Kolem lukum: la gran serpiente

Abstract

The text presented here was told in Chol. It explains how the Chol people are closely tied with the Yum Pañämil deities, or “owners”. In the Chol worldview, snakes are considered privileged allies of the deities. They produce a brilliant light as the source of rainbows, and they can cause frigidity in the human body, and thereby cause sickness. For this reason, when a person has an encounter with this species of animal, it provokes cetain reactions, such as those described in this experience. At first, the narrator gives a detailed account of an encounter with an enormous serpent which has a supernatural origen, according to the speaker; after that, the narrator relates how he was almost bitten by a non-supernatural snake when he was hunting an armadillo. To avoid harming these reptiles and other animals when the land is being cleared to plant corn, one should ask the “owner” deities, through a prayer, that they be taken away. The request must be accompanied by gifts, consisting mainly of candles, incense, and liquors. This activity reinforces the idea that animals and all natural resources have owners, with whom one must negotiate constantly.