Until the discovery that Maya stelae depicted ajaw instead of , the Maya priesthood and their preoccupations had been a main scholarly concern. In the course of the 1960s and over the following decades, however, dynastic research came to dominate interest in the subject. A concept of royal ʼshamanismʼ, chiefly propounded by Linda Schele and Freidel,[ Maya Cosmos] came to occupy the forefront instead.[Klein et al. 2002] Yet, Classic Maya civilization, being highly ritualistic, would have been unthinkable without a developed . Like other Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican priesthoods, the early Maya priesthood consisted of a hierarchy of professional priests serving as intermediaries between the population and the deities. Their basic skill was the art of reading and writing. The priesthood as a whole was the keeper of knowledge concerning the deities and their cult, including calendrics, astrology, divination, and prophecy. In addition, they were experts in historiography and genealogy.[Casas 1967: 504-505; Landa 1941: 98] Priests were usually male and could marry. Most of our knowledge concerns Yucatán in the Late Postclassic, with additional data stemming from the contemporaneous Guatemalan Highlands. and the netted headdress of the , while instructing scribes]]
Priests: In between shamans and kings
Shamans and priests
The Maya class of the priests is sometimes thought to have emerged from a pre-existing network of
Shamanism as social complexity grew. The classic Siberian shaman is characterised by his intimate relationship with one or several helper spirits, 'ecstatic' voyages into non-human realms, and often operates individually, on behalf of his clients. In 20th-century Maya communities,
Divination, and also
Witch doctor, may show some features of true shamans, particularly vocation through illness or
,
trance, and communication with a spirit. In reference to these features, they are often loosely called 'shamans' by ethnographers.
[cf. Tedlock 1992: 47-53] On the other hand, priests are chiefly cultic functionaries operating within a well-defined
hierarchy and offering
food, sacrifices and
to the deities on behalf of social groups situated on different levels. In 20th-century Maya communities of the north-western Guatemalan highlands, the hierarchies of 'Prayermakers' offer examples of such priests. The Pre-Hispanic religious functionaries described by men like Diego de Landa, Tomás de Torquemada and Bartolomé de las Casas were also priests, not shamans.
Priestly kings and priests
Among the Mayas, priestly functions were often fulfilled by dignitaries who were not professional priests, but this fact cannot be used to argue the nonexistence of a separate priesthood. The
Popol Vuh stereotypically describes the first ancestors as "bloodletters and sacrificers" and as the carriers of their deities, a priestly function.
[Christenson 2003: 236; 211, 223] To the Kʼicheʼ kings and highest dignitaries coming after them, the kingship was a sacred institution and the temple service a duty: during certain intervals, they
Abstinence from intercourse,
fasting, prayed, and
, "pleading for the light and the life of their vassals and servants."
[Christenson 2003: 287-288] Although the text describes the three
dedicated to the first ancestors'
Tutelary deity and names what appear to be the two high priests of the main deities (the Lords Ah Tohil and Ah Cucumatz), it does not discuss, or even mention, local priests.
According to some Yucatec sources, too, the rulers and the high nobility carried out priestly tasks. The highest Mayapan nobility, for example, is stated to have served continually in the temples; for the early Choles, no regular priesthood is mentioned, so that one might assume that the Tribal chief performed the priestly functions themselves.[Tozzer 1941: 27 note 147] The Yucatec king (or "head chief of a province"), known as the halach uinic ('true man'), is defined both as a 'governor' and a 'bishop'.[Motul dictionary, in Tozzer 1941:36 note 177] Without a grounding in esoteric and ritual knowledge, a ruler could apparently not function.
For the Classic period, the king should probably be considered a Sacred king, perhaps subsuming in his person the priesthood as a whole. The latter idea has been used as an explanation for the seeming lack of references to priests in Classic period texts.[Houston and Inomata 2009: 61] The idea of the king representing the priesthood should not be pushed to its limits, however, since due to our lack of knowledge of priestly titles and imperfect understanding of the script, textual references to priests may easily pass unnoticed. The existence of a separate Classic priesthood, at the monarchy's royal court as well as in its towns and villages, is hardly doubtful; its absence would constitute an anomaly among early civilizations.
The priesthood in the Late-Postclassic Period
The main description of a priestly hierarchy as it functioned in the first decades of the 16th century stems from Landa's account of Yucatec society, but isolated terms for priestly offices have also been transmitted from other
Maya peoples.
The Yucatec hierarchy
Recruitment
In Yucatán, priests were
of priests or second sons of
Nobility.
[Tozzer 1941: 27] The priesthood provided high status positions for those children of the Maya nobility who could not obtain political office. They were trained through an apprentice system, with young adults being selected according to their descent and individual abilities.
Offices
The high priest of the kingdom ('province') was called
ahau can mai or
ah kin mai, with
mai being either a
family name or a functional designation. The position was hereditary, usually passed on to sons or
family. The high priest lived from the contributions of his town priests and the gifts of the
. The responsibilities of the
ahau can mai included the writing of
; the teaching of the
Maya script and the
Maya calendar to the novices; examining and appointing new priests and providing them with books; performing the more important rituals; and advising the other lords.
[Tozzer 1941: 27]
The town priest was called ah kʼin, a word with a basic meaning of 'diviner' ( kʼin by itself meaning 'sun' or 'day').[Lizana, in Thompson 1970: 166] The ah kʼinob had the responsibility of conducting public and private rituals within individual towns throughout the province. They "preached and published the festival days," determined the appropriate steps in case of need, made sacrifices, and administered the "", acts connected to life cycle .[Tozzer 1941: 111] The town priests were assisted by four old men called chac.[Thompson 1970: 169]
The priests carrying out human sacrifice were called ah nakom; their status was relatively low. Priests giving oracles were known as chilan or chilam, 'oracular priest' (often translated as 'prophet'; an influential role, with the Chilam Balam as a prime example). The chilan may have used mind-altering substances.[Thompson 1970: 185-186]
The Itzá priesthood
The last independent Maya state,
Itza people of
Tayasal, was ruled by the king, Kan Ekʼ and the high priest,
Ajkʼín Kan Ekʼ.
[Jones 1998: 94] Their priesthood seems to have consisted of 12 priests: In the hall of the dwelling of the petty king, Ajau Kan Ekʼ, was a stone table with twelve seats for the priests.
[Avendaño, in Jones 1998: 71] This priestly college is reminiscent of the twelve head priests of the kingdom of Mayapan.
[Tozzer 1941: 40] The Itzá high priest should perhaps be counted its 13th member. Thirteen priests are also mentioned as part of a classificatory system shared by the Yucatec and the Itzá states, and further comprising 13
katuns, 13 provinces and 13 ambassadors.
[Jones 1998: 102, cf. Craine and Reindorp 1979: 77-78]
Iconography
In
Chichen Itza (
Temple of the
Chac Mool under the Temple of the Warriors), long-robed, aged and ascetic-looking characters with broad-rimmed
Featherwork have been depicted that are carrying offerings. They are seated in a row with
rain deity impersonators (perhaps rainmakers) directly behind them, and have been interpreted as Itzá priests.
[Roys 1967: 181, fig. 45; cf. Schele and Freidel 1990: 371]
Priestly offices outside Yucatán
In dictionaries concerning the 16th-century Pokom Mayas of the Verapaz,
[Miles 1957: 750] one finds terms like
ah mai and
ah zi 'those who make offerings';
ah zacumvach, 'white countenance' and
ah quih for diviner; and
ihcamcavil, 'carrier of the
Cult image', a function like that fulfilled by the first ancestors of the Kʼicheʼ and probably referring to priests serving in processions.
Black magic (
ah itz,
ah var,
ah kakzik) were consulted by lords and
for witchcraft against enemies and for defensive magic.
[Miles 1957: 751]
The priesthood in the Classic Period
At least seven centuries separate the early Spanish missionary descriptions of the Maya priesthood from Classic Maya society. Although archaic religions tend to be very conservative, it can not be assumed beforehand that these descriptions are valid for the Classic priesthood as well. It has been suggested that the priestly function of the king completely overshadowed that of the priests (see above). Nonetheless, Classic iconography appears to show various sorts of priests, and some hieroglyphic titles have been suggested to be priestly ones. Amongst these are
ajkʼuhuun ('worshipper'),
yajaw kʼahk ('master of fire'),
ti'sakhuun ('prophet'), and
yajaw te' ('master of the tree/woods').
[Zender 2004] Priestly duties included sacrifice and the propitiation of deities, inauguration of kings, writing and interpretation of codices, and of course maintenance of ritual spaces and paraphernalia. Without being permanent ministers, the kings of the Classic Period (
kʼuhul ajaw or "holy lord") regularly officiated
ex officio as high priests.
Appearance
Classic art, particularly scenes on vases, depicts characters writing and reading books, aspersing and inaugurating kings, overseeing or performing human sacrifice, and presiding over
burial rites, all activities suggestive of priests. These characters, sometimes aged and ascetic, can show some of the attributes of Late-Postclassic priesthood mentioned in Yucatec sources.
[Tozzer 1941: 105, 218] Among these Postclassic attributes are long, heavy vestments and 'chasubles'; feather jackets; 'miters';
aspergillum; and tail-like
hanging down from the jacket.
Patron deities of the priesthood
Chief among the patron deities of the Classic priests was the upper god,
Itzamna, first priest and first writer, still shown officiating in one of the pictures of the Late-Postclassic Madrid Codex.
[Taube 1992:34-35] Patron deities of writing and calendrical reckoning were of obvious importance to the priesthood, especially the writers among them,
[Coe/Kerr] and included a Maya maize god and the Howler Monkey Gods. The Howler Monkey God also personified the
day sign, suggesting that he may more specifically have been a patron of diviners.
[Braakhuis 1987; Houston and Inomata 2009: 188]
The Mesoamerican Maya priesthood after the Conquest
The priestly hierarchy disappeared in the wake of the Spanish Conquest. Following the disastrous epidemics of the first colonial decades, the Mesoamerican priestly functions were restructured to fit within the incipient new order. In Yucatán, the village herbalists and curers seem to have become responsible for the rituals of the forest and the fields as well, and thus to have become a sort of village priests.
[cf. Thompson 1970: 169] Their name,
ahmen, already occurs in the earliest colonial dictionaries, yet only with the restricted meaning of 'craftsman'. Originally only a maker of all sorts of poultices, the curer-
ahmen gradually appears to have become a maker of prayers and sacrifices as well. Naturally, then, priestly
ahmenob are not yet mentioned in Landa's account. The literate aspects of the Prehispanic priesthood were partly assumed by local school masters and church singers (
maestros cantores), who may also have been among the writers and compilers of the
Chilam Balam books.
In the Guatemalan Highlands, the colonial and modern development was different and eventually resulted in thoroughly organized, indigenous priestly hierarchies, such as that of Momostenango. In this town, a hierarchy of 'mother-fathers' is charged with the priestly tasks of prayer and sacrifice:[Tedlock 1996: 35-37] two of them on behalf of the town as a whole, fourteen for the wards, and three hundred for the patrilineages. Besides this hierarchy, a large part of the population (about 10000) has been initiated as diviner ( ajkʼij).
Notes
-
Braakhuis, Artificers of the Days. 1987.
-
Casas, Apologética Historia Sumaria.
-
Christenson, Popol Vuh. 2003.
-
Coe/Kerr, The Maya Scribe and his World.
-
Craine and Reindorp, The Codex Pérez and The Book of Chilam Balam of Maní.
-
Houston and Inomata, The Classic Maya. 2009
-
Jones, The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom. 1998.
-
Klein, Cecilia, Eulogio Guzmán, Elisa C. Mandell, and Maya Stanfield-Mazzi, The Role of Shamanism in Mesoamerican Art: A Reassessment. Current Anthropology 43: 382-419 (2002).
-
Miles, Suzanna, The sixteenth-century Pokom Maya: a documentary analysis of social structure and archaeological setting. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (ns.) 47: 733-781. 1957.
-
Roys, The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. 1967.
-
Schele and Freidel, A Forest of Kings. 1990.
-
Schele and Freidel, Maya Cosmos. 1993.
-
Taube, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatán.
-
Tedlock, Time and the Highland Maya. 1992.
-
Thompson, Maya History and Religion. 1970
-
Tozzer, Landa's Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán. 1941.
-
Zender, A Study of Classic Maya Priesthood. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary. 2004.
