In the World of the Sun: A Cognitive Model of Mayan CosmologyAuthor(s): John M. WatanabeSource: Man, New Series, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Dec., 1983), pp. 710-728Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2801904 .
Accessed: 24/05/2014 07:10
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [emailprotected].
.
Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserveand extend access to Man.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
IN THE WORLD OF THE SUN: A COGNITIVE MODEL OF MAYAN COSMOLOGY
JOHN M. WATANABE
Harvard University
Linguistic data from Mam, a contemporary Mayan language spoken in western Guatemala, is used to construct a cognitive model of Mayan cosmology. Terms for the directions, verb paradigms and the demarcation of time periods reveal a conception of space and time in which directionality, motion and time are inextricably linked to the movement of the sun. In Mam terms, direction does not exist independently of motion. Cardinal directions are defined as vectors rather than as fixed points in space. East and west become moments of reversal in the sun's diurnal oscillation between the horizons, and up and down are the only other, non-invertible spatial directions. Also modelled on the passage of the sun through the heavens, time is embodied as this movement between the eastern and western horizons. Comparison of this cognitive model with ethnographic as well as archaeological evidence suggests that a similar structure underlies all Mayan cosmologies.
Miguel Leon-Portilla has called a passion for time 'the soul of Maya culture' (1973: I I2). Yet the precise nature of that time and the structure of the physical space through which it passes remains largely unexplored on a comparative level. Most comparative studies of Mayan cosmology have been attempts to reconstruct Classic Maya cosmology based on ethnographic and ethnohistorical sources treated as fortuitously preserved remnants of that cosmology (cf. Villa Rojas I973; Girard I962; LaFarge & Byers I93I). A notable exception to these piecemeal studies is Hunt's work on Mesoamerican symbolism. Taking a structuralist approach, her analysis reveals a Mesoamerican symbolic deep structure based on a 'quadripartite, yearly, agrarian, solar calendric cycle' (Hunt I977: 248). She carefully stresses, however, that this deep structure, or arma- ture, arises not from the universal characteristics of the human mind but from a 'root paradigm of ecology, agrarian schedules and invariant astronomical events' (I977: 249).
The purpose of this article is to further such systematic comparison by clarifying a relationship between cognition and symbolisation that remains crucial, but often implicit, in the structuralist approach. I do this by outlining a cognitive model of Mayan cosmology based on an analysis of the concepts of space and time in Mam, a modern Mayan language spoken in the western highlands of Guatemala. Here I define 'Mayan' as the past and present Indian peoples speaking genetically related languages and occupying the geographical region extending from the Yucatan Peninsula in the north to the western regions of El Salvador and Honduras in the south (fig. i). By cosmology I mean the formal categorisation of space and time. What is intentionally lost ethno-
Man (N.S.) i8, 7IO-28
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 7II
graphically by such a restricted cognitive definition of cosmology will, it is hoped, be compensated by increased analytical rigour and the greater compara- tive utility of the resulting model.
/~~
Gulf of Mexico YUCATEC
MEXI/CO (
CHOL ,I
TZOTZ I LX
,iKANJOBAL
\ JACALTEC IXIL ,
/ M-AM- OUICHE
CAKCHIQUEL e'HONDURAS
/ GUATEMALA
Pacific Ocean EL SALVADOR
FIGURE I. Approximate distribution of Mayan groups mentioned in the text.
In attempting to answer the question of how the Maya conceptualise space and mark the passage of time, I begin my analysis with language for several reasons. First, the logical relations and structural patterns embedded in the morphology, syntax and semantics of a language provide concrete material for circ*mscribing the otherwise elusive concepts of space and time. Second, while language does not determine perception, it certainly shapes the way in which perception is expressed. Such expressions in turn draw attention to those aspects of the physical and social environment that serve to order space and time. Third, linguistic features are mnuch more impervious to the vagaries of history than are other aspects of culture. Given the genetic linguistic relationship between Mayan groups and their long-term occupation of a contiguous geographical area, a linguistically derived model of Mayan space and time need not depend on any particular historical constellation of cultural traits but can represent a more fundamental cognitive order which itself underlies those traits. This cognitive order rests on the two greatest continuities between Mayan groups-their languages and their geographical contiguity.
The purpose of the model developed in this article is neither to assert the paradigmatic nature of Mam cosmology nor to reconstruct some primordial Mayan cosmology using Mam concepts. Rather, I hope to demonstrate as concretely as possible the cognitive motivations behind all Mayan cosmologies. I begin with the Mam case simply because I know it best. Using this material, I develop a cognitive model of Mayan space and time which can be tested against available ethnographic and historical sources. Such comparison reveals a per- vasive, distinctly Mayan perspective that embodies all that has been called the Mayan passion for time.
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
712 JOHN M. WATANABE
Mam cosmology Mam is spoken by over 400,000 Indians in western Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico, making it the third largest language in the Mayan family. It has probably been a distinct language since about A.D. 500 (Kaufman I974: 85). Local linguistic variation is great, nearly every town in the Mam area speaking a distinctive dialect. The following analysis is based on the Mam spoken in Santiago Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. This small township of some 4000 Indian subsistence corn farmers was studied by Wagley in I937
(Wagley I94I; I949) and restudied by me from I978 to I980 (Watanabe Ig8Ia; I98Ib; I98ic). Despite the dialect variation I believe the analysis presented here holds for at least all the dialects of Northern Mam, if not for the language as a whole (cf. England I975: I-2). Mam transcriptions are written in the practical orthography developed by Kaufman (I976a: 89, 92-3).
Space. Mam names for the cardinal directions allude to the daily journey of the sun across the sky. These names are derived from four intransitive verbs of motion. Okni 'east' comes from the verb ook 'enter'; elni 'west' is derived from eel 'go out'; jawni 'north' comes fromjaaw 'go up'; and kubni 'south' is related to kub 'go down' (fig. 2). The association of east and west with the movement of the sun is made even more explicit through the use of the verb ook 'enter' for sunrise and eel 'go out' for sunset. It is important to note that the words for north and south do not really refer to cardinal directions at all. The primary meanings of jawni and kubni are 'up' and 'down' respectively, and not their directional significations. When Mam speakers say that they are going jawni or kubni, elevation takes precedence over direction. Mam speakers generally refer to north and south as iky'ni 'along'. Like the other directional terms, iky'ni comes from an intransitive verb of motion, iky' 'pass by'. This conception of north and south is reminiscent of Tzotzil, another Mayan language, where north and south are indiscriminately called the 'sides of the sky' (Vogt I969: 298).
iawn, up
(NORTH)
elni okni out in
WEST _ EAST
kubni down
(SOUTH)
FIGURE 2. The principal directions of Mam space placed around a schematised moun- tain as drawn by an informant.
While Mam names for the directions can be mapped onto the four cardinal directions of Western cosmology, close examination of their derivation and use
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 7I3
suggests a quite different semantic evaluation of physical space. Names of east and west refer to the movement of the sun; north and south are only secondary meanings of the words for the 'directions' up and down-these latter also referring to the movement of the sun. The semantically weak association of jawni with north and kubni with south may well be an artefact of the imposition of hispanic concepts on Mam. Given the Mam categories by themselves, the east-west axis defined by the path of the sun appears to be the only horizontal dimension of Mam cosmological space. The principal Mam directions are most accurately translated as 'in', 'out', 'up' and 'down'. We cannot assume that they are identical to the Western cardinal directions of north, south, east and west.
Verb paradigms. The suspicion that Mam space holds a shape distinctly different from Western conceptions is further reinforced by an examination of the verbs of motion linked to the principal Mam directions. While north is the principal cardinal direction by Western reckoning, east is the primary direction in the Mam system. The two verbs related to okni and elni make this clear.
The verb ook 'enter' also implies 'move toward the east', while eel 'go out' can also mean 'move towards the west' (cf. England I975: I94). This is consistent with their usage for sunrise and sunset. These verbs, however, refer not only to the movement of the sun but also to any journey or motion in roughly an easterly or westerly direction. Ook and eel can combine with xi7 'go' and tzaaj 'come' to form a highly inflected paradigm of compound verbs referring to east-west movement (fig. 3). The combination of ook with tzaaj 'come' and xi7 'go' denotes easterly motion towards or away from the speaker; the combi- nation of eel with these verbs refers to westerly motion toward or away from the speaker. The semantics of these compound verbs reveals that east-west move- ment is always described as beginning or ending in the east. Eastward motion is thus expressed in terms of its destination as 'going in' or 'coming in' towards the east, while westward motion is expressed in terms of its origin as 'coming out' or 'going out' from the east. Such usage remains consistent regardless of the distance involved, whether it be a walk from one side of the village to the other or a journey halfway across the country. The verbs describe the relative movement between two points while simultaneously orienting this motion to a cosmological reference point which alludes to the rising sun.
eex eetz 'to go out' 'to come out"
WEST *EAST location
of speaker
ooktz ookx 'to come in' 'to go in"
FIGURE 3. The paradigm of Mam compound verbs for east-west movement. The arrows indicate the direction of motion described by the verb. Note again the semantic primacy of east expressed as the origin of westward motion and the destination of eastward motion.
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
714 JOHN M. WATANABE
It is also important to note that the directional significance of ook 'move eastward' and eel 'move westward' often takes semantic priority over their meanings 'enter' and 'go out' when the two sets of meanings are simultaneously applicable. This confused me for some time since the original glosses I received for ook and eel were 'enter' and 'go out'. When visiting friends who lived to the west of my house in the town, I would enter their house and often be greeted with the question mapa tz'eetza 'Have you come out [to visit us]?' Assuming that we were both referring in some confused way to my entry into the house, I would politely respond, maa7y, ma chin ooktzi 'Yes, I have come in (side)'. I received polite nods but disconcerted glances. Conversely, when visiting friends in the eastern part of town, I would sometimes be greeted before entering their houses with mapa tz'ookla 'Have you arrived (inside) [to visit us]?' I only gradually came to realise that their questions referred to my eastward or westward movement through the town rather than to my movement into or out of a house. When referring specifically to movement into or out of an enclosed space, ook 'enter' and eel 'go out' can be used alone or in their compound forms with xi7 'go' and tzaaj 'come' regardless of direction. This, however, represents the marked form of usage. When the referent movement is left unspecified, the unmarked usage most frequently carries the directional significance of eastward or westward movement.
Verbs related to the other principal directions ofjawni 'up' and kubni 'down' can also occur in compound forms with xi7 'go' and tzaaj 'come'. Unlike the compound forms of ook and eel, however, these forms carry no implicit directional significations. They simply refer to vertical movement toward or away from the speaker and do not imply movement to the north or south (table i). Downward movement even to the north is always kubni, never jawni; upward movement in a southerly direction remains jawni rather than kubni. Conversely, jaaw 'go up' and kub 'go down' are never used to refer to easterly or westerly movement even when such movement requires climbing or descend- ing over rugged terrain. Vertical movement remains semantically subordinate to east-west movement.
TABLE I. Mam compound verbs of motion.
Verb Translation Motion
eel (eel + tzaaj) 'come out' E to W towards the speaker eex (eel + xi7) 'go out' E to W away from the speaker ookila (ook + uul) 'arrive inside' W to E towards the speaker ookx (ook + xi7) 'go in' W to E away from the speaker jaawtz (jaaw + tzaaj) 'come up' Up toward the speaker jaawx (jaaw + xi7) 'go up away' Up away from the speaker kutz (kub + tzaaj) 'come down' Down towards the speaker ku7x (kub + xi7) 'go down away' Down away from the speaker
aThe expected form here should be ooktz (ook + tzaaj) 'come in(side)' which does actually occur. In Santiago Chimaltenango, however, ookil is more commonly used, uul meaning 'arrive here'.
Mam thus has four directional terms derived from four verbs, each verb having a directional and a motional significance. These verbs can be grouped into two pairs according to whether the directional or motional meaning is
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 715
semantically dominant (fig. 4). For the pair ook-eel the directional meanings of 'east' and 'west' take precedence over the motional referents of'in' and 'out'. For the jaaw-kub pair the motional referents 'up' and 'down' take precedence over the directional meanings 'north' and 'south'. Semantic dominance in each pair is determined by marked and unmarked usage. In both pairs the subordinate sets of referents, 'in-out' and 'north-south', represent the marked term that must be specified by its context of usage. Conversely, the dominant set of meanings, 'east-west' and 'up-down', apply everywhere else when the referent remains unspecified and therefore unmarked. Furthermore, the dominant meanings of each pair are also semantically ranked in relation to each other, with 'east-west' taking priority over 'up-down'. Here again the importance of the east-west axis in ordering Mam space finds expression in the hierarchical semantic usage of specific verb paradigms.
ook - eel jaaw- kub
[1] east- west
Z </\\
0 UNMARKED MARKED
in -out north - south
FIGURE 4. Mam directional terms paired according to their marked and unmarked referents.
Directionality itself is an essential aspect of Mam verbs in general. Most transitive verb phrases include auxiliary elements called directionals that refer to the directional effect that the main verb has on its object. Directionals in Mam function much like adverbs in English sentences of the type, 'He took out the trash and let in the cat'. Two points should be noted. First, the use of directionals is stylistically almost mandatory with transitive verbs. Direction is thus a pervasive quality of transitivity in Mam verbal semantics. Second, while a verb can often take more than one directional depending on the intended meaning, each transitive verb takes a preferred directional when elicited in a citation form, Of the eleven simple and nineteen compound directionals, however, six are most frequently used in such citation forms. These six are xi 'away', baj 'complete', ok 'in', el 'out', jaw 'up' and kub 'down'. The association of these directionals with the 'cardinal directions' is unmistakable:
Xi and baj are the most general of the directionals . .. and account for over one third of the citation forms analyzed. The other four frequently cited directionals account for most of the rest of the forms. It is interesting to note that these four directionals correspond to the four cardinal directions of the ancient Mayans: up, down, east, and west. Mam apparently classifies its verbs as being either general or specific with relation to direction of movement, and then divides the verbs with specific directions according to the four cardinal directions of the Mayan system (England 1975: I96).
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
7I6 JOHN M. WATANABE
In Mam there is a reciprocal semantic relationship between the principal spatial directions and most verbal expressions of motion. Mam words for the direc- tions are derived from certain verbs of motion, but in turn transitive verbs are classified according to the principal directional categories of motion of in, out, up and down.
Time. The Classic Maya concept of kinh as the sun, the symbol of the day and the symbol of time still finds expression in the Mam word q'iij. q'iij is translated variously as 'sun', 'day' and 'time'. A modified form, qmaan q'ii 'our father sun', is sometimes used, recalling former associations of the sun with the divine (cf. Leon-Portilla 1973: 96). Mam divides the day into four periods: qoniiky'in 'night', xleeja 'morning' or 'early', chilq'aj 'noon' and qaala 'afternoon'. These periods of the day correspond to the sun's position between the four principal directions of Mam space. Morning stands between east and up; afternoon occurs between up and west. Noon is when the sun is up at its apogee; night when the sun is down, travelling under the earth. In telling time, a Mam speaker says, ma poon oor, 'the hour has arrived over there'. The verb poon specifies the action of arriving at a point distant from the speaker. From hand gestures skyward that individuals occasionally made, what is undoubtedly 'arriving over there' is the sun at a certain position in the sky. Both time and space are mapped onto the same set of directional coordinates derived from the passage of the sun through the heavens.
The interdependence between time and spatial direction is strengthened through the reckoning of the daily cycle. The Mam day begins at sundown (cf. Wagley 1949: 115). 'Tonight' in Mam is actually 'last night' by Western reckoning. Although Spanish usage is beginning to mask it, this division of time still persists in Mam syntax. References to occurrences of the previous night take the aspect ma 'recent past time (that is, earlier today)' rather than o 'past time before today'. Thus ma chin taani te las ocho means 'I went to sleep last night at eight o'clock', while o chin taani te las ocho means 'I went to sleep at eight o'clock [night before last or before]'. The daily cycle begins at the moment when the sun goes out' and 'down'. This is also the moment when the sun once again begins
to move in an easterly direction under the earth. Given the primacy of east, it is unsurprising that the Mam day begins once the sun passes through the western extreme of itsjourney between the horizons and returns eastward. The conjunc- tion of the sun's movement with the eastern and western extremes of its daily orbit both gives shape to space and punctuates the duration of time.
Space, time and motion. Mam cosmology inextricably links space, time and motion. This has become clear through an analysis of Mam words for spatial directions, Mam verb paradigms dealing with movement through space and Mam time reckoning. The reciprocal relationship between space, motion and time is embedded in the structure of Mam grammar itself. Certain verbs of motion simultaneously express relative motion as well as directional signifi- cance. At the same time, the Mam 'cardinal' directions delimit covert semantic categories of transitive verbs through the directional auxiliaries that these verbs take in citation form. The semantic transitivity of Mam verbs seems to be as
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 717
dependent on the direction of the action described as it is on the transitive nature of the action itself (cf. England I975: 2I3). Direction is semantically implicit in any movement, and the principal spatial directions in turn are described as places of incipient or completed movement.
This linguistic tendency to link directionality and motion manifests itself in the names for the principal spatial directions and in categories of time. In English we distinguish the spatial categories of east and west from the temporal categories of sunrise and sunset. Mam makes no such distinction since the movement of the sun through the sky defines both space and time. Direction is established through the intersection of the diurnal path of the sun with the horizon; time is marked by the sun's movement through these directional positions. Mam cardinal directions, however, cannot necessarily be defined as fixed points in space. Two factors suggest this.
Morphologically, the suffix -ni used to derive the names for the directions from their verbal roots is closely related, if not identical, to the suffix -ni which derives the past participle from some transitive and intransitive roots and stems (England 1975: I I 5-i6, 122). The names for the directions in Mam may actually be more participles than nouns and as such retain much of their verbal significance. Rather than merely denoting specific points in space as nouns, names for the cardinal directions imply movement through space as vectors related to the verbs of motion from which they are derived. Even on the morphemic level, motion and direction appear to be inseparable. Astronomical considerations further reinforce this.
The apparent motion of celestial bodies through the sky depends greatly upon the latitude of the observer. As one moves towards the equator, two things happen. First, the apparent circular motion of the stars around the celestial pole becomes less apparent, and stellar paths increasingly assume the appearance of parallel vertical arcs linking the eastern and western horizons (Aveni I980:
52-6). Second, at lower latitudes the daily shift in the positions of sunrise and sunset is less than at higher latitudes, and the total range of horizon covered by the sun between its solstitial rising and setting positions is smaller (I980: 62). For all Mayan groups, living as they do in the tropics, both these factors concentrate attention on the eastern and western horizons and on the arching paths of celestial bodies which join them. There is little to suggest fixed directional points analogous to those established by the pole star at higher latitudes.
Such a remarkable contrast in the aspect of the heavens might be expected to produce very different cosmic outlooks for tropical astronomers as opposed to skywatchers in the temperate latitudes . .. A civilization in the tropics might be expected to develop quite a different system of positional astronomy (Aveni I980: 52-6).
The ecliptic defines the parameters of Mam space quite differently from the fixity of the pole star in our own cosmology. While east is the principal Mam cardinal direction, it lacks the conceptual constancy of a stationary point in space which, like the pole star, can establish spatial dimensions through opposition (south) and intersection (east and west). Furthermore, the annual oscillation of the sun's daily path between its solstitial positions draws attention to segments of the eastern and western horizons rather than to specific points on those
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
7I8 JOHN M. WATANABE
horizons. Mam cardinal directions may indeed be 'sides' of the horizon rather than points, and the entire debate over whether Mayan directions refer to cardinal, intercardinal or solstitial points may be a complete misconstrual of the Mayan concepts themselves.
According to Mam concepts, east is where-as well as when-the sun 'comes in'; west is where and when the sun 'goes out'. They are not two points frozen in abstract space but represent two moments in the single dimension of the sun's apparent movement through physical space. The distinctiveness of these two directional moments lies in the demarcation of the reversals of the sun's movement between the horizontal extremes of its daily journey across the sky. Elni 'west-out' denotes the sun's reversal from westward to eastward move- ment; okni 'east-in' the reversal from eastward to westward movement. West- ward movement, cosmologically defined by the sun's diurnal movement, passes above the earth; eastward movement cosmologically passes below. Thus the other two principal dimensions of space becomejawni 'up' and kubni 'down'.
The sun's diurnal movement between the horizons, however, occurs simul- taneously with its annual soltitial oscillation along the eastern and western horizons. The 'moments' of east and west thus become manifested spatially as sides of the horizon bounded by the northern and southern solstitial extremes. References to the northern and southern sides of the horizon remain semantical- ly unelaborated in Mam because they fall outside the ecliptic. By definition they represent those arcs of the horizon where the sun never rises or sets. The sun's diurnal as well as annual path merely parallels or 'passes along' north or south, depending on whether the sun is north or south of the zenith. Conversely, the sun always passes 'through' east and west. Both morphological and astro- nomical evidence clearly indicate the coalescence of direction and motion in Mam cosmology. Space is only defined in reference to time, the diurnal and annual movement of the sun, and horizontal spatial directions themselves are more accurately conceptualised as vectors between or along the eastern and western horizons rather than as points in abstract space.
The coincidence of direction and motion also resolves another se'mantic paradox: while the verb ook means 'enter' when referring to sunrise, it also means movement toward the east, and clearly the sun moves westward away from east after dawn. This appears paradoxical only if we assume that okni east is
UP
sun s path by day
eel
X~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~S sumer solstice
WEST EAR/TH4000 EAST I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~winter solstlc
0ook --_-_ _
^~~~~~~~~~u s path by night
DOWN
FIGURE S. The principal Mam directional verbs of motion as defined by the diurnal oscillation of the sun.
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 719
defined in Mam as a fixed point in space. Rather, if okni east and elni west are conceptualised as moments of reversal in the diurnal oscillation of the sun, these usages of ook become logically consistent (fig. 5). The Mam sentence referring to sunrise, ma tz'ook q'ii, has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to the moment of sunrise itself as, 'The sun has risen [entered]'. When Mam speakers refer to the coming sunrise, however, they use the phrase, ok tkub q'ii 'when the sun(light) falls', instead of ok took q'ii 'when the sun rises [enters]'. The reference of ook to the specific moment of sunrise seems semantically weak.
On the other hand, ma tz'ook q'ii can also be translated as 'the sun has moved eastward' with the sense of having completed the movement. Rather than referring only to the moment of dawn, the verb refers to the completion of the sun s movement during the entire previous night. Dawn is not the conjunction of the sun with a single point in time and space as it is in Western reckoning, but it is the culmination of a period of the day, qoniiky'in 'night', that is marked by the sun's movement toward the eastern horizon. Sunrise-and sunset-cannot be isolated moments in time because there are no independently fixed points in space with which to define them. The sun's movement itself circ*mscribes the spatial directions, but only after the fact, since the moments of in, out, up and down can only be defined once they have been reached and the sun has passed through them. Mam time, like Mam space, is vectorial, not punctual. The demarcation of any given period of time depends upon the perpetual cycles that precede and succeed it. As soon as the sun goes down in the west it begins its return journey to rise in the east. The long moment of dawn begins at sunset when the sun reaches its completion and passes once again towards the eastern horizon.
Mayan space and time Several factors appear crucial for an understanding of Mam notions of space and time. First, the sun and the ecliptic are the principal astronomical features by which space and time are cognitively ordered. Second, two horizontal direc- tions rather than four give shape to Mam space. These directions lie where the horizontal plane of the earth's surface intersects the ecliptic, dividing the sun's path into its visible and absent passages. The other two principal directions of up and down denote the vertical extremes of these passages. Third, space, time and motion coalesce in a system in which spatial directions become moments in celestial as well as quotidian time, and time in turn becomes embodied as duration of motion. There appears to be no abstract evaluation of space independent of the celestial movements that define it.
Having constructed this model for Mayan cosmology, it remains to demon- strate its utility. More than any other Mayan language, Mam emphasises 'the categories of direction, location, and position. One or more of these categories is manifested in every aspect of the grammar, including morphology, syntax, and semantics' (England 1978: 227). A model based on these explicit features of Mam may elucidate similar features that remain more implicit in other Mayan languages and cosmologies. Such comparison isjuseified for two reasons. First, it has long been established that the Maya area of southern Mexico and
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
720 JOHN M. WATANABE
Guatemala constitutes a valid unit for cross-cultural comparison (Vogt I964; in press). Linguistically, Mayan groups probably began to diversify from a highland homeland about i6oo B.C. (cf. Kaufman 1976b), with first Yucatec speakers and later Cholan speakers moving into the lowlands (Josserand 1975:
505). Contact and exchange between daughter languages continued after separ- ation, especially during the Classic Period (A.D. 300-900) when the 'Classic Mayan language would have been a center of innovation in linguistic change' (Josserand 1975: 505-7; cf. Kaufman I976b: I09, II2). Such close linguistic affiliation argues strongly for cultural similarities as well, especially in concepts as fundamental as those of space and time. The second reason for applying the Mam model to other Mayan groups lies in the distinctly non-Western nature of the Mam concepts that precludes their being the result of general Spanish influence throughout the Maya area. For these historical and diacritical reasons, I assume that the Mam model may be attributed to a cultural pattern that may be as old as the Mayan language family itself. The utility of this model rests on its ability to order ethnographic as well as ethnohistorical and archaeological evidence concerning these concepts of space and time.
Space. Highland Maya groups neighbouring the Mam area all have directional systems based on the movement of the sun. Among the Tzotzil Maya of the Chiapas Highlands, east is 'emergent heat', west is 'waning heat', and north and south are referred to as 'the sides of the sky' (Gossen 1974: 3 1-2; cf. Vogt 1976:
34). Tzotzil specialists have puzzled over why east should also be associated with 'up' and west with 'down' (Laughlin, pers. comm.), but the Mam model immediately suggests that this alludes to what the sun does at each horizon. The Tzotzil directions of east-up and west-down are clearly vectors, just as they are in Mam. The Quiche of the central highlands of Guatemala also refer to the world directions as 'where the sun rises', 'where the sun sets', 'the third side of the sky (north)', and 'the fourth side of the sky (south)' (Bunzel 1952: 265). Quiche reverse the Mam associations, calling east 'the sun's place of exit' and west 'the sun's place of entry' (Edmonson i965: 33, 82). The importance of the sun s movement remains unchanged, however, with the earth rather than the sky serving as the primary point of reference. As in Tzotzil, north and south are referred to as 'to the side'; east is 'above' and west 'below', implying the vectorial nature of Quiche directions as well (Remington I977: 77). Less detailed evidence suggests the existence of this same directional system among the Jacaltec (LaFarge & Byers 193I: I30, 159), the Kanjobal of Santa Eulalia (LaFarge 1947: iii) and the Ixil (Lincoln 1942: i Ion).
Lowland Maya groups also appear to recognise only two horizontal direc- tions. For the Chol of the northern Chiapas Lowlands, east is where the sun 'sprouts' and west is where the sun 'enters' (Aulie & Aulie 1978: 33, 92; cf. Attinasi 1973: 243, 303). Chol lacks a specific term for south, and only in one village is north referred to as 'bad weather' (Aulie & Aulie I978: Si). According to the Chorti, a closely related Cholan group found in eastern Guatemala, the four corners of the cosmos correspond to the solstitial positions of the sun on the eastern and western horizons (Girard I962: 45). The eastern and western horizons are further bisected by the imaginary line traversed by the sun on its
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 721
first passage of the zenith. This line marks the 'midpoint of the world', dividing the sky into its dark, rainy season northern aspect and its light, dry season southern aspect (Girard I962: 79; cf. Fought 1972: 379). East holds positive connotations as the source of all life while west is a bad direction related to the dead. 'North and south are seldom thought of and have no native names' (Wisdom 1940: 427).
Girard interprets the solstitial positions of the Chorti system as their cardinal directions, accompanied by the 'real' cardinal directions of east and west. The Mam model suggests, however, that these corner and mid-points are important only in so far as they delimit the directional 'sides' of the horizon and are not themselves important as cardinal directions. Indeed, they appear to have much more to do with time than with space. First, the Chorti gauge the beginning and end of the rainy season by observing sunrises and sunsets in relation to the solstitial positions (cf. Fought 1972: 386); these points only become significant in relation to time and what the sun is doing at each horizon. Second, contrary to Girard's assertion (I962: 79), the line traversed by the sun on its passage through the zenith does not physically divide the sky into two symmetrical quadrants; the sun passes through the zenith directly to the east and west only at the equator, and the Chorti are well to the north of this (cf. Brotherston & Ades 1975: 301). Also, Girard's 'midpoint of the world' carries a different significance depending on the time of year. The sun's first passage of this point reflects growth and vigour as it approaches the summer solstice. Its second passage of the zenith, after the solstice, is associated with waning power, aging and weariness (Girard I962: 266). Here again, the Mam model indicates an inter- pretation of Chorti directions as a coalescence of space, time and motion rather than as specific points analogous to Western cardinal directions.
The only obvious exception to the Mam system of two horizontal directions is that of the Yucatec Maya who appear to recognise four cardinal directions. This case bears close examination, first because of its apparent uniqueness among Lowland as well as Highland Maya, and second, because the Yucatec system is most often used in reconstructing Classic and Postclassic Mayan cosmology.
According to the villagers of Chan Kom, the fields, the village and the earth are thought of as squares oriented to the 'four winds', which Redfield in turn associates with the four cardinal directions (Redfield & Villa Rojas 1934: 114,
205). These directions are likin 'east', chikin 'west', xaman 'north' and nohol 'south'. Significantly, the words for east and west both contain the word kin 'sun' and refer to sunrise and sunset respectively. The derivations of xaman and nohol, however, remain unknown or ambiguous (Thompson 1971: 249).
Regardless of its four directional terms, however, the Yucatec system clearly reflects the salience of the east-west axis and defines east and west in terms of the sun's diurnal movement (cf. Redfield & Villa Rojas 1934: I i6, 205).
Close examination of the Motul Dictionary (1929: 2I8) terms for the 'four winds' referred to by Redfield and Villa Rojas (1934: 205) raises doubts about the equivalence of the prehispanic usages of xaman and nohol with the Western north and south. Zac ik, literally 'white or pure wind', translates as 'fresh gentle wind that comes from where the sun exits'. Zac ik nohol chikin refers to 'west wind'
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
722 JOHN M. WATANABE
and 'winter [rainy season?]'. Here nohol is associated with west and possibly with the northward movement of the sun rather than with south.1 Zac ik xaman is the name of the 'summer [dry season?] west wind'; xaman is linked to west and possibly to the southward movement of the sun rather than to north. Zac ik xaman likin is translated as 'summer [dry season?] east wind', and xaman now shifts association to the east. Given the unambiguous directional significance of likin 'east' and chikin 'west', it is impossible to relate xaman and nohol to any of the cardinal directions. According to this paradigm, the only possible non- contradictory meanings of xaman and nohol refer to the two principal seasons of the year. Xaman occurs with the names of the east and west winds of summer, nohol with the east and west winds of winter. Together these comprise the 'four winds'. The Mam model suggests that instead of a system of four directions, the Yucatec terms actually refer to a system of two directions, likin 'east' and chikin 'west', and to time, in this case represented by two seasons, nohol 'winter' and xaman summer'.
Brotherston (1976: 52-7) supports this temporal interpretation of xaman and nohol through a careful examination of the use of these two terms in the calculations of the synodic period of Venus found in the Dresden Codex. Xaman appears to refer to Venus's westward movement at superior conjunction (cf. Aveni I980: 83-6 for an explanation of the astronomical terminology), and nohol refers to Venus's movement from west to east at inferior conjunction (Brotherston I976: 54); 'xaman and nohol are, then, best understood as "mo- ments between" east (red) and west (black), whose only universally non- invertible meanings are above and below' since, by definition, 'the sun cannot be above the earth after leaving the west' (Brotherston 1976: 56). If xaman and nohol have directional significances, it would seem that they do so only in relation to east and west and to the passage of time, whether it be expressed in the passage of the seasons or in the movements of the sun and stars.
In relation to archaeological data, it surely must be significant that only two direction glyphs can be absolutely identified in the Classic Maya inscriptions (Thompson I97I: 251). Only in the Postclassic codices do Maya direction glyphs first appear as a set of four rather than two directions (Brotherston I976:
50). These four 'directions', however, are often found on calendar wheels or 'crosses' that have more to do with reckoning time than with describing space (cf. Aveni I980: I54-8). Coggins (I980: 73I) also suggests that quadripartite figures in Classic Maya iconography may not necessarily hold directional significance but symbolise the completion of diurnal and annual solar cycles. Where explicit directional symbolism does occur, it clearly marks the primacy of east and the east-west axis (Brotherston I976: 43-5).
After a thorough review of Mesoamerican myths, star lore, architecture and directional symbolism, Brotherston (I976; Brotherston & Ades I975) concludes that there is no direct evidence that Classic Maya concepts of space ever corresponded to our cardinal directions. Rather, he contends that
just as the ecliptic dominates the tropical sky by passing through the zenith . .. so concentration on it in Mesoamerica appears to have been to the exclusion of everything else. Nothing indicates that Mesoamerican astronomy used as primary scientific terms anything other than the east and
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 723
west horizons, with their solstitial, equinoctial and other rising and setting positions, and, as a time unit, the passage and absence of the principal body of the ecliptic, the sun (Brotherston & Ades I975: 289).
While Brotherston acknowledges the importance of quadripartite divisions in Classic Mayan cosmology, he convincingly argues that these divisions are of a different order from the Maya scientific definition of astronomical space.
Given the obvious aspects of the Mam model and the overwhelming com- parative data, it appears likely that the attempt in the Postclassic codices to transpose a system of two directions and time into quadrilateral representations may have been the result of Central Mexican influence rather than an expression of a basic Mayan cultural pattern (cf. Brotherston I976: 5i; Thompson I934:
238). The modern Yucatec system of four horizontal directions is clearly anomalous, both in comparison with other Mayan cosmologies and in the actual meanings of the Yucatec names for 'north' and 'south' in prehispanic times. Any attempt to reconstruct Classic Maya culture using Yucatec data must thus remain suspect. Such an attempt by Marcus (I973) to demonstrate a quadripar- tite territorial political structure for the Classic Maya based on the supposed four horizontal directions of their cosmology is marred both by her uncritical use of the Yucatec terms and by the fact that the Classic Maya of the Peten Lowlands were most probably Cholan speakers, not Yucatec speakers (Campbell I978:
ioo). As I have already shown, contemporary Cholan cosmologies recognise only two rather than four directions. While quadripartite divisions may have been crucial in Classic Maya politics and religion, they cannot be attributed to the formal Mayan concepts of space and time.
Time. In Mam, the day begins at sunset, and this holds explicitly true for the Jacaltec (LaFarge & Byers I93I: I7I-2) and for the Kanjobal of Santa Eulalia (LaFarge I947: I23, I35). Lincoln (I942: II3) states that there is some disagree- ment among the Ixil over whether the day begins at sunset or at midnight, although all ceremonies begin at sunset (but cf. Colby & Colby I98I: 45). The Tzotzil of Zinacantan in Chiapas believe that the day begins at midnight (Laughlin, pers. comm.) but some oftheir neighbours in San Pedro Chenalho say that the new day begins at sunset (Guiteras-Holmes I96I: 37). On a much more inferential level, Chol speakers use the same verb, och 'enter', to describe sunset as well as to mean 'accept an office' and 'begin to be' (Aulie & Aulie I978: 89), sug- gesting a possible relationship between the sun's 'entering' the earth and 'entering' a new day. This inference might also be made for the Quiche who refer to sun- set in the same way. Finally, for the Chorti of eastern Guatemala, the sun is 'born' at dawn, grows until noon and then 'dies' in the evening (Girard I962: 266),
leaving the night an ambiguous period during which the sun is between death and birth. Night might thus be interpreted as a period of cosmic 'gestation'.
For the Classic Maya, Thompson (I97I: I74-7) adnmits that the evidence for their counting days by sunrises, nights or sunsets is inconclusive, but he favours reckoning by sunrises, apparently more out of preference than out of proof:
It seems to me that the idea of a count from sunset is completely contrary to the whole philosophy of the Maya. The real start of time, as opposed to the theoretical extension of time far into the past,
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
724 JOHN M. WATANABE
was the creation of the sun, presumably the last sun. The sun could hardly have been created at the moment of sunset. Such an arrangement, involving the disappearance of the new glory almost as soon as it manifested itself, would have lacked all dignity (Thompson I97I: I76).
He adds, 'The use of the word kin, "sun," to describe the whole period of 24
hours [negates] the possibility that the Maya . . . counted preferably by nights' (I97I: I77). But kin also refers to time in general, and the Mam model suggests that time in Mayan thought means as much the movement of the sun as it does the sun itself. Time could have begun just as logically at sunset with the sun's eastward movement toward dawn as it could have at dawn with the beginning of the sun's visible movement through the heavens. Indeed, Graulich (I98I: 45-7) asserts that Mesoamerican origin myths are all modelled on the day, with cosmic cycles, often called 'suns', ending at sunset and new ones beginning at night in darkness.
A closer examination of Mayan cosmogony also suggests that, contrary to Thompson's assertion, a reckoning of sunset to sunset is much more in keeping with Mayan philosophy than one from sunrise to sunrise. The Popol Vuh book of counsel (Edmonson I97I) clearly states that the First, Second and Third Creations take place in darkness (lines I57-62, 825-8, I69I-4). Still in darkness, the gods fashion the first Quiche from corn at the beginning of the Fourth Creation (lines 4747-38) and the Quiche nation is formed:
Many people they became in the darkness As they grew.
The sun was not yet born, Nor light, as they were multiplying (lines 5 I I 7-20).
Finally, after the long journey from Tula, dawn breaks:
There At sunrise.
They wept with pleasure. .. (lines 5937-9).
Clearly, time, the gods and human social life antedate the first appearance of the sun. Indeed, the sun and moon in the guise of Hunter andJaguar Deer must first descend into the Underworld before they can ascend into the sky (Edmonson I97I: I08-44). If the daily cycle at all reflects cosmogony, sunset, or at the very least night-time, in Maya philosophy seems more appropriate than sunrise as the beginning of the day and the reckoning of time.
Contemporary Mayan mythology provides further evidence for the temporal priority of night over day. For the Mam Indians this is made explicit linguisti- cally through the generational difference between the sun and moon. The sun is 'Our Father Sun' while the moon is 'Our Grandmother Moon'. In Tzotzil, the moon is called 'Our Mother Moon', but she gives birth to the sun who then blinds her and usurps her power (Gossen I974: 40, I93). The same- pattern is found among the Chol (Whittaker & Warkentin I965: 43-6), and the Kanjobal of Santa Eulalia associate the sun with Christ and the moon with the Virgin Mary who as 'His Mother . . . has great influence over Him' (LaFarge I947: 55, I04). Other groups, such as the Cakchiquel (Remington I977: 80), the Quiche (Bunzel I952: 266), theJacaltec (LaFarge & Byers I93I: I30) and the Yucatec of
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 725
Chan Kom (Redfield & Villa Rojas I934: 205) make no generational distinc- tions, although the sun is always male and the moon female. Only among the Chorti is it said that the sun is married to the moon (Girard I962: 267; Wisdom I940: 400; cf. Fought I972: 485). This also reflects the beliefs of the Classic Maya, but even here the marriage of the young moon goddess to the young god who is to become the sun takes place in darkness 'in the period before the creation of the sun' (Thompson I97I: 230-2).
Conclusion The cognitive model derived from Mam concepts clarifies the nature of other Mayan cosmologies in relation to their formal definitions of both space and time. Mayan concepts of space and time are based on the diurnal and annual movements of the sun. The most salient directions are the eastern and western horizons where the sun rises and sets. While this system of two horizontal directions comes as no surprise to Mayan specialists, the coalescence of space and time that produces the vectorial nature of spatial directions in the Mam model does correct the erroneous assumption that Mayan directions are fixed points in abstract space. By focusing on the movement of the sun both between and along the eastern and western horizons, this model also demonstrates why Mayan cosmologies take the form that they do. Like all peoples, the Maya built their conceptual world with the means and resources they had at hand. For them this meant the sun, the horizons and the eternal movement between them that was time.
Positing and analysing any general cultural pattern is often problematic and always presumptuous, especially when such an endeavour involves cross- cultural comparison through both time and space. The ahistorical nature of such comparative generalisations runs the risk of reifying culture without explaining it. I have tried to avoid these difficulties by restricting the scope of my model of Mayan cosmology to the formal properties of space and time and to the cognitive aspects related to those properties. I do not, however, assume that this model exists in some Whorfian vacuum of linguistic relativity. Quite to the contrary, Mayan concepts of space and time are deeply embedded in daily activities and seasonal rounds, in mundane journeys and sacred pilgrimages, in the eternal cosmos and the transient vagaries of birth, living and death. None- theless, combining a perceptual orientation toward the same features of similar natural environments with shared patterns of expression in genetically related languages may be expected to produce similar conceptualisations. This assump- tion is borne out by the striking formal resemblance between Mam and Classic Maya concepts of space and time, especially since the structure of both is derived from cognitive sources: Brotherston focusses on astronomical reckonings of the Classic Maya; my analysis of Mam concepts relies on linguistics. Clearly, one need not appeal to some hidden genius of Maya Culture to explain these similarities.
More broadly, the model developed in this paper demonstrates the highly motivated nature of concepts of space and time in reference to the perceptual
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
726 JOHN M. WATANABE
realities of the world in which they are found. I imply no environmental determinism here, only that anthropological interpretations of cosmological systems must begin with the same expressive means and perceptual resources available to the peoples who produce them if there is to be any hope of seeing beyond our own assumptions. Analysis must isolate the formal properties of space and time contained in the minutiae of local cosmologies by relating these conceptual expressions to those aspects of the physical environment that simultaneously motivate and are ordered by these concepts. Analysis must do this, however, without reducing the resulting formal cultural notations to merely distorted reflections of Western categories. This can be achieved through careful comparison of local cosmologies within a framework of generalisable propositions about the motivations behind the formal qualities of space and time found in each. A model may then be constructed that serves as the basis both for further investigation of these properties within specific cultural contexts as well as for the comparison-rather than the reduction-of these other cosmologies to our own. This article hopes to have demonstrated the usefulness of this approach in countering the covert imperialism of our own universalised concep- tions of space and time.
NOTES
Fieldwork on which this article is based was carried out with the support of the Frederick Sheldon Fund of Harvard University. I thank them for having made possible my research. I should also like to acknowledge Dr Nora England of the University of Iowa, Professor Charles Wagley of the University of Florida, Gainesville, and most of all Professor Evon Z. Vogt of Harvard University who has been instrumental in my continuing endeavours in Mesoamerican anthropology. Nonethe- less what errors that may appear are, of course, my own.
' It is unclear here whether the Spanish invierno 'winter' follows European usage or the New World convention of calling the summer rainy season 'winter' and the winter dry season 'summer' in areas where there are no marked changes in yearly temperatures. I assume that this late sixteenth century dictionary reflects the latter, thus associating 'winter' with the rainy season running from May to October when the rising and setting positions of the sun move progressively northward until the summer's solstice. Similarly, summer refers to the November-to-April dry season and to the sun's southward progress to the winter's solstice. Even if these seasonal associations were to be reversed, however, the substance of my argument would remain unchallenged.
REFERENCES
Attinasi, J. I973. Lak t'an: a grammar of the Chol (Mayan) word. Thesis, University of Chicago. Aulie, H. W. & E. W. Aulie I978. Diccionario Ch'ol-Espaniol, Espaniol-Ch'ol. Mexico: Summer
Institute of Linguistics. Aveni, A. I980. Skywatchers of ancient Mexico. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press. Brotherston, G. I976. Mesoamerican description of space. 2, Signs for direction. Ibero-Am. Arch.
(N.F.) 2:1, 39-62. & D. Ades I975. Mesoamerican description of space. i, Myths, stars and maps, and
architecture. Ibero-Am. Arch. (N.F.) 1:4, 279-305.
Bunzel, R. I952. Chichicastenango: a Guatemalan village. Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press. Campbell, L. I978. Review article. Ethnos 43:I-2, 98-I05.
Coggins, C. I980. The shape of time: some political implications of a four-part figure. Am. Antiq. 45, 727-39.
Colby, B. N. & L. Colby I98I. The daykeeper: the life and discourse of an Ixil diviner. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
JOHN M. WATANABE 727
Edmonson, M. I965. Quiche-English dictionary (Mid. Am. Res. Inst. Pub. 30). New Orleans: Tulane Univ. Press.
197I. The book of counsel: the Popol Vuh of the Quiche Maya of Guatemala (Mid. Am. Res. Inst. Pub. 35). New Orleans: Tulane Univ. Press.
England, N. I975. Mam grammar in outline. Thesis, University of Florida. 1978. Space as a Mam grammatical theme. In Papers in Mayan linguistics (ed.) N. C. England.
Columbia: Univ. of Missouri Press. Fought, J. I972. Chorti (Mayan) texts (vol. I). Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. Girard, R. I962. Los Mayas eternos. Mexico: Editorial B. Costa-Amic. Gossen, G. 1974. Chamulas in the world of the sun: time and space in a Maya oral tradition. Cambridge:
Harvard Univ. Press. Graulich, M. I98I. The metaphor of the day in ancient Mexican myth and ritual. Curr. Anthrop. 22,
45-60. Guiteras-Holmes, C. i96i. Perils of the soul: the world view of a Tzotzil India. New York: The Free
Press. Hunt, E. I 977. The transformation of the hummingbird: the cultural roots of a Zinacantecan mythic poem.
Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. Josserand,J. K. I975. Archaeological and linguistic correlations for Mayan prehistory. Actas del XLI
Congreso internacional de Americanistas 41, 50I-IO.
Kaufman, T. I974. Idiomas de Mesoamerica. Guatemala: EditorialJose Pineda Ibarra. I 976a. Proyecto de alfabetos y ortografias para escribir las lenguas mayances. Guatemala: Editorial
Jos6 Pineda Ibarra. 1976b. Archaeological and linguistic correlations in Mayaland and associated areas of
Meso-America. Wld Archaeol. 8, IOI-I8.
LaFarge, 0. I947. Santa Eulalia: the religion of a Cuchumatan Indian town. Chicago: Univ. Press. & D. Byers 93 I. The yearbearer's people (Mid. Am. Res. Ser. Pub. 3). New Orleans: Tulane
University. Leon-Portilla, M. 1973. Time and reality in Maya thought (trans.) C. L. Boiles. Boston: Beacon Press. Lincoln, J. S. I942. The Maya calendar of the Ixil of Guatemala (Contrib. Am. Anthrop. a Hist. 38).
Washington: Carnegie Institution. Marcus, J. I 973. Territorial organization of the lowland Classic Maya. Science I80:4089, 9 I I-6. Motul Dictionary 1929. Diccionario de Motul atribuido a Fray Antonio de Ciudad Real. Merida: Tallares
de la Compania Tipogrifico Yucateca, S.A. Redfield, R. & A. Villa Rojas 1934. Chan Kom: a Maya village (Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. 448).
Washington: Carnegie Institution. Remington, J. I977. Current astronomical practices among the Maya. In Native American astronomy
(ed.) A. Aveni. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press. Thompson, J. E. S. I 934. Skybearers, colors, and directions in Maya and Mexican religion (Carnegie Inst.
Wash. Pub. 436, Contrib. IO). Washington: Carnegie Institution. I97I. Maya hieroglyphic writing: an introduction (3rd edn). Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press.
Villa Rojas, A. I973. The concepts of space and time among the contemporary Maya. In Time and reality in Maya thought, M. Leon-Portilla (trans.) C. L. Boiles. Boston: Beacon Press.
Vogt, E. Z. I964. The genetic model and Maya cultural development. In Desarrollo cultural de los Mayas (eds) E. Z. Vogt & A. Ruz L. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autonoma.
I969. Zinacantan: a Maya community in the highlands of Chiapas. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press.
I 976. Tortillasfor the gods: a symbolic analysis of Zinacanteco ritual. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press.
in press. On the application of the genetic model to the Maya. Infestschrift for Fred Eggan (eds.) R. Demallie and A. Ortiz.
Wagley, C. I94I. Economics of a Guatemalan village (Am. Anthrop. Assoc. Mem. 58). Menasha: American Anthropological Association.
I949. The social and religious life of a Guatemalan village (Am. Anthrop. Assoc. Mem. 71).
Menasha: American Anthropological Association. Watanabe, J. M. i98ia. Los cambios econ6micos en Santiago Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Meso-
america 1:2, 20-4I.
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
728 JOHN M. WATANABE
Ig8Ib. Factores estructurales 6 hist6ricos en el desarrollo de una comunidad indigena en el altiplano de Guatemala. Paper read at the XVII Mesa Redonda of the Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia, San Crist6bal de las Casas, Chiapas.
i98Ic. Essence and illness: the conceptualization of sickness in a Guatemalan Indian town. Paper presented at the 8oth Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Los Angeles.
Whittaker, A. & V. Warkentin I965. Chol texts on the supernatural. Norman, Oklahoma: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Wisdom, C. I940. The Chorti Indians of Guatemala. Chicago: Univ. Press.
Structuralist 1nterpretations
of Biblical Myth
EDMUND LEACH and D. ALAN AYco*ck
Using anthropological tech- niques for analysing myth these essays offer an original and thought-provoking ap- proach to the scriptures. The practice adopted here has a respectable antiquity, and the authors show that the structuralist patterning of the stories which so fascinated the early Christians and their Jewish contemporaries still exists and can bring rewarding insights
Hard covers ?1 5.00 net Paperback ?5.95 net
This content downloaded from 88.80.252.205 on Sat, 24 May 2014 07:10:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
