The Burden of the Ancients: Maya Ceremonies of World Renewal from the Pre-Columbian Period to the Present

Abstract

Much has been written about Mayan beliefs but little with the historical depth and ethnographic detail that Allen J. Christenson brings to The Burden of the Ancients. He ambitiously traces Maya world renewal ceremonies from the Pre-Columbian past to the present-day town of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.Using clear, utilitarian prose, Christenson has essentially written a two-part book. The first part reviews the Pre-Columbian evidence, including materials culled from archeological studies and Spanish and Maya documents produced before and during the colonial period. Here, Christenson synthesizes the materials about Mayas’ world renewal, providing a comprehensive explanation of their meanings in the Yucatán and the Guatemalan highlands. He illustrates the resiliency of Maya beliefs and the ways in which the Maya interpreted Christianity to fit into their existing cosmology.The second part focuses on ethnographic descriptions of Holy Monday through Good Friday. Monday is for ritual cleaning. Tuesday revolves around the preparation of adornments and offerings that will be made. On Wednesday, offerings and Rilaj Mam (the original ancestor) are carried to the mayor’s house and then to the church in a lively procession, while on Thursday the people adorn the town along the processional route. Good Friday marks the climax of the week’s events with elaborate alfombras covering the streets and processions with Jesus Christ and Rilaj Mam.Christenson fills the book with personal ethnographic anecdotes that add richness to both the historical chapters and the contemporary descriptions of the Tz’utujil Mayas of Santiago Atitlán. He provides a powerful explanation of how religious syncretism functions and how Spanish colonial practices that aimed to destroy Maya belief systems actually helped them survive. He explains, “The Maya do not generally reject innovations and foreign influences outright but structure them in such a way that they resonate with older indigenous patterns” (166).There are not unadulterated continuities from the Maya past but lasting influences. It is about accumulation rather than replacement of beliefs. The Maya World Tree melds with the Christian cross. Like the B’akab’, who hold up the sky, Rilaj Mam oversees the death of the old world and the birth of the new. The Monumento adornment and fruit offering in the church replaces the Tzompantli, or skull rack. The Catholic Church symbolizes a sacred mountain with its inside a cave to the underworld. Jesus Christ, as Hun Hunahpu, the founding ancestral god from the Popol Wuj, is the regenerator of life from death. He must die for the world to be reborn and the cycle of life to continue.Thus the Wayeb’ is incorporated into Easter. The five-day period of the Wayeb’ marks the end of one world and the rebirth of the next world, where the B’akab’ reign, compellingly arguing that this annual period of chaos, indeterminacy, and destruction gives rise to order, rebirth, and renewal that can be seen as Tz’utujil people perform Holy Week.This is an impressive work of scholarship with a few omissions, one of which Christenson points out himself: “After the initial evangelization efforts in the colonial period, Santiago Atitlán had no resident priests between 1821 and 1964” (142). This illustrates a hole in his narrative about what happened during the tumultuous period following independence from Spain. Christenson makes no mention of the tourists, foreign or domestic, who flood the town during its festivals and provide significant income to fund the events he describes. Although his tone is romantic in many places (“I could swear that I smelled the faint scent of copal on its pages” [226], he writes when visiting the Popol Wuj in Chicago), the book reflects his deep passion for the subject and, especially, the Tz’utujil people.