 111 11 111. 14 999999999999.12. 111111119. 111111119.111111119. licuenta del portillo 1111117. 1111117.1111117.1111117. 1111117.1111117.1111117. 1111117.1111117.1111117. lajac. afanepel la loli. A fanepel la quel poma 111111119.111111119. 111111119. loli 111111119.111111119.111111119. quel poma FIN PARA PISCAR!! para lasnulla toponoma TO SOW To sow a cornfield, first one places the offering for the God of the Earth: (nine piles of 9, nine piles of 9, nine piles of 9, three piles of 9 sticks of copal wood), a turkey. To the God of the Earth: (twenty groups of sticks, each including eighteen piles of nine sticks of copal wood). (Nine groups of sticks, each including three piles of nine sticks of copal wood.) continue over. [The word fin (end) had first been written and then crossed out. There must have been a page turn in the booklet from which this was copied P. C.] To the Mountain: (fourteen piles of fourteen sticks of copal wood; twelve piles of nine sticks; three groups of sticks each with nine piles of nine sticks). For the mountain ridge: (ten groups of sticks each with seven piles of seven sticks of copal wood). To the water: three nines of pinewood and three nines of copal gum. (Three groups of nine piles of nine) sticks of pinewood. (Three groups of nine piles of nine) balls of copal gum. END. 7. Harvest Ritual (Chontecomatlan) TO HARVEST!! To harvest, one puts I 93 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS lofane elpuma topononama lapitoqui 111111119.111111119.111111119 111111119.111111119.111111119 111111119.111111119.111111119. 111111119.111111119.111111119. 111111119.111111119.111111119. 111111119.111111119.111111119. 111111119.111111119.111111119. 111111119. 111111111111111111111. 111111111111111111111. 111111111111111111111. 111111111111111111111. 111111111111111111111. loo liguategua primero (sic) esquina 111111119. cegunda esquina 111111119. tercera esquina 111111119. cuarto (sic) esquina 111111119.111111119. 111111119.111111119. un guogolote (sic). & For harvesting, people exchange help, or else hire laborers. The ritual takes place when the corn is all piled up. The farmer is continent for three days and on the third day he performs the ritual. He goes alone early in the morning to the field taking all the offerings with him. He lays down the sticks naming the gods to whom they are offered: the Earth, the Sky, the North, The God of Thunderbolt (lano' ketuml), the East, the West, and the Sun. the ears of corn on the ground, one puts the long ones [i.e., the ears] (nine piles of nine sticks, twenty-two time s). (Five piles of twenty-one sticks.) 100. [The informant was not sure of the meaning of this. It seems to be one hundred, perhaps an attempt to write the total number of sticks in the previous offering.] Son of Maize (or Food): in the first corner (nine piles of nine); in the second corner (nine piles of nine); in the third corner (nine piles of nine); in the fourth corner (nine piles of nine, four times); a turkey. The Son of Maize, or of Food, mentioned in the wr ten formula is Man. Those offerings in the corneri are for one's own sake. When all the sticks have laid down they are set on fire and the turkey is sal ficed as in the first sowing ritual. There is no cer ing with copal here. After this ritual the corn can be stored in the c whether in the field or in the house. Twin cobs shi be kept out; if they are stored with the rest of the corn it will all be finished soon; they say the twin ears eat up the other ears. 8. Bean Sowing Ritual (Chontecomatlan) PARA CEMBRAR FIJOL (sic) por el nombre de dios. padre capaiyconla lipaiconmma limane quel pachifaol leiquime. humiquime lano calane' taleilamas taleilemaa E nelnombre dedios. padre alfanema calane prime ro lontaa fauonal 111111119. 111111119.111111119. lan dios calane 111111119 111111119.111111119.111111119 111111119.111111119.111111119 111111119.111111119. quel pachifaonal, 111111119 111111119.111111119. laponacondanshuilla. 111111119 111111119.111111119. quimama 111111119. TO SOW BEANS In the name of God the Father I will turn it over, turn the bean vine over, hand of Miracle Powerful, the vines, the black vine, God of Beans. That the Earth may know, that the Sky may know [what I am doing]. In the name of God the Father three times beans first. To Devil Powerful: (nine piles of nine, three times). To the God of Beans: (nine piles of nine, nine times). To Miracle Powerful: (nine piles of nine, three times). To the Lord of the Clearing: (nine piles of nine, three times). To his mother [of the man performing I i I i II I I I II I II i Ii 3 J I 94 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS 111111119.111111119. qui alli. 11 111 1119. 111111119.111111119. a malpuonsa quelpoma anuliquel tulo. &. teminnamalema calane 14.7 fin. the ritual]: (nine piles of nine, three times). To his father: (nine piles of nine, three times). Four ounces of copal gum, one turkey buried in the sky. Beans: (seven piles of fourteen) (or 14 of 7 ? PC). End. They say of the turkey that it is burried in the sky because the blood is thrown into the fire and the flames carry it upward. 9. Ritual of the Blossoming Beans (Chontecomatlan) licuenta lulama lipostura para mipafquilla qui pipa. lanocalane, 111111119. 111111119.111111119.111111119. 111111119.111111119.111111119. 111111119.111111119. lanocamas. 111111119. 111111119.111111119. lontaa faonal. 1111117. 1111117.1111117. (corrected over 111111119) quel. quel pachi faunal 111111119.111111119.111111119. leimafounal. 111111119. 111111119.111111119 quel pate faunal. 111111119. 111111119.111111119. quel chans camas. 1111117. 1111117.1111117. anuli, quelconejo. fin. Although this list of offerings does not have any heading, the informant explained that this ritual takes :place when the bean vines are in bloom. The written lormula includes first a prayer and then the names ,of the gods to whom the offerings are made as the v*ticks of copal wood are laid down. The list of offer- rings mentions first the god to whom it is given and !then the quantity given. The count of the plain [where the offerings are burned], the placement [of offerings] that the flowers may blossom. To the God of Beans: (nine piles of nine, nine times). To the God of the Earth: (nine piles of nine, three times). To Devil Powerful: (seven piles of seven, three times). To Miracle Powerful: (nine piles of nine, three times). To Hunter Powerful: (nine piles of nine, three times). To Tree Powerful [a spirit]: (nine piles of nine, three times). To man on earth: (seven piles of seven, three times). A dog. [It says rabbit but this is a disguised way of saying dog.] End. The dog is offered to the Devil or to the witches. When killing the dog they cut its belly open cross- wise, scatter the blood over the offering and throw the body onto it. The man performing this ritual should be conti- nent for three days. 10. Deer Hunting Ritual (Tenango) The hunting ritual from Tenango constitutes the whole of document 1. This is the most interesting locument because it has the longest text, including prayers, and makes the most use of pictures and sym- bols. It is also the best example of a booklet used by Ihe Indians because it once belonged to, and was used by, the informant's father. The booklet has fourteen pages. The first, or cover, Fge has the title in Spanish, Posturas para cazadores, .e., Placings (of offerings) for Hunters, and the last ge, or back cover, has the title, also in Spanish, aderno del gran demonio para edificio del hombre- oklet of the Great Demon for the Edification of Man. ges 4 to 7 list a first set of offerings stating the quired quantities and the supernaturals for whom ey are intended. Page 8 has drawings of a deer and two supernaturals connected with this ritual. Pages and 10 include a prayer to be said during the ritual, and page 11 lists another set of offerings. On page 13 there is a short inscription, half in Chontal and half in Spanish, whose relation to the rest of the booklet is not clear. Pages 2, 3, and 12 are blank. The drawings on page 8 consist of three figures. The central figure is a deer since this is a ritual for deer hunting. The figure at the left, with a crown and a cross on his chest, labeled Sesecoteo, is, according to the informant, a good spirit that takes care of the animals, something like a shepherd. The figure to the right, labeled Beoletos, is an evil spirit or devil that defends the animal from the hunter. The evil spirit has an object in his left hand which, according to the informant, he uses like a baseball bat to ward off the bullets from the hunter's gun. A transcription and explanation of the text of the booklet follows. First there is a list of supernaturals and their offerings on pp. 4-7. 95 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS [4] Limane quel paxi founatl caponocotla quel conxi camas tancaica el n li caichi loli 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 11 11 1 11 - quel paxi icafta tlepalaie lia tlamas 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - capitoqui imbama caichi 10 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 11 11 1 11 - Etlquitope tlanocamas 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 -1111-1111- Ni tlipin quequami tlipetu mi tojo fecoma aca mepi [5] 14. 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111- 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - y cueita tlipemaya que tlipetumi imbama malpu que pulu 14. tlapouna coxi qui tinle y tlano conxi quitine 14 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - Y cuinta tlanocamas y tlitanqui 14 7 1111111t - 1111111- 1111111- 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - Y cuaita qui mamla qui Alli oque nuxas caichi que pulu 40. 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 -1111111 -1111111- 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1 1 11 111 - Licuenta lin neja tan caica el caichi 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - tiotepa. 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - Tioxuapa. 7 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - [7] 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - The hand of Miracle Powerful. I will place to Master of the Earth, enter: seven pinewood 7 (seven piles of seven sticks each). Miracle Lightning, Light of the World: 7 (seven piles of seven). Capitoqui: ten seven 10 7 (ten piles of seven). [?] God of the Earth: (ten piles of seven). That the thick wind of the North, that Thunderbolt start not as I burn 14. 7 (fourteen piles of seven). The count of Poison of Thunderbolt: fourteen balls 14 (fourteen balls of copal gum). The Lord, Master of Life (or Day), God Master of Life (or Day): 14 7 (fourteen piles of seven sticks each). The count of God of the Earth and the grass: 14 7 (fourteen piles of seven). The count of his mother, his father: two score seven 40. 7 (forty three piles of seven). [This is probably an error since both the spelled out numbers and the arabic numerals give 40 not 43.] The count of the animals, enter: seven 7 (seven piles of seven). The food [of the animals]: 7 (seven piles of seven). The shoots [of grass or trees that the animals eat]: 7 (seven piles of seven). 96 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS Y cuaita quel muncagua quel mun quepatl 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 - Y tlitoloxmala . 7 . 9 111111111 - 111111111 - 111111111 - 111111111 - 111111111 - 111111111 - 1 1 1 11 1111 - (drawing of a turkey) Amili quel macho The count of the Spirit of the North, the Spirit of Sun Ray: (fourteen piles of seven). The lairs (of the animals): 7 . 9 (seven piles of nine). One male (turkey). The prayer on pages 9 and 10 reads as follows: [9] Caxlme quicuichufi lopaa qui mama qui alli li illopa li cacollopa qui mane qui mis tlita leaja tlemapana inca malulinufi quel mun qui Juala quel mun cuntenla tlano camas caxalme qui cuichufi cale contla quil xino taipa lela li tamqui J atl que i chi momtla flaipalela litamqui canif natla letl mane len fanumla cahmaicuf concho xi tlel mane letu ye fanumla .a [10] En el nombre de dios cacaxnatla quel caima founatl cacaxnatla tlano no camas le caxhema quel paxi founatl ti munatla xafta qui muquito ponontla la qui teala quixpia ti nu natla xafta qui muquite paifen tle tix mainentle nen chila canolle; cunchila caponala tlacle conla quel mun cagua quepatl e calmai cu feonchoxi quel peica cumma hani tlumi cunmahani I ask, I demand where are the mother, the father, where did it grow, where was it, his hands, his feet, the resting place of the animal, the river bank. [Here the hunter asks the whereabout of the deer.] Let them not cross my path, Spirit of the Mountain, Spirit of the Slope [loma, in Spanish] God of the Earth. [If they cross the hunter's path it is bad; a misfortune may happen when shooting because the spirit defending the deer hits and sends back the bullet.] I ask, I demand to take it, the young shoots, the grass. Let me cut the young shoots, the grass. [Here the hunter asks for the deer's food. This is a way of asking for the deer itself.] I raise the hands of len fanumla, I turn into the hands of letuye fanumla. In the name of God stands up Powerful Hunter, stands up God of the Earth. I ask Miracle Powerful that he show it of a sudden, that he place it where it can be seen, that he show it of a sudden, that he change, that he put to sleep the great gods, the great lords. I am the friend of Northern Spirit of Light, I turn into miraculous mist, black mist. [so that the animal cannot see the hunte r.] 97 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Now come the additional offerings listed in page 11: [11] Catl mama Catl alli afane pella el candela de cera iiiiiiiii - E;iiiiii XE - HH;;IHIA - X;i; las animas afane caichi el candela de cebo 1111111 - 1111111 - 1111111 Yndulgencia a los nuebe dias i medio dia de alluno en cada dia y nuebe belas de sera iiiiiiiii uno en cada dia En valor de $ - 6. Mother, father: three [groups of] nine wax candles (three groups of nine candles) (three groups of nine branches). The souls of the dead: three [groups of] seven tallow candles (three groups of seven candles) (three groups of seven branches). Nine days of continence and half a day's fast every day and nine wax candles (nine candles) one every day. Value: six pesos. The additional text in page 13 follows: [13] ocale contla tlunga quetumi tlunga cuaxaflai En el nombre de Dios Sefto r San Antonio The ritual described in this booklet is intended for deer hunting only. There are other booklets prescrib- ing forty days' continence that describe rituals for the hunting of any kind of game, but these were not available to me. The ritual is performed by the hunter, if he knows how, or he can ask a maestro or curer to do it for him. The period of continence and fast, however, has to be kept by the hunter himself. The hunter makes nine candles, and on each of the nine days of continence he burns one on the altar in his house. Besides keeping away from his wife he should also abstain from smoking and drinking, and he eats only once a day after noon. After nine days he goes to a spring to perform the ritual. He will also be continent for two days after the ritual, thus com- pleting three more days after the preparatory nine. The day of the ritual the hunter leaves early in the morning, taking with him a member of his family to help him carry the offerings. I am the friend of Fire of Thunderbolt, Fire of Lightning. In the name of God, Lord Saint Anthony. Once he arrives at the intended place, he clears the ground, counts the offerings, and lays them in a square on the ground, at the same time naming the supernaturals to whom they are offered, as listed in the booklet. Two different squares of offerings are laid down as described in the two different listings in the booklet. One consists of pinewood sticks, the other of branches planted on the ground as in a squar fence with candles in the middle. When the two squares are ready, he first sets on fire the square pile of pine sticks and then lights the candles in the second offering. Then he sacrifices th turkey over the pine sticks, scattering the blood as described in other rituals. Finally, he censes with copal gum both squares as described in the sowing ritual. He says the prayer while he sets the pinewoodon fire. Later he will repeat the prayer at home any ti he goes hunting but without having to light candles or perform any other ritual. 11. Sowing a Child's Life (Jilotepeguillo) para tofama lopitine afou cata machofcolla lo mejull primero topono malipalla lemaa 29 (drawing of three turkeys, two of them crossed out) 1999 9 1 19 9 19 11111111 999999999 999999999 X 999999999 999999999 999X 999999999 - 999999999 999999999 999999999 - 999999999 X 999999999 - 999999999 - 999999999 999999999 999999999 X 999999999 999999999 999999999) 777777777 111111111 lIIsmI anl lindisma faunall How to sow the life. To keep the house safe [from evil] first, one places an (offering of) nine to the sky. 29 Three turkeys (twelve sticks) (eighteen piles, each including nine bundles of nine sticks). [The informant did not attach any meaning to the X's; these are corrections or separation marks.] (Nine piles of seven sticks, pile of nine sticks, nine branches.) Powerful Spirit. 98 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS This ritual is performed when a child is born to ace sure it will live. One can wait as long as fifteen sys after the birth. The father of the child prepares all the offerings ad takes them to a spring far from the village. He bso has to find a rock of a nice round shape, or else .piece of guayacan heartwood that he shapes into a sand ball. This he takes together with the offerings. The father lays down the offerings in a square and ants the branches all around, as usual. Then he Wes the rock or the wooden ball and buries it in the Nttom of the spring. After that he burns the offer- ogs, kills the turkeys, and censes as in other rituals. 1 The rock or wooden ball is the life of the child. If iwooden ball is used the child will turn out to be more inteliigent; if a rock is used it will be more stupid but it will have a longer life. The sex of the child makes no difference. If this ritual is not per- formed, the child will die very soon from a sickness, and people will say this happened because the gods were not notified when the child was born, and their permission was not asked. The ritual takes place at a spring because that is a live place; it is life itself. Mountains are good places for praying to the gods, for sorcery and for curing fright, but they are not good for sowing a life. The ritual requires nine days of continence; it is performed on the ninth day. The rock or ball is looked for three days before the ritual. 12. Marriage Ritual (Tenango) CASAMIENTO para mamanea 999999999999. 999)999999999 (999) 999999999. 999999999. 999999999. 999999999. 999999999. 999999999. 999999999. 999999999. (999) (999) toponoma el cuadro 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9 cada esquina 999.999.999.999.999.999.999. 999.999. pa lix caichax 7777777. 7777777- 7777777 - 7777777 - 7777777 - 7777777 - 7777777. ) Nuebe dia de ynduljencia y medio dia de alluna (sic) fin The ritual written in the booklet takes place some before the marriage celebration. A Church wed- will have no private ritual of this kind. The groom goes to a large spring in the mountain. lays down the first set of offerings arranged in a re and then in each corner he adds a new pile of scribed in the written formula. The offerings to evil man are placed in a separate square. This is first to be burned; the other square is then burned. he purpose of this ritual is to ensure that the and groom do not die at the time of marriage. We include here a description of the marriage pro- res as given by the informant. he young man takes a look at the girl. He does to her but tells his father so he will ask for The father looks up an old man, someone who n the customs and is respected in the village; e are few of them, only three or four. At about ock in the evening the old man goes alone or a friend to see the girl's father. He takes mescal uey brandy) and cigarettes. They first talk about , about current happenings, and only near the of the visit, when the woman of the house is al- asleep and the men are alone, is the word given. girl's father replies that he is not saying any- , his daughter has to give her consent. They set e; these visits take place on Saturdays, so they that on the next Saturday a "yes" or "no" an- will be given. MARRIAGE For a marriage. (Twelve piles of nine sticks, three piles of nine, nine piles of nine, three piles of nine, nine piles of nine, seven piles of nine, three piles of nine, three piles of nine.) One places the square 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9 3.9 in each corner. (Nine piles of three bundles of nine sticks each.) For the evil man [the witch]: (seven piles of seven bundles of seven sticks each). Nine days of continence and half a day of fast. End. The next visit the old man again takes mescal and cigarettes. If the answer is "yes," they decide on an- other meeting in one or two weeks when the go-between will go with the boy's father and the boy to take some presents. They take half a barrel of mescal, bread, clothes for the girl, money (12 pesos in the old days), one turkey and plenty of corn-husk flowers (flores de totomoztle, orchids kept within corn husks). The groom's relatives bring all the presents. When they arrive at the bride's house, her relatives are all seated. The groom's relatives take the flowers and distribute them among the relatives of the bride, one flov.er to each. They accept the flowers and take them to the household altar. The bride's mother lights there two big candles. Then the close relatives of bride and groom gather by the bride and groom who kneel down in front of the altar. Relatives on both sides ask them if they will really love each other for life and not merely for two or three days. The bride and groom say "yes," it is for life. There they agree to the mar- riage, and then all the presents that the groom brought are given. The money is placed in a plate adorned with flowers. It is laid on the ground in front of the altar, the same as all the other things they brought: choco- late, tobacco, etc. Then the drinking starts. The bride's father starts serving, giving the first drink to the groom's father. After everybody has drunk, the groom's fat>er does the serving. Three days and nights of drunkenness now follow. r V I c 99 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS The women of both families make the meals. They prepare beef or turkey with mole sauce. During the three days of feasting the bride is dressed in the clothes she received as presents. When the feast is over the groom takes his bride to his house. They can sleep together from the time they arrive at his house. Now they set a date for a Church wedding. It is usually after a long time, one or two years. Some people get married in the Church when they alr have two or three children. Others never marry the Church. After a Church wedding there is a c bration either in the house of the groom's or the brides' parents. Both families get together. Therel is beef or turkey, drinking and dancing. The new couple usually stay with the groom's ents during half a year or a year. Then they set u housekeeping by themselves. 13. Ritual for Taking Office (Tenango) All the officials of the town's government as well as the sponsors of Church festivals (mayordomos) have to perform private rituals in order to make sure of their well-being during their term of office. These rituals are performed before assuming the office; an- other ritual may also be performed at the end of the term of office, but this is not common any longer. Para lipite quella camas el teniente lliponacanic anuli loo este manera un perro (drawing of a dog) 79797979797979797979 79797979797979797979 0 79797979797979797979 0 79797979797979797979 0 79797979797979797979 0 anuli 100 y 999 100 y 9 lite camas (drawing of three turkeys) llix caixans anuli 100 7 laja 999. loli y 999 quelpoma anuli (drawing of a turkey) call mama 999 call alli 999 (drawing of a turkey) lane tonofimola len cuxnu faunall a lan cuxnugui culhuai 999.999.999. a fauchi Ilaca (drawing of three turkeys) y 9999999999, 999, y 200 9 (drawing of three turkeys) a fane 999.999.999. tangaica quel chila pella 999999999, 999, 999999999 el chineigua 9 (drawing of three turkeys) 999,999,999 el chineigua 9, y 999 y lupa coli 31 y afane 999999999999999997 999999999, y afane lupa coli y 999. 999 6 HHH-E; According to the informant all these rituals foi the usual pattern. There are offerings of pine sti copal, and a turkey to the Sun, the Wind, the Water etc. A dog or two are also sacrificed. The followi ritual is performed by a teniente when he assumne office. No formulae for the rituals performed by er officials or mayordomos were available. In order to pray to the Earth the teniente, the labor chief [the teniente is in charge of communal labor]. One 100 in this way; one dog. (Alternating piles of seven and nine sticks. One egg after every twenty piles, except after the first twenty.) One hundred 100 and (three piles of nine one hundred times and one pile of nine). The Middle of the Earth: (three turkeys). To the evil man [witch]: (one hundred piles of seven). To the Water: (three piles of nine sticks of pinewood and three piles of nine balls) of copal gum; one turkey. To the Mother [i.e., Earth or Moon]: (three piles of nine). To the Father [i.e., the Sun]: (three piles of nine and one turkey). At the road one offers to Powerful Spirit, to the Spirits of the Creeks: (three piles of nine, three times); three birds [i.e., three turkeys] (five piles of twenty sticks) [the last row has only 18 lines, however]; and (ten piles of nine and three piles of nine); and (two hundred piles of nine) (three turkeys); three (three piles of nine, three times) in between the great nines (nine piles of nine, three piles of nine, nine piles of nine); pine branches 9 (three turkeys) (three piles of nine, three times); branches 9 and (three piles of nine);. and pine-branch tips 31 and three (three times nine piles of nine); and three pine-branch tips (three pine branches); and (three piles of nine, three more piles of nine; six pine branches). I -I m I 100 I CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS El cavildo: 999999999 y 9 lupa coli I Cal chanx camas afane tangaica al caichi 7777777. 7777777. 7777777. guel famama gitine apella pedazo 111111111 y el xineihua (drawing of a turkey) Se pone esta mano onde ce acaba los pies el de aRiba y acaichi calchiqui coli The chapter [of Church officials]: (nine piles of nine) and 9 pine branch tips. To man on earth: three times seven (three times seven piles of seven). To sow the life: nine pieces (nine sticks of pinewood); and branches (nine branches); one turkey. This hand is placed where the feet end the upper one and seven dogs [i.e., cones] of pine. [Here was the drawing of a human figure with numbers denoting offerings written in the different parts of the body. The whole thing has been crossed out because, the informant said, it did not come out well.] la sentura as (sic) los pies yeba 37 y 7 y la Barriga al Rededor 21 catorce los 2 Brazos lleba 36 pescueso lleba asta su centido 13 de 7 y 2 cero (sic) forma al mono colocando todo cada lado para las belas de la higlecia ce cuenta los hilos de esta manera 12.12.12.12.12.12.12.12.12.12.12.12.) 12.9.11.9.10.9.10.9.10.) 999.) 9.9.9.9.) 999) 99) 99) 12) 9 12) 999999999) 9) 999) 999) 99) 9) 999) 99) 99) 777) 99) - 99. 999, 100, 7 cerresa 3 tres padre nuestro y 3 abe maria y 3 credo las animas un Responso y dios que nos dejaste This ritual is performed at a spring or a moun- top. It requires forty days of abstinence and con- nce plus three days without eating a thing. The od of continence starts in December and the rit- takes place in January. The sticks offered are of wood. The man prepares, first, a square with all the of- gs for the Earth and then another square with the other offerings. This second group of offer- is laid down in such a way that the offerings to different parts of the man's body form some kind human figure, whereas the other offerings form uare frame all around it. The branches are planted d this square frame and the candles are placed around the figure. en the two squares of offerings are laid down, an sets the first one on fire, and once it is burn- takes the dog, cuts its belly open and scatters the dover the burning offering, invoking the spirits eEarth, the water, mountains, wifids, etc. Then aves it to burn and goes to the other square, he sets on fire, and kills the turkeys in the us- ay. Ee humnan figure made of sticks represents the From the waist to the feet it takes (thirty seven piles of seven), and the belly around 21 [piles of] fourteen. The two arms take thirty-six; [from the] neck to his "sense" it takes 13 [piles of] 7 and 2. One shapes a figure by placing everything on each side. For the candles of the Church one counts the threads in this way: [the informant could not give a satisfactory explanation of these numbers]. One prays 3 Pater Noster and 3 Ave Maria and 3 Credo. (For) the souls, a response and God who left us. [This Dios que nos de,aste is probably the collect for the Corpus Christi feast: Deus qui nobis sub Sacramento mirabili passionis tuae memoriam reliquisti. ...P.C.] teniente himself who is performing the ritual. The purpose is "to sow his life," i.e., to make sure that he or his family will not die and that no harm will come to him in his work. This is like making a re- quest to the Earth that the good spirits will defend the man and the evil ones may not find a way to hurt him. When a sorcerer wants to harm someone he divines with maize kernels in order to find out whether his victim performed all the rituals (costumbres). If he did not, then the sorcerer can bewitch him. The whole human figure has to be shaped when placing the offer- ings. If anything is done incorrectly, sickness will enter through the part of the body represented in the wrong or missing offering. All the town officials have to perform a ritual of this kind, especially the president, alcalde, and ten- ientes. The mayordomos also perform rituals like thi s one. "Young people do not want to do these things any longer. What they do is take their guns and kill those who keep these costumbres saying that they are sor- cerers. Five years ago they killed a man, his son and daughter who had some old books. The man was some kind of a curer and sorcerer. They killed him because 101 102 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS of that, and so he could not teach his children. His ago [i.e., 192 papers were burned. It happened in Las Animas, a because of n rancheria of Tenango. Also in Zapotitlan, two years things. They 14. How to Divine with Maize (JiloteDne 49], they killed a man and his wife, partl1 noney they had, partly because of these r also were supposed to be witches." quillo) Para lipite quella camas tlano tejua 999.999.999.999. catl mama catl alli tan cay ca 999.999 999. quel capona cuxnu 111111111 - 111111111 - 111111111 tlano cuxnu 111111111 - 111111111 - 111111111 quel xutay 111111111 - 9 - 9 tla xutey 111111111 - 9 - 9 y tangayca 99999999 para malulli ylla el cuana el trabajo yma epay llommo quimo paulla pechi lo paa quel pxans camas 111111111 - 111111111 - 111111111 para lopi queama 999999999 tlomunchama 999 lo mane 999 lo cuena comane 999 laja afane pella loli y afane pella quelpoma 999999999 3 9 (drawing of three turkeys) cada uno En el nobre de dios padre mo capille tejua para malu y llano quel cuana quel trabajo pechi quelapa pechi guiguanma lite tlamas tlumpu lamaz tlu cuichamaz o llapona chaizmina quel chila canolle quel chila caponala o catl mama o catl alli o quel pachi faunatl o tlonchi quitine o tla cuequi juala o anuli quelchaz camaz Bamos a ber en el nombre De dios padre To pray to the Earth. To God of Corn: (twelve piles of nine). To the Mother and the Father, enter [i.e., Moon and Sun]: (nine piles of nine). To the Lord of the Spirit [or Lord Diviner, PC]: (three piles of nine). To the God of Spirit [or God Diviner, PC]: (three piles of nine). To Kel sutay: (three piles of nine). To La ?utey: (three piles of nine), and enter (nine piles of nine) [there are only eight nines but it should be nine according to the info rmant]. That it may tell me the sickness, the travail, I dream to live, where is it. To man on earth: (three piles of nine). For his "sense" (nine piles of nine); his heart: (three piles of nine); his hand: (three piles of nine); his other hand: (three piles of nine). To the Water: three [piles of] nine pinewood [sticks] and three [piles of] nine [balls of] copal gum (nine piles of nine and three piles of nine); (three turkeys) each one. In the name of God the Father. Egg-maize: [The maize kernels are compared with an egg because they are both alive] that you may tell me my sickness, my travail. Where was it born? where did it come from? the middle of the earth, the rim of the earth, the dust of the earth, or the Lord saismina [evil spirit], the great gods, the great lords, or the Mother, or the Father, or Miracle Powerful, or Master of Life, or the old mountain, or a man on earth [i.e., witch]? Let us see. In the name of God the Father .LvL4;6 ev, % -V L.%. F2 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS el fane maqui talejaa Capie tejua y 3 belas de sera de 3.9 de ylo iii por parte de dios iii las animas 777 gana su cuarenta dias y 3 dias de alluna para empezar This ritual is performed to prepare the maize ker- is used in divination, asking the Earth to give them Ipower to answer the diviner's questions, or, as informant once said, "to make the kernels wise." The preparatory period consists of forty days of ial continence during which the performer must tain from smoking, eat only in the afternoon, and aie every morning at dawn. Then follow three more ys of total fasting. Only then is a person ready for ritual. The ritual takes place on the last day of ng and continence, at a spring or a mountain top. nthe day of the ritual, the man goes to the corn- and looks for the largest ear of corn he can He picks it and from it takes twelve kernels, from a different row. These are the kernels he will keep in the future for divination. A divin- an have two different sets of kernels. the ritual the pinewood sticks are laid down and ed, the turkey is sacrificed, and the whole offer- is then censed, all done as explained in other rit- ce the maize kernels have been "made wise" this ritual they are ready to use without a full tition of the ritual. All that is necessary from on is that the diviner use his kernels with an stomach before breakfast. He has to be conti- the night before and has to take baths the evening *arly morning before divination. kinds of things can be divined with maize ker- :the cause of sickness, the person responsible wtchcraft, the name of a thief or a murderer. To o, the diviner throws the kernels on the ground. three times may it come out well, egg -maize. And 3 wax candles of 3.9 of thread (three candles), on the part of God (three candles); the souls of the dead (three candles). [The three candles for God have each a wick of three strands of nine threads. For the dead there are three tallow candles each with a wick of seven strands.] He gains forty days [of continence] and three days of fast to start. When a kernel falls with the heart facing up they say it is alive, if it falls facing down it is dead. The divin- er asks a question when throwing the kernels. If they fall six alive and six dead, the answer is yes. The ker- nels are thrown three times for each question and the answer should always be the same. The prayer included in the written formula is what the diviner says when he is casting his maize kernels in order to find out the cause of sickness. He names all the possible senders of sickness until an affirma- tive answer is obtained from the maize. A sickness coming from the middle of the earth (or the center of the world as this can also be translated) is sent by God; a sickness coming from the rim of the earth is owing to witchcraft. A sickness coming from the dust of the earth will be transitory. Next in the prayer are named the supernaturals that could have sent sickness. Of these llapona chaizmina is an evil spirit and a witch will be responsible for the sickness he sends. When the cause is found to be witchcraft, the names of sus- pects are mentioned and the kernels are thrown again. In the same way the names of suspects of mur der or of robbery are spoken and an answer obtained from the kernels. If one asks about the well-being of a person and all the kernels fall dead and in two lines, the person has no life, that is, he is going to die soon. A curer can also divine by dreaming. Some dreams mean that the patient is going to die, others that he is going to recover. The diviner has to sleep alone or in the fields; if he sleeps with his wife he will not dream. 15. How to Cure Fright (Suchiltepec) espanto tlano camaz 12 9. tlipindesmala tlanocamaz 12 9. tlano xpaiqui 12 9. el licencia 12 9. 12 9. quel huma quitine 999999999 tlixcaixans 77777777777777. 77777777777777. anuli ciento ciete caichi. 7 quel su mema quitine el xpaiqui 999999999. 0 Fright. To God of the Earth: 12 [piles of] 9. To Tlipindesmala (spirits) of the God of the Earth: 12 [piles of] 9. To God of Fright: 12 [piles of] 9. To ask permission: (12 piles of 9 twice). To Hunger of Life [or Spirit of Life?]: (nine piles of nine). (Vessel with three times thirty-nine pieces of copal gum put to burn with embers.) To the evil man [i.e., witch]: (twice fourteen groups of seven), one hundred [groups of] seven 7. To Hunger of Life [or Spirit of Life?], Fright: (nine piles of nine, one turkey egg U 103 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 999999999999. 999999999999. three times nine piles of nine 999999999999. 99999999999. eleven piles of nine, ten piles of nine 9999999999. 999999999. nine piles of nine, twice eight piles 99999999. 99999999. of nine, seven piles of nine, six 9999999. 999999. 99999. piles of nine, five piles of nine, 9999. 999. 999. 9999. four piles of nine, twice three piles 999. 99. 9. of nine, four piles of nine, three piles 7777777777 of nine, two piles of nine, one pile 7777777777 of nine, twenty piles of seven). [When translating this formula the informant interpreted quel huma quitine and quel su mema quitine both as "Hunger of Life," which he described as a spirit he did not know. From the explanation of the cause of fright and of the performance of this ritual formula, it would seem that a better interpretation is "Spirit of Life," or the human soul of the person sick of fright.] "Fright" occurs when someone has had a great scare and the Earth has captured his soul, or wahma kitine' (literally spirit of the day or of life). The curer who is going to treat a victim of fright is continent for nine days, and on the ninth day he does the curing. During these days he eats only once a day after noon. He cannot smoke, drink, or have sexual intercourse, and he has to bathe at dawn. This is to purify himself. If the place where the sick person was frightened is near by, the curer goes there; otherwise he can go to a high mountain from which the place of frightening can be seen. The sticks used in this ritual are copal wood. They are laid down at the time that the words written in the booklet are said. The offerings are placed in three different square piles, one with all the offerings to the spirits of the earth, another one with the offer- ings to the soul of the frightened man, and a third one laid down farther from the other two for the D il. The offerings to the Earth are burned first, the those of the Devil, and finally those to the sick per son's soul. The egg is placed in the center of the sticks and it burns with them. When the offerings the sick man's soul are burning, the curer censes them with the burner full of copal gum; he calls tb sick man by name and, taking water into his mouth blows it onto the flames. He will have taken a shir or some other used clothing of the sick person; he waves it like a flag while he keeps calling the sick man's name, and then takes it back to the patient puts it on. The sick man's soul is this way restor to its owner. The remnants of the burning are always remo so that it will not be noticed that a ritual has been formed. 16. Another Cure for Fright (Suchiltepec) para al xpaiqui 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 Toguafimallaf cuana los doce por doce to pangogonama 999.999.999 para licencia tlamaz aparte al doce aparte al nuebe aparte al 14 ciete toponoma alado 77777777777777 3 dia de ayuna de medio dia tliguama quitine One goes to a mountain top. The offerings are laid in two piles with the offerings to the Devil (the 14 piles of seven sticks) in a different pile, as the for- mula says; these are the first to be burned. The informant's mother cured several people with this prescription. For frighit. (Twelve piles of twelve pinewood sticks.) Rub the sick one (with) the twelve by twelve. Start to count (three times three piles of nine) for permission from the Earth. Twelve apart, nine apart, 14 (piles of) seven apart. Put aside (fourteen piles of seven). Fast of three days for half a day. Spirit of Life. (Three groups of nine pieces of copal to burn in a vessel.) The sticks used here are of pine; the curer ho them in bundles and, with them, rubs the patienta over his body in order to take out whatever sickll he has. The curer also uses a used shirt or other clothing of the patient and calls out his name Whi he censes, as in the other ritual. 17. How to Send Back Sickness (Jilotepeguillo) Para topayma el cuana [Here a few words had been crossed out with a pencil and then cut out with scissors.] litetla To send back sickness. This is what it eats: r I 4 r o 104 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS 999 - 999 - 999 - 999 - 999 - 999 - 999 - 999 - 999 - 999 - 999999999 0 999 999 -999 -999 -999- ;; 999 999 999 999 999 999 -999 - 999 111111111 se cuenta uno asta nuebe quince de nuebe y despues otro 25 de tres nuebe 999 una asta 25) 0 0 0 ) y despues 300 ciete x otro al mismo 200 ciete) y despues 41 nuebe 0 0 0 un perro ckness is a spirit that God sends in order to take y a person. At other times the Devil sends it be- e of the many prayers that the witches have ad- sed to him. The witches pray to the spirits in- i them of the bad doings of a person, and the s send the sickness. The spirit of sickness is air but sometimes it is seen in human shape; it nds on the luck of the person who sees it. It is like a woman. People have seen her and the cur- (onli) also know it is a woman. e village of San Pablo Topiltepec, for instance, dtroyed by sickness. An old woman, who was by the road, saw the figure of a woman com- ard the village; she was wrapped in a sheet s full of sores. The old wom-ian spoke to the :Where are you going? " The figure did not r, but merely stared at the old woman and d. The old woman asked again: "Where are you ?" And the figure signaled toward the village. a short time there was a great sickness in the e which almost finished it. e other people have seen similar things. en a person is lying down with sickness, people gods that he get well or else that he die at 18. How to Cast Out (five piles of twenty sticks; ten times three piles of nine sticks; nine piles of nine sticks; one egg; thirteen times three piles of nine sticks; one pile of nine sticks). One counts from one to nine, fifteen of nine; and then another 25 of three nine (three piles of nine sticks) from one to 25; (three eggs); and then 300 seven another one at the same (?); 200 seven and then 41 nine; (three eggs); one dog. once. People say that if the sick person has a short life and cannot get well it is better if he dies. When the curer performs this ritual he dreams whether his patient is going to live or die. He dreams of an old woman or an old man who tells him a word or gives him something. If the patient is to recover they give him a young maguey plant or a young corn stalk or a long lighted candle. If the patient is to die the curer dreams of receiving a tiny candle whose light is going out, or a white flower, a bag of corn, beans or sweet potatoes, or a pot of tamales ready to eat. This par- ticular prescription from San Lorenzo is to deal with a sickness sent by God. The father of the family per- forms the ritual. It requires nine days of continence, and takes place in the mountain. When there is an ep- idemic every household performs this ritual. Before sickness strikes the old people dream of it. They dream of a woman who asks for lodging like a traveler. If it is an ugly woman, this means sick- ness; if it is a young girl, it means an accident such as a wound from a fall or bullet. After such a dream this ritual can also be performed to ward off the dis-- ease. The purpose, then, is to pray that sickness may go back to where it came from. Sickness (Suchiltepec) leipa ama cuana yndulgencia 40 dias 99999 20 11111 9 200 99999 0 0 99999 200 11111 99999 To cast out sickness. Continence: 40 days. (Five piles of nine, twenty piles of nine, five piles of nine; two hundred piles of nine; five piles of nine; two turkey eggs, five piles of nine; two hundred piles of nine; five candles, five piles of nine.) s is another ritual to get rid of the spirit of ss. It is performed on the same occasions as ivious one. * prescription is of the type used by people not know how to read; that is why it consists almost exclusively of numbers and does not list the names of the spirits. It requires forty days of conti- nence, but to hurry up the ritual several people can get together; for instance, each of twenty men keep two days of abstinence, adding up to forty, and the rit- ual can be performed right away. " - | - 105 III. THE SUPERNATURALS The ritual formulae described in the preceding section are prescriptions of the kinds and quantities of offerings required. As such, most of them also name the entities for whom the offerings are intended. Some of these names are not precisely those of super- naturals, however, but earthly beings on whose be- half the offering is presented in order to obtain for them protection from the supernaturals. For instance, offerings are presented on behalf of the farmer (or his "sense") in the rituals of clearing, sowing, and harvesting (2, 3, 7); or on behalf of the woman who is going to grind the first corn of the season (4). Pro- tection may be asked for different parts of a man's body, as in the ritual for preparing maize kernels for divination, and for the man about to assume the office of teniente (13, 14). A similar interpretation is possible in the case of the land clearing and first corn rituals in which offerings are made to the ax, the machete, the stick, and the metate (2, 4). These offerings are made either because it is believed that the implements have supernatural power or, possibly, in order that humans may obtain supernatural protec- tion in the use of the implements. With these exceptions the rituals list supernatural beings to whom the offerings are addressed. We shall now discuss the nature of these beings and present additional information about the Chontal view of the supernatural world. First, let us examine the names of the supernaturals as they appear in the ritual for- mulae. Names of the Supernaturals in the Ritual Formulae Most supernaturals are related to elements of na- ture, and they often appear under the name of those elements without any title or qualifying name. For instance, there are offerings presented to Sky, Earth, Mountain, Water, Lightning, and the four directions. In most instances, however, the name of the natural element addressed is used together with a title that personifies it. Thus, instead of simply Earth or Moun- tain we find God of the Earth, Lord of the Mountain, etc. There are also names of supernaturals that have nothing to do with the name of any natural element. In all these examples we can see that a distinction can then be made between the natural element and its related supernatural. According to the informant everything has two dif- ferent spirits, one good and the other evil. Thus there are both kinds of spirits in springs, mountains, among thunderbolts, and so forth. In regard to the earth, for instance, the good spirit is a young woman and the evil one is an old woman. There is also a good and a bad spirit of the rainbow, a good and a bad guardian of the deer, etc. Among the more common spirit titles is lano (tlano, llano), which the informant always translated as God. We find references to the God of the Earth or of the World (lano kamats', various spellings, 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 15), God of the Mountain (llano qui juala, 3), God of the Woods (llano qui mucot, 3), God of the Sky (lano kemaa, 1), God of Thunderbolt (lano ketumi, 7), God of the North (lano kawa, 1), God of Maize (tlano tejua, 14), God of Beans (lano calane, 8, 9), and God of Fright [106] (tlano xpaigui, 15). (The last one is also appeale once as simply Fright, 15.) Another common title is lapauhnci or kapohni various spellings) which the informant translat dueflo and we render as Lord. Belmar (1900, II, 84; 1905, p. 190) equates tlapohna with amo (lor master). The only sixteenth-century report on Chontal describes lapucna as the headman of a ized kindred and representative of their ruler, equates the term to the Nauatl teguitlato and tle potec golabe (Relacion de Nexapa in Paso y Tr 1905, pp. 33-34). Tlapocna is also the first ele in the names of all the Chontal gods listed by M Gracida (1910, pp. 57-59). He does not state, ho the source of his data and much of what he says quite unreliable. Thus we meet in our formulae a Lord of the tain (3), a Lord of Lightning (3), and a Lord of Clearing (2, 8). The same title is also part of name of other supernaturals such as tlapouna qui tinle, Lord Master of Life (10), capona c Lord Diviner (14), and llapona chaizmina. desc by the informant as an evil spirit of the fields, of son, secretary, or errand boy of the Devil (1 Martinez Gracida gives a Tlapocna leimina as of Hell (1910, p. 59) which is probably the same two rituals the plural form, caponala, the Lord chila caponala (14), the Great Lords, is also us Another title of some supernaturals is onli. is the name of a curer or medicine man, that formant called maestro in Spanish. We transla as Master. Belmar (1900, II, p. 107) also trans maestro as tlomchi. There are thus conxi camas, Master of the (10) and tlonchi quitine, Master of Life (or of 14), or tlano conxi guitine, God Master of Life The Master of Life was described by the info as God the Creator. In the hunting ritual (10) some natural elem are invoked under the name of mun, which the mant translated as spirit (esplritu). Thus the S of the Mountain (mun qui juala), Spirit of the R (mun cuntenla), Spirit of Light (mun quepatl), S of the North (mun cagua) and the Northern Spi Light (mun cap-ua guepatl). One of the supernaturals more often addres Pa:si fawnal (paxi faunatl, pachi faol, and othe ings, 3, 8, 9, 10, 14). Our informant translated as "Miracle," or God, and fawnal as "powerful, "wise," or "great man." We have translated thi literally as Miracle Powerful. In the Chontal linguistic material published mar apashi is translated sacred (sagrado; Be 1900, II, p. 118) and calpashi, miracle (milagr mar, 1900, II, p. 108), while calfaunatl is give meanings: "great lord" and the Sun (Belmar, 1 I, p. 28). Our informant's meaning of the term agreement with these other data, but the iden tion with the Sun was not made by our inform was hesitant in describing this supernatural; said it was a God of the Earth. The main elem this name appear also in the names given by nez Gracida of the God of Fire, Tlapocna Pas and the God of the Sun, Tlapocna Cal Faunatl p. 58). The name faunal appears also as part name of other supernaturals such as Hunter 1 II .i el CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS ful (caima founatl, 10; leima founal, 9), Tree Power- dul (pate faunal, 9) lindisma faunatl, simply described ,as an evil spirit of the earth (1 1), Devil Powerful ontaa faonal, 8, 9) and cuxnu faunatl, Spirit or Di- yiner Powerful (13). The term cuxnu (kuinu), translated by the infor- as "spirit," enters into the names capona cuxnu, rdSpirit (14), tlano cuxnu, God Spirit (14), cuxnu utl, Spirit Powerful (13), cuxnugui culhuai Spir- s of the Creeks (13), and cuxnu cami (Spirit that rns [?], 3). Belmar (1905, pp. 201, 205) translates hnu (or kusnu) as diviner or medicine man (adi- me'dico). We have included this translation as alternative in the rituals where it seems to fit er than our informant's. Other supernaturals, the meaning of whose names not altogether clear, include llapona chaizmina na gaismina, Lord of Hell [?]), an evil spirit of fields (14), tlipindesmala, evil spirits of the Earth or perhaps the local spirits that capture the souls people suffering from fright (15), canolle (kanoye) ply translated as gods (10, 14), and len fanunla tumi, Spirits of Thunderbolt in one ritual (3), sim- as fanumla, or letuye fanumla in another (10). r names not explained, perhaps names of super- rals, are capitogui (10) and Xutey, or Xutay (14). In the following sections we discuss those super- rals about which additional information was ob- d from our informant. Reference is also made the rituals in which offerings are given to them. A number of supernaturals named in the rituals d not be clearly described by the informant, and additional beliefs about them could be had. This ests the existence of a certain amount of esoteric ledge exclusive to curers who have a deeper re- us knowledge than our informant. Lightning and Water Being s upernaturals connected with lightning and thunder- have been mentioned in some of the rituals, no- the Tenango sowing ritual (3) and the hunting 1(10) in which different names of lightning spir- are given. Stories and beliefs referring to lightning seem to quite developed. The two stories that follow are cularly interesting since they provide the world that is behind the burning of offerings to the and crop-bearing spirits. The first one is rly reminiscent of the Aztec Tlalocan, or abode t Rain God. A trip to the country of lightning. The thunder- lts (ravos) live in the middle of the seas at the rim of the Sky. God has a place there something ke a large house. There he has large trunks here the spirits of thunderbolts are kept. Other pirits are in charge of them and they do not re- ase them except by order from God. A Chontal man once went to the seashore. He ked to see the fish and he fished for a while. Sud- nly an alligator came, a huge animal that swal- wed him up and took him away. The alligator nt far away; he was a huge animal and did not the man, he just threw him up somewhere else d left him. The man could not find anything to at, he took to a mountain and came to some large ery beautiful houses. Tortillas, ears of maize, other kinds of food were lying all over the ce. The man saw that and said: "There is plen- to eat here." And he tried to eat something. A then spoke to him and told him not to eat it because that was their dirt, the dirt of the thunder- bolts. "Where am I?" asked the Chontal man. "This is where the thunderbolts rest," the other man said, and he took him to see several houses where the thunderbolts were. "If you want to see about this I now have an order to take out some thunderbolts so that they destroy such and such a village over there." The man followed him and saw how he opened a large box full of clouds. The clouds came out right away and the box was empty. The spirits of thunder- bolt that came out caused a great loss in that vil- lage and killed many animals. Our man was shown several boxes. "Here is a box to end the world, no one can open it except with an order from God. This other one," his guide said," has good weather rain. This other one is for just two or three showers. And now, you will take with you several kinds of seed." He gave our man pumpkin seeds, beans, gourd seed and chile seeds. [In answer to a question the informant said maize was not then given. For the origin of maize, see the story below.] He told our man to go to sleep so that they could take him back to earth. He fell asleep and when he woke up he was home in bed. In his belt he had the bag of seeds he was given: and this is the seed that he sowed on his land. While the man was in the country of the thunder- bolts, he saw their secret. When men burn offer- ings of pinewood and other things in their fields, the smoke upon reaching the country of the thunder- bolts turns into tortillas and other foods that the thunderbolts eat. The thunderbolt boy. A woman once went to the woods to look for medicinal herbs. She came upon a large pine tree and saw a boy stuck in it. The boy asked her to let him free. "I don't know my work well," the boy said, "this is the first time I've gone out and that is why this happened to me. I did not fall hard enough and I got stuck on this branch." The woman went back to the village to tell the men. Her husband came and got the boy out; he had to chop the tree in order to let him out. The thunder- bolt boy was grateful and told the man that he would be able to sow any kind of land he wished to. He gave the man a thunderbolt knife-who knows what that's like-and said: "Wherever you want to work you should take this knife and stick it in the middle of the clearing or on one side, and because of this knife it will rain in your field even in bad weather." The man did just that, wherever he sowed he stuck the knife without telling anyone. It rained well on his land and he gathered a good harvest while other people lost their crops. People wondered why his crops never failed and became envious. Finally the man told the people, but as soon as he told them the knife disappeared. As can be seen in the stories just given, thunder- bolts (letumi; rayo in Spanish) have the shape of peo- ple. When seen on earth, they usually appear as a naked young boy, as in the story. Human shape is also attributed to the rainbow (lu- pahe, in Chontal). The full rainbow is a man, whereas a half rainbow is a woman and very evil. If you show a red cloth to this female rainbow, as to a bull, she comes close to you. She causes fires, but our infor- mant had not heard of the common Mexican belief that it is bad to point toward the rainbow because it will rot your finger, or that it causes tooth decay. The Milky Way is not a supernatural, it is the reflection of the river on the sky. Other spirits connected with water are found in 107 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS springs. They appear as snakes and they can be either male or female. As was described before, the ritual of sowing a child's life has to take place at a spring. This ritual formula, however, is one that does not give a long list of supernaturals. A spirit of the creeks is addressed in the ritual for taking the office of ten- iente (13). Offerings are given to water in the latter ritual as well as in those for sowing (6), eating the first ears of corn (4) and preparing the maize kernels for divination (14). The wind is another weather element that receives offerings in the Tenango sowing ritual (3), where it is given different names. No elaborate beliefs about the wind were obtained. The whirlwind is connected with the Devil. (See below.) Another weather being is called Cometa in Spanish (comet), lowi in Chontal. This is a snake that flies. It comes out of a spring or a lake and falls again into another lake or into the sea. It is like a snake covered with burning oil or pitch that may drip and burn what- ever it falls upon. Because of this it shines when fly- ing; it is seen only in the night time. It causes thun- der but is dry like fire, it brings no rain. When it strikes a place in a way similar to a thunderbolt it burns; the more water one throws on it the more it burns. Toads and birds belong to Thunderbolt. The Chon- tal people do not kill birds except for eating and not then without asking for permission. One does not keep birds in cages and children are told not to kill birds because they belong to the thunderbolts. A story is told of a boy who used to kill birds and was struck by lightning. A number of birds announce rain. Thus when the nu9u bird (bereguicha in Zapotec) sings, it will surely rain no matter what the weather looks like; it never takes more than three days for the rain to come. The ko' bird (paiaro vaiuero in Spanish) when crying at the creeks in the morning announces rain in the af- ternoon. When it cries in the afternoon it announces wind. The lako? bird when crying in the morning also announces rain in the afternoon. Bolts and comets can be the nagual, or companion spirit, of people. When a man has a comet as his na- gual he is dull and quiet, he does not like to talk and is not friendly with anyone. Comets are rarely nagual. People realize that there is a comet nagual in a vil- lage, because when the comet crosses the skies it stops for an instant in front of the house of the man whose nagual it is. Sorcerers can talk to an evil thunderbolt spirit, who will then kill the sorcerer's enemies. When a man is to be killed by thunderbolts, he dreams of strange ugly people who are his enemies. The im- portance of thunderbolts and comets as companion spirits is seen in the following story. A fight between the Mareno and the Mountain Chontal. Marenios are the people of San Mateo del Mar, a Huave fishing village. They used to go to the villages in the mountains selling fish and shrimp. Once they came to the village of Santa Lu- cia. They sold their fish very well and the next tinle they came they raised their prices. The vil- lage authorities then complained and asked them to bring their prices down to what they had been before or else to stop selling and take their fish back home. An old Marenio who was among the trad- ers got very angry. "You are against us as if you were he-men," he said. "If you are really men wait for us at the fall of the first rains in May!" The authorities just listened quietly to what the Mar- eflo was saying. So this was the reason for the fight. When the rains came in May, the first time it rained ther was a great storm, with loud thunder. Lightni'n struck the church bell which cracked, the churd and some houses burned down, and it rained for so long that there was a landslide and part of t6 village, houses and all, slipped into the river. But there was an old woman in the village, it was she who defended the village; she was a gual, this old woman, a Comet was her nagual. the elders of the village got together in order decide what to do to save the village that was to be destroyed. "I will try and see whether I talk to the naguales," said the old woman. She cotton and a spindle and began to spin. As she drawing cotton to spin, a great cloud began to and rise and she was spinning and spinning an cotton rose up and up and turned into a cloud. had worked just an hour when the rain stopped it started to thunder and flash. But it was only der and flashes of lightning, there was no raim. All night long there was this dry thunder. At it was all calm and clear. - The people went then to see the village spr There were three springs, one at each side of mountain. At the first spring they found a big toad, at the second there was a dead snake, a at the third, a dead alligator. "These are their guales, these are the Marenios," said the old man. "We won; had we not won they would hay finished our village." They took the toad, the s and the alligator and carried them to the villa to show to all the people. All the villagers th gathered and the old woman said: "Let us tak venge on what they tried to do here." She went the neighboring villages to see what strength could gather to take against San Mateo. They a messenger to San Mateo to tell them to be r for such and such a day when the mountain pe (i.e. Chontal) would come to test their stren them. San Mateo did not want to, they askedfo peace, for an agreement. They said what had pened was enough of a test. Three elders of S' Mateo came to the mountains to sue for an ag ment and to ask to be treated as better than b ers. And this is how, in order to achieve sec the Marefto became compadres with the Moun people. To this day they call each other comr dres. The Sun and the Moon Among the heavenly elements we find Heaven dressed in some of the rituals (see 1, 8, 11) and four directions in one (1). A "Father" and "Mo are given offerings in a number of rituals (8, 10 14). In one instance the informant explained this being offerings on behalf of the farmers' father mother (8), but in another ritual (14) he explain expression as Mother and Father of the World," Moon and Sun, and in another instance (13) he s the term Mother referred to the Moon or the Ea and the term Father, to the Sun. The word fa other spellings), which is part of the name of an portant supernatural frequently mentioned in th uals, is applied to the Sun, but, as said before, informant always translated this as "Powerful without identifying it with the Sun. The following story, although apparently mrn with some kind of Hansel and Gretel tale, obvio belongs in the usual Mesoamerican Sun and Mo myth of which many modern versions have been corded in Oaxaca. I 108 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS There was a man who had a boy and a girl. His had died, and when he went out to work, the dren stayed home alone. They led a sad life. en their father came home, the boy always ned something when making a fire and the girl many people complained that he was too dar- One day their father got tired of being alone found himself a woman. This woman said that would marry him only if he killed his children. man agreed because he was annoyed with his dren, but he did no.t want to kill them. What he was to take them to a forest far away and very k. He took tortillas as provision for himself the children, and two gourds of water. When y arrived to the forest the man said: "I am go- to look around. You wait for me here." The went back home and left the children alone. en they saw their father was not coming back, y turned back and, following their tracks, suc- ded in finding their house. The man's new wife got very angry and said: e1, didn't you say you had killed them?" The asked her not to be angry, and said he would to kill them again. He took the children once e to the forest and left them further off, but children again found their way back home. The woman then told the man: 'If they come next time, I will leave you." And since this loved his wife, he took his children deep into forest where it is most difficult to find the way He took his children near a big tree and asked to wait there for him and not to worry, that would come back soon. The children then said y knew that he wanted to lose them, but he said o, Iam going to cut down some trees. If I don't e back soon, the noise I will make chopping the trees will lead you to me." The man took water gourds and hung them from a branch. wind moved the gourds, knocking one against other. The children heard the noise and they happy thinking it was their father who was mak- that noise. Finally they tired of waiting and t to meet their father, to find instead that it te gourds that were making the noise. They e sad; they remained there three days un- all their food was finished. They walked all und looking for a way out of the forest, but they d none. Finally they tired of walking and the climbed a tree. He looked in all directions and smoke coming up from near a big creek. They e so glad that they had found some traces of ple. They went after that smoke and came to ut where an old woman lived. She asked where .came from and the children told her their 'That's all right," she said, "you can stay e with me." She kept them in a room, gave them dto eat and took very good care of them and ed them every day. The children got fat. One the old woman took the girl out-she was the st-and when she went back to the house where were kept she was wounded all over her body. boy asked her what had happened and the girl him how the old woman scratched her body to ect blood for her and her children to eat. Then * the boy's turn. She took blood from his body then shut him in again to care for them so would get fat again. This lasted for some time the boy realized they were going to eat his r because they had fixed a big pot full of hot r. The old woman called the boy and told him, have to go on an errand, you stay here add- wood to the fire until the water starts boiling." The boy realized what it was, and when the old wo- man was stirring the fire, the boy hit the pot with a stick, the pot broke and the water spilled and burned the old woman whom he left there flounder- ing. He ran to break into the house and take his sister out and they ran into the forest because it was time for the sons of the old woman to arrive and they only thought of hiding. They spent several days in the mountains and finally they arrived at a town full of people. They had a fiesta and every year they had this fiesta to see who of all people would dare to swallow a burn- ing ember. But no one dared. Year after year they tried. Finally the boy and his sister ate the embers, A woman told them about it when they came to the town. 'Maybe you will dare. They say once you swal- low that you will be gods, you will climb up the skies and we will have light." When the children heard that, they were so scared of the old woman's sons, that they would find them and take them back, that they decided better to swallow the embers and die. The boy was the first to swallow the embers, then the girl swallowed some more pieces and ashes. As soon as they had swallowed it they swelled up as a sun ray, they became bright and rose up into the Sky. First rose the sun and then the moon. Other beliefs about the sun and the moon were ob- tained. Some, although recorded as isolated beliefs, appear to be connected with the story given above. Thus the coyote is said to have been the moon's dog which she failed to take with her into the sky. That is why it is said the coyotes always cry in the nights when there is a full moon. They cry and look up at their former mistress and remember the moon when she was on the earth with them. In a similar way the coral snake (coralillo) is said to have been a ribbon the moon was wearing when she left the earth. The Devil tried to pull her back when she was moving onto the sky, but he coxuld only grab her ribbon, which, as he touched it, turned into a snake. A spirit of the woods which causes men to follow her and get lost is also described as a former con- panion of the moon (see below). On nights when there is no moon, it is said that the sun and the moon are together. The eclipse is caused by an animal in the sxy, the sky-lion (kal Emu kema"a), who tries to eat up the sun or the moon. When the sun turns dark it is because he is fighting the mon- ster. If the monster should succeed and eat the sun, the world would come to an end, but he has not suc- ceeded yet. When during the eclipse the sun is dark- ened, many men get sick. In an eclipse of the moon, when the moon turns red, it is women who fall sick. The Earth, her Animals and Plants One of the most important supernaturals, addressed in practically every ritual formula, is the Earth. It appears under the name kamats' which the informant translated as either Earth or World, or as lano ka- mats', God of the Earth. The informant used the word God (Dios), not Goddess (Diosa), although he said the Earth is thought to be a woman and the term Mother can be applied to her. Many earthly supernaturals appear as specific lo- calities or local spirits. Thus the Center of the Earth (13), the Mountain, or the Spirit, Master, or God of the Mountain (2, 3, 6, 10, 14). the Woods (2, 3), the Mountain Ridge (6), the Slope (10), the Plain (9), the Lair of the Animals (10), the Master of the Clearing (2), the House (4). I 109 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS These local spirits can also be either good or bad. The earth being female, a good spirit will be a young woman, an evil one an old woman, but again the in- formant did not consistently refer to local spirits as females. Among the evil earth spirits are those who can capture a human soul and thus cause fright; lpaiki, Fright or lano lpaiki, God of Fright (15, 16). In for- mula 15, the term tlipindesmala tlanocamaz was ex- plained as a certain evil spirit of the God of the Earth, who also causes fright. Lindisma Faunatl (11) was also described as an evil spirit of the earth, and llapona chaizmina (14) as an evil spirit of the fields, somewhat like a son, errand boy, or secretary of the Devil. In the mountains resides another spirit of the earth. It is a woman named in Chontal nahio, meaning girl or hen. Some people may see her and hear her shout. Men in love often see her and she entices them, call- ing them and making gestures to them. They follow her and when they realize who she is they have al- ready walked deep into the mountains and are lost without having been able to overtake her. Then peo- ple say that the woman of the mountain deceived them. She is always described as a woman. She is heard shouting or laughing; usually she shouts three times in the evening. It is said she was the moon's compan- ion who stayed on earth when the moon went up to the sky. In the same way that certain animals are connected with lightning and water, others have close connec- tion with the earth. All animals have an owner (duefo) who is a spirit of the earth and the mountain. It is a male spirit, a sort of shepherd of the animals. In the description of the hunting ritual we mentioned the two spirits, one good and the other evil, that watch over the deer. The following story gives the origin of the deer: God had two little animals that were unable to walk; they stayed home all the time. He felt sorry for them. He cut some reeds and put them on as legs, and then cut a piece of cotton and put it on as a tail. Then He blessed them and sent them out and the deer jumped away very happy and went to the fields to eat. It was always this way with them when one day the Devil came and gave evil advice to the little animals. When God came to take them back home, instead of walking back to the house, they ran into the woods. For a second and a third time God tried to bring them back but he was not able to. Then He said, "Since you do not want to come alive, in the future you will come dead to the house of man," and to this day it turns out that deer are killed by men to take them home. Other animals mentioned in the rituals are the crow, ants, and termites. The ants and termites are given offerings in the sowing ritual (3) to keep them from eating the corn. The crow and the ants also ap- pear in the following story about the origin of maize: People say at first there was no maize. One day people saw an ant (arriera) carrying a kernel of maize. They followed it and after a long time learned how the ant took kernels from a big cave where ears of corn were piled up. People then watched the cave to see who was the owner of the corn. He finally arrived; it was the crow. People kept watching to see where the crow was getting the corn because he kept bringing more. Every twenty days, every month, the crow brought a new ear of corn. But who knows where he was bringing it from. It was never found out. The crow, then, as the story goes, is liked by the people because it was he who discovered maize. The origin of other cultivated plants is given in t story about the man who visited the country of Ligh$ ning. The God of Corn and God of Beans are also giN en offerings in some of the rituals (8, 9, 14). Dreams may be sent by a number of spirits. Thu the earth, the wind, the sky, and the dead can cause dreams. But most important and common are the dreams sent by the earth and the mountains. People say that the earth and the wind hear. There are different kinds of dreams. Some do no tell anything; they are no good for anything. Other dreams tell something that later turns out to be true Most people tell their dreams when they wake up a if they don't know the meaning they ask someone h knows; some will ask a maestro (curer). The most commnon belief is that while one lies down asleep the earth will speak. Some old men write their dreams when they wake up; there are thus books explaining the meaning of different kinds of dreams. The sam dream, however, can mean different things accord. ing to the person who had the dream. Spiritual Attributes of Man: Soul. Sense. and Companion Spirit Man's soul is named in Chontal wahma kitine, meaning spirit of life or day. It resides in the heanr or breath and has a human shape. People believe tk because when they dream of dead people, it is their souls that they see and they look just like people. A ing a dream the soul leaves the body and goes to mi other souls, and it even mixes with souls of the de* and that is why one dreams of them. The sickness caused by fright is owing to the lou of the soul that is captured by an earth spirit. Bea of this the soul is mentioned in the rituals for curi fright (15, 16). Death comes when sickness arrives with an ordex from God to take the soul away. Another quality of man is called sense or judgz (sentido, iuicio, in Spanish; lipikehma, in Chontal), This resides in the head. It can get out of the body and back again, as, for instance, when one looks h away and thinks of that place, the sense gets out bi it always comes back. Several rituals prescribe oI ferings on behalf of man, the performer himself. a relative, such as a woman who is to grind corn, on behalf of the man's sense (3, 4, 9). In the divining ritual (14) offerings are made on behalf of man, his sense, heart (i.e., soul), andhax In the ritual for taking office, various offerings ar made on behalf of different parts of the official's to make them safe from sickness (13). In one of the rituals man is named Son of Maize (ligua tegua, 7). The expressions "the evil man" "man on earth" refer to a sorcerer whose power harm is warded off or who is being asked to allow cure (9, 12, 13, 14, 15). Every individual has a companion spirit or called laiimak in Chontal and nagual in Spanish. A person gets a nagual according to the day of his Although every person has one, many people do n know which theirs is. It is some kind of animal, derbolt, or spirit. They say a person looks like nagual-his features are similar. Of persons who speak little and move accordingly, people say they have a tiger as nagual. 'These persons look very ble but it is a proven thing that the most humble the most evil." Some very powerful men have a th derbolt as a nagual. When a person prays to his nagual he can get do what he wishes, but one has to know how to pr There is no instance of a man turning into his na - - * - e y a I I 110 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS the nagual who acts by petition of his human panion. When a person dies the nagual also dies vice versa. Some of the beliefs about nagual are trated in the story about the fight between Ma- s and Chontal, given above. The practice of find- ut what the nagual of a child is by spreading ashes ad the house where the child has been born is not wed by the Chontal, according to our informant: t is what they do in San Mateo del Mar (Huave), e they inspect the ashes around the house look- fr the tracks of the nagual, whether snake, tiger, odile, or others. But this is not done by the Chon- Curers and Sorcerers man who has the knowledge and power to per- various rituals and to influence the supernat- s is named in Chontal ongi, maestro in Spanish. In r to become a maestro, a man has to go through riod of training, including continence ("indulgen- that will last three whole years. In this way he mes very powerful and brave and he can act al- as if he were invisible. he informant knows of a man who stood all three a of continence and praying. "And it so happened people shot at him several times and he never hit. People would take aim and pull the trigger eir guns would not shoot. This does not seem but it has been tested. Only once was this man ut they say the man who hit him was himself a tro. Anyway the man did not die, he is still alive." sorcerer is called utsu9 or lig kaisans ("Evil ), in Chontal, and brujo, in Spanish. He is usu- a man. e becomes a sorcerer in the same way one be- s a curer, by praying, learning from the written ets on the subject, and attaching oneself to anoth- rcerer whose secrets one buys. It takes a long dof continence, from one to three years. Then receives permission from the supernaturals to practicing. curer (maestro) and a sorcerer (brujo) are about ame, with the sole difference that the curer prays good spirits and the sorcerer to the evil ones. person can become a sorcerer by going through equired training, no special nagual (companion 't) is required, although the person who has a nagual will not have to become a sorcerer in r to be powerful. sorcerer, like a curer, operates by praying to pirits; he does not even have to touch the patient, es not transform himself into an animal. Sor- is simply like going to church to pray to a saint. sorcerer that wants to bewitch a victim shapes a form with pine and copal sticks in which all 'les of sticks are of seven sticks each. There are ets for this but the informant has never had one. ere is an evil spirit that sucks or bites the vic- When a person realizes he is being sucked, he ses it is this evil earth spirit who is doing it be- of the sorcerer; it proves he is being bewitched. e main Chontal concepts of disease have been ssed in connection with various rituals (see es- ly 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Some other concepts of se common in other parts of Mexico were denied informant. He has never heard among Chontal rking of magic on objects or belongings of the . He knew only of that type of sorcery as prac- in Tehuantepec with the victim's picture. The evil spirits suck the victim but do not draw blood out; this, he hcard in Tehuantepec, happens in Mexico. Neither does he know of Chontal sorcerers appearing as a ball of fire, although this happens in Tehuantepec. There seems to be no concept of disease by intrusion, whether caused by the earth (as among some Zapotec) or by sorcerers. Neither did the in- formant know of curing by sucking. The fontanel (mollera in Spanish) is called pewa, meaning "soft," in Chontal. It is bad to hit a child there because it will sink, thus causing sickness. In order to cure the child one has to grab him by his feet and shake him down so that the fontanel goes back in place. The informant knows of the cure by pushing up the pal- ate only because it is practiced in Tehuantepec. Some of these beliefs, unheard of by the informant among the Chontal, are reported by Martinez Gracida (1910, pp. 87-88). The Dead According to our informant the souls of the dead have no close relation with the people on earth. Once they are dead they break with this world, and although a dead person will feel sorry for his living relatives, he has no power to do anything for them; as the infor- mant puts it, the dead "do not have permission" to help (or harm) the living. In the ritual formulae the dead are presented offer- ings only in the hunting ritual (10), and a Christian prayer is prescribed for them in the ritual for taking office (13). The offerings to the dead in the hunting ritual are in units of seven, a number that the infor- mant associates with the dead, the witches and the Devil. Perhaps some of the unclearly defined evil spir- its are connected with the dead and the underworld. Unless some of these supernaturals that are unclearly identified by our informant are related to the dead, it would seem that the dead are of slight importance in the Chontal view of the supernaturals and in ritual. This would offer an important contrast with other groups in Oaxaca, such as the Mixe, among whom the dead are of the greatest importance. The following story was recorded about the origin of death: There is one kind of lizard named lin gawale' ka pimi, meaning "the lying lizard." This was once a human being. In the beginning, God chose a man as a messen- ger and told him to go to the place where all the dead had been buried and tell them His order: "God says that you should be dead for only three days, after the three days you should get out of there." This is the order he was given. The messenger left, but while on his way he got an idea: "No, I am going to tell them to stay down there for good." So he told them thus: "I come by the command of God that you shall remain there until your bones rot and only when your bones are thoroughly rotten at the end of the world shall you come out." For three times he repeated this mes- sage and then he turned back. When he came back, God asked: "What did you say?" And the messenger explained: "I said thus...." God simply cursed him. And he was so ashamed to come before God and to be cursed by God that he shrank into a small animal; he got lost and turned into a lizard because of God's curse. He is the most wretched of all the little animals. When a person is near death he has a presage in the form of dreams. The dream may have to do with the earth. The man sees policemen or armed men taking him away, and a woman (the Earth) bids him ill ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS goodbye. One may also dream of a light. Every per- son has his light in the skies and when he dies his light is put out. This is why when one dreams of a light going out it means that someone is about to die, and dreaming of a long candle means a long life. If a person has friends far away he has to notify them before his death. It is the person's soul or "spir- it of the day" that does this. The person himself does not realize what happens. He simply feels tired or sad while his spirit goes to see his friends. The spir- it cannot talk, so he throws pebbles or makes some other noise or shouts outside the friends' houses to attract their attention. But when people come out they find nothing. The dead all go to Heaven. There they are under God's command and they have no permission to leave. Grown-ups go to the Sun while the children go to the Moon. When children of nursing age die, the Moon feeds them so that they keep growing. The Moon has a tree that drips milk and thus children are fed. But after they grow up they still remain there; they be- long to the Moon. Asked whether the Devil also took some dead, the informant said he did not know. The dead have to pass some obstacles before reach- ing the other life. The dead person arrives at a place where there is a large lake and he has to drink it all up before being able to proceed. This water represents everything that the person has done on this world, whether good or bad. People who have never eaten gopher remain there for years drinking water and never able to finish. But if a person has eaten gopher while on earth, a gopher comes up to help. It digs underground, makes a hole, and the lake drains out in two or three hours. The dead also have to cross a river, and this they do with the help of a dog. It has to be a black dog, however, a white dog cannot cross the river. Of a black dog it is also said that it does not like the Dev- il, it never lets him into a house, but the Devil will count the hairs of a white or spotted dog and the dog will play with him. Some curers (onsi) while in a dream have visited the town where the dead live. They say it is a large city. There are many people and they all look the same; it is not possible to tell one from the other. But if one knows how, one can find a dead relative. A man visiting the abode of the dead should take this- tle seeds to throw at people. If he does not hit anyone he picks them up and tries again. When he hits some- one, it is because that one is a relative, and then he talks to him. All this -the informant says -is only a dream. Dreaming of the dead is considered a bad omen. It means that whatever the dreamer was thinking of doing will come to naught. According to our informant there are no rituals of the type described in this paper for the burial of the dead. A body should be buried wrapped in a mat. A coffin is not used because the earth will not receive the dead until the coffin has rotted, and in the mean- time the soul of the dead suffers. The body is buried with all the objects the living has used. If there are children surviving, they take the valuables; otherwise the belongings are buried, even if valuable. After a death it is not considered good for the soul of the dead if its relatives weep. The soul is ready to go but if it sees its relatives weep it wishes it did not have to go. That's why the survivors drink and sing. It is like a fiesta when people are invited to eat. It takes place before and after the burial. The spirits of the dead occasionally come back to earth taking an animal shape so that they can be s4 They always come to warn of some happening such, as a future death. They take the shape of an unidem fied animal called tsulah, which they say is an an4 from the "other life," or else they take the shape a snake called lakaipo 9, meaning "our tail." This comes from the belief that when a man behaves b while on earth, he will wear that snake as a tail Wi he reaches the other life; it represents the sin or crime committed on earth. This snake announces when seen on a treetop or other high place. The dead also come back on the Day of the Dea (All Saints' Day). At that time one can hear noises that are the conversation of the dead visiting on ea That is why offerings are presented on this day to dead. The Devil The Devil-londa9a, in Chontal-lives in the ali the same as God. He appears in many different fo but always as a human being. The evil spirits are helpers. The Devil is responsible for whirlwinds; he ge in and out of one at will. When a person is in bat he runs into a whirlwind which hits him or causes f right. One experience of meeting the Devil is that of informant's mother's grandmother. She lived at t time in a mountain village. It was a moonlit night at about 12 midnight the Devil passed by near wh they lived. He was on horseback laden with gold, ver, and all kinds of money. The steps of the hor sounded like hitting a chain because of the great" of money. The horse was black, the horseman wa talking in one language after another. The woman derstood Zapotec, and she heard the Devil speaki now in Zapotec, now in Chontal, now in another 1; guage. He was a heavy man dressed in black. Tbhe man at that time lived alone with two boys; they 1 the Devil cross the village. The whirlwind is given offerings in the Tenan sowing ritual (3), The Devil (lontaa fauonal, Devil Powerful), in the bean-sowing ritual from Chonte matlan (8). In neither case, however, do the pres offerings include the figure seven that the inform associates with the evil supernaturals. Story of the Flood 4 At the time of the great flood the mountain of Lorenzo Jilotepequillo saved the people. Every was covered by water except the top of that mo the water reached to 10 meters below the top. Yo can still see the line the water reached; that mo tain has a sort of a neck. God had his own people with Him, and after th flood He sent a man to the earth to see what he find. Many fish had died and the man saw many mals about to die, but God had not blessed them there was as yet no permission to eat. The man ever did not waste any time. He made a fire and to roast fish to eat right away. God waited for awhile and when He realized hi man was not coming back He sent a second one. when this one met the first man, he invited himn eat, and seeing him eat, he took something to eat there he stayed. God saw that His second man was not comin, He sent a third one. But again He realized that U I 112 CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS gnwas not coming back either because he also iyed behind in order to eat. God then sent a new ha and ordered him to punish the others. To the [at man who made the fire he ordered his head cut ?and placed on his buttocks and his buttocks on his a; this iS the dog. And the other men who also ate ered the same punishment and were turned into .ards (zopilotes). The dog was then given permis- to eat everything he wants and the same with the sards who are the dogs' helpers. Story of the Chontal King he Chontal and the Zapotec were at war. The ntal were surrounded by the Zapotec who had de- d them and wanted to finish them up. The Chon- d taken refuge on the mountain tops. It was then a woman fled from their town, from Pueblo Viejo Town), a town now deserted between Quiegolani Santo Domingo Chontecomatlan. The woman fled, to hide, and reaching the mountain she found a that still exists near Pueblo Viejo near the boun.- of Quiegolani. There she found a large egg. She it to her house to see what would come out of it. day the egg cried, burst open, and a child came 'The woman took care of it so that he would not and he grew up very fast. Soon he began to talk said his name was Fane Kantsini ("Three Hum- bird"). He told the people not to worry, that he had come to defend his people. He was bright and brave. The first day he went to fight he went to a large maguey, cut it up, took the fiber from its roots and used it for his bow. The Zapotec had stolen a weapon from the Chontal, who knows what it was. Three Hum- mingbird made this other weapon that always killed; he put poison in his arrows. He asked his people not to fight with him, to leave him alone. He fought for three days and three nights. After three days the peo- ple went to the trenches to see what had happened and not a single Zapotec was left. Three Hummingbird had killed them all. He then made some ovens, and there he put all the people he had killed. Half he took for his people to eat, the rest was burned. There are three ovens still there to one side of Pueblo Viejo near the boundary with San Bartolo Yautepec. Finally, the war came to an end. Three Humming- bird distributed his people; he placed them in groups as detachments in every mountain in order to be ready to defend them. Even today the villages are on the moun- tain tops. They then made a feast to celebrate their victory over the Zapotec, and then their king disap- peared. It is not known where he went. Some people say he went to the same cave he had come out fronm. [An elaborate account of this Chontal King is given by Martinez Gracida, although he does not explain the source of his data (1910, pp. 255 ff.). The neighboring Mixe also tell a similar story (Miller, 1956, pp. 105- 109).] 113 IV. CONCLUSION This collection of ritual formulae covers a major- ity of the occasions on which rituals of the pagan type are performed. When more than one formula is avail- able for the same ritual, it is clear that within the same general pattern great differences in detail may exist. The informant knew of some other occasions that also call for a ritual. One is a ritual performed when the maguey is buried in the pit oven for making mes- cal. Offerings of pine sticks are then presented to various supernaturals according to the usual pattern. There is also a new-house ritual, in which offerings of pine sticks and eggs are buried at the four corners, at the door, and in the center of the house. Written formulae for these rituals exist but the informant had not been able to obtain them. Written booklets are al- so extant on the interpretation of dreams, on the me- dicinal qualities of herbs-some herbs have prayers addressed to them before they are cut-on how to be- come a curer, and on how to work sorcery; but again none of these written documents were available. There are also several kinds of prescriptions for the rituals required of various civil and religious officials (ma- yordomos) before assuming their office. Of these only the teniente ritual was obtained. The informant did not know of rituals performed in connection with the steam bath, weaving, or pottery making. One reason he gave was that those are wo- men's tasks and only men participate in the rituals. He also denied knowledge of rituals upon starting a trip, although some omens are observed before de- parting, based on observation of animals and on dreams . In spite of many differences of detail, a general ritual pattern is clearly discernible from this collec- tion of ceremonies. Rituals are private affairs related to the initiation of technological activities or to events in the life cy- cle of an individual. The participant is a man, the head of the family concerned, who may have the help of a son or other male relative. If the services of a professional practitioner, such as a curer, are re- quired, he of course is then in charge of the ritual. Most rituals take place in lonely spots far from the village, partly because the rites center about ac- tivities, like farming and hunting, which are carried on outside the village (only a new-house ritual will take place in the village), and partly because of the need to be close to the supernaturals involved which are those of mountains, springs, and other "hidden places" (lugares ocultos), as the informant put it. The informant also emphasized that prayers should be said in these hidden places. Another factor is proba- bly the fact that, at least in recent times, these ritu- als are considered superstitions by some people, and a person performing them may be persecuted by "pro- gressive" village authorities. The individual performing a ritual'has to observe what is called in their Spanish indulgencia (literally, indulgence), meaning sexual continence for a deter- mined number of days. A stipulated period of fasting and baths may also be required. Separate offerings are presented to different supernaturals and are also presented on behalf of different individuals and even on behalf of various parts of the performer's body (cf. 13, 14). The offerings are laid on the ground as [114] the supernatural concerned is addressed. This la of offerings is called postura ("placing") and the is used in the title of the booklet containing the hi ing ritual (see 10). The main offerings are sticks of pine or copal about a jeme long (thumb-index span), about the a of an ordinary pencil and thick as the thumb. Thea are arranged in a stipulated number of piles or, dles, each of which will also consist of a require4 number of sticks. Other offerings are copal (inc pine branches, candles, eggs, and bloody sacrifi of dogs or turkeys. Offerings are burned at the of the ceremony. A very important element is the use of ritual bers, since different numbers of sticks or other ings are required; even the number of strands candle wick will have ritual significance. The n know the exact number of offerings required for, supernatural is probably the main reason for th i cording in writing of the ritual formulae. The s plest ones are simply number recipes (see 18, stance). We leave to the numerologist an attempt, work out the ritual meaning of the various numb~ used. The obvious pattern, and one the informant aware of, is the prevalence of 7 and 14 in offer' to evil spirits, witches or the dead, and of 3 or tiples of 3, especially 9 and 12 in other instance, Four, which was so important in Aztec ritual, is common here. The informant denied knowledge of a ritual c dar of the usual Mesoamerican type, but since r' similar to those here described are regulated neighboring Mixe and southern Zapotec by the day count, it would be worthwhile to investigate ther the possible existence of a ritual calendar. The system of rituals described in this paper fers numerous similarities with those in other of Mesoamerica in which pagan rituals have su The private character of these rites, their con with technological activities and events in the cle, the stress on fasting, continence, and ritual bers, and most of the kinds of offerings presen have a wide distribution throughout Mesoameri Perhaps the most distinctive type of offering the Chontal are the sticks of pine or copal wood in piles or bundles and in stipulated quantities. Mixe towns, however, also have this type of of (Miller, 1956, pp. 224-225, 255, 256), and a s' use of bundle offerings has been reported for tec and Tlappanec of Guerrero, although here ferings are not of sticks but of leaves or of se of reed stalks (Schultze Jena, 1938, pp. 65, 144 The use of written documents recording pa uals characteristic of the Chontal has not been ported in modern times in any other area, and' clearly the outstanding feature in the ritual pa here described. One should keep in mind, howe the use of written documents in connection with ligious aboriginal survivals in Colonial times. have thus the Chilam Balam books in Yucatan the calendrical books of Highland Guatemala. xaca the Zapotec of Sola de Vega also had cal cal books in the seventeenth century (Berlin, 1 pp. 17-19), and booklets with the ritual day co used even today by the Mixe. It thus seems tha the most distinctive traits of Chontal ritual to t L I CARRASCO: PAGAN RITUALS AND BELIEFS imply be the result of differential survival and an laboration of features from an old, widespread Meso- erican pattern. The supernaturals, as nature spirits, are also of e usual type in modern Mesoamerica and offer many ilarities in detail with those of other areas. It uld also seem that among the Chontal, as among neighboring Mixe, there is, relatively speaking, uch stronger development of ritual, as exempli- dby the formulae here described, than of mythol- * The beliefs and stories obtained from our infor- t are not much more developed than what is found ong other Mexican Indians-the Mitla Zapotec, for tance-that have no system of pagan rituals like one here described. Another interesting aspect is the small number of ristian elements in these Chontal rituals. Through- the whole of modern Mesoamerica many different configurations of ritual and of ritual organization are found. These configurations vary according to the in- terconnections and relative importance of public rit- uals conducted by officials of the town's politico-re- ligious hierarchy and private rituals conducted by the individuals concerned or by private practitioners. They vary also according to the relative importance of pa- gan and Christian elements in each of the two ritual systems. Among the Chontal there seems to be a sys- tem of private pagan rituals which show very little Christian influence and are without connection with the public Church rituals. Since all Mesoamerican ritual configurations are the result of different types of acculturation, a comparative study of them could yield important results. It is hoped that this report may contribute material to such a study, and also arouse interest in the hitherto unknown Chontal. 115 BIBLIOGRAPHY Belmar, Francisco 1900. Estudio de El Chontal. (In two parts.) Oaxaca. 1905. Lenguas indlgenas de Me'xico. Familia mixteco-zapoteca y sus relaciones con el otom l-Familia zoque-Mixe-Chontal- Huave y mexicano. Medxico. Berlin, Heinrich 1957. Las antiguas creencias en San Miguel Sola, Oaxaca, Me'xico. Beitrage zur mit- telamerikanischen V3lkerkunde, IV. Her- ausgegeben vom Hamburgischen Museum fur Volkerkunde und Vorgeschichte. Ham- burg. Martlnez Gracida, Manuel 1910. Civilizacio'n chontal. Historia antigua de la Chontalpa oaxaquefla. Memorias y Re- vista de la Sociedad Cientlfica Antonio Alzate, vol. 30, pp. 29-104, 223-325. Memo ria 1940. Memoria de la primera asamblea de fi logos y lingiUistas. M6xico. Miller, Walter S. 1956. Cuentos mixes. Mexico, Instituto Nacio Indigenista. Paso y Troncoso, Francisco del 1905. Papeles de Nueva Espafta. Segunda sei Geografi:a y estadistica. Vol. IV. Rela- ciones geograficas de la Dio'cesis de 0 xaca. Madrid. Schultze Jena, Leonhard 1938. Indiana III. Bei den Azteken, Mixteken und Tlapaneken der Sierra Madre del von Mexiko. Jena. Waterhouse, Viola, and May Morrison 1950. Chontal Phonemes. International Jour American Linguistics, vol. 16, pp. 35- [116] APPENDIX: THE DOCUMENTS 1. A booklet of fourteen pages, 13.7 cm. by 11 cm., ataining the formulae and other data on the hunt- ritual of Tenango; it is fully described in number D. 2. A letter-size piece of paper on which Juan Rodri- zs had typed four rituals, all of which are from to Domingo Chontecomatlan. The document has heading "TEHUANTEPEC!. oax. junio de 1941 or 9 pesos." Then follows under the title "PARA- bMBRAR" the sowing ritual described in number under 'PARA PISCAR ! !" is the harvest ritual *cribed in number 7; under "PARA CEMBRAR IJOL" is the ritual for sowing beans (8); and, with- separate heading, the ritual to be performed when ans blossom (9). 3. A second typed sheet (ruled white paper 20.5 ~. by 24.5 cm.) that contains four rituals from Ten- go. It has a number of corrections written in with all-point pen in blue ink. These are mostly added nas and corrections of typed double l's into what ks like written double l's but probably represents sounds and have been so transcribed. The rituals esented are: "Ia. PARA SEMBRAR," the sowing tal described in number 3 (the end of this tran- ript is marked by the line "2a. FIN"); the ritual to performed before eating the first green corn (no ading; see number 4); "3a. PARA PISCAR LA ZORCA," the harvest ritual described in number and, under a typed "4a" and a handwritten "para nenzar a rosar," the land clearing ritual described number 2. 4. A booklet of seven leaves of ruled paper, 22.2 . long by 15.7 cm. wide, torn from a copy book. I ve nurnbered the pages 1-14 in pencil. Most of the terial is written in blue ink, but some parts are in cil. Some pages are blank and others contain ma- terial irrelevant to this discussion and hence not tran- scribed. The first page includes the address of Mr. McDougall and a few personal names. Pages 2 and 3 in a dark- blue ink of a shade different from the rest of the book refer to a trip by the informant with Mr. McDougall which started February 14, 1940. It simply gives the altitude in feet of a number of places in the Chontal country. Immediately following this on page 3, but written in pencil, is a prayer to the loadstone (oracion piedra iman) of the type to be found in the popular magic books sold in Mexico. Pages 4 and 5 contain the Ten- ango ritual performed by a man assuming the office of teniente. We transcribe it in number 13. Page 6 has the marriage ritual, also from Tenango, described in number 12. Page 7 has only a few scribbles. Page 8 and part of page 9 have the ritual for divining with corn, discussed in number 14. The rest of page 9 again has a prayer to the loadstone, written in pencil. Page 10 gives the ritual for sowing a child's life from San Lorenzo Jilotepequillo, described in number 11, fol- lowed without any heading or spacing by the ritual from the same town to ward off disease, explained in num- ber 17. A formula for curing fright from San Miguel Suchil- tepe c is found on page 1 1; this is written partly in ink and partly in pencil; we describe it in number 15. Page 12 is blank except for a couple of irrelevant words. On page 13 is the pencil-written formula to throw out disease described in number 18, and the cure for fright transcribed in number 16. They are both from San Miguel Suchiltepec. It also has the date April 26, 1941. Page 14 is blank. All these documents are at the Museo Nacional of Mexico. A photographic copy is also available at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. [117]