Anthropos: Anthropos, 100.2005

Anthropos, 100.2005

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschrift

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714820

Persistenter Identifier:: BV043334262

Titel:: Anthropos

Untertitel:: internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- u. Sprachenkunde

Erscheinungsort:: Fribourg

Verlag:: Ed. St. Paul

Erscheinungsjahr:: 1906

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

Wissensgebiet:: Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie > Allgemeines

Zeitschriftenband

Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenband

Werks-URN (URL):: https://digi.evifa.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711755

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711755

Persistenter Identifier:: 1510223378432

Titel:: Anthropos, 100.2005

Erscheinungsjahr:: 2005

Signatur:: LA 1118

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenheft

Titel:: Bd. 100, 2005, Heft 1

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

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Strukturtyp:: Zeitschriftenartikel

Titel:: Xbalanque's Canoe. The Origin of Poison in Q'eqchi'-Mayan Hummingbird Myth

Sonstige Person:: Braakhuis, H. E. M.

Sammlung:: Zeitschriften und Zeitungen > Zeitschriften zur Ethnologie

anthropos 100.2005: 173-191 Xbalanque’s Canoe The Origin of Poison in Q’eqchi ’-Mayan Hummingbird Myth H. E. M. Braakhuis Abstract. - This article explores the origin of disease and intrusive magic in the context of Q’eqchi’-Mayan Sun and Moon myth. The mythological imagery is shown to be intimate ly connected to the rhetoric of disease-fighting. The Q’eqchi’ theory of disease shares a basic assumption with an earlier Yucatec tradition, in that sexual excess is seen to provoke the birth of disease agents. Finally, one of the myth’s core images, viz. the “Fever Vessel,” is traced back to the Classical Period of the Mayas. [Mesoamerica, Mayas, disease, iconography, menstruation, mythology, sorcery] H. E. M. Braakhuis, Utrecht University, studied anthropology and ethnohistory at the universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht with Rudolf van Zantwijk. - Previous articles treat various problems of Mayan iconography and (hero)mythology; see also References Cited. To Mario Enrique de la Cruz Torres 1 Introduction In the study of Mayan mythology, the Quichean “Popol Vuh” is usually taken as the definitive source. In some respects, this is quite justified. However, it is important to realize that the scope °f this particular mythological narrative is restrict ed since it is largely limited to the interactions °f its two heroes with the powers of the under world - and that within the narrow framework °f the ball game. In the everyday life of the tra ditional Mayas, the powers of nature that grant fertility occupied the forefront, and man’s “inter actions with the surrounding landscape” (Wilson 1995) were paramount. These interactions have traditionally been expressed through another type of myth, shared by many ethnic Mayan groups and most completely transmitted by the Q’eqchi’s (for an overview, see Thompson 1970; 355 ff.). In this myth, the earth is considered under various basic aspects, primarily those of an aggressive, cannibalistic adoptive mother, an authoritarian pa triarch, and a desirable, nubile daughter. 1 In the interactions of these figures with the representa tives of mankind, important rules of ritual conduct are established. In the Popol Vuh, sexual union joins an under world woman with the hero’s father. The relation ship between the human and the nonhuman spheres is defined in terms of marriage. In the episode of the tellurian myth that is the focus of this article, the earth is alternately viewed as a potential father- in-law and as a potential wife. The hero attempts to marry the daughter of the male earth, either through bridal service, or (as in Q’eqchi’ myth) through elopement. Stereotypically, the hero’s in teraction with the earth is instigated by love magic, acted out by the hero transforming himself in to a hummingbird and the woman picking it up (for this sort of magic, see Quezada 1984: 101 f., and corresponding notes). Therefore, I will at times refer to this episode, which also occurs as an independent tale, as “Hummingbird myth.” 1 I would not agree, therefore, with Wilson when he asserts (1995: 66) that the female earth (the earth which is culti vated) does not have “any conceptual distinction from the individual mountains.”

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