The burden of the ancients : Maya ceremonies of world renewal from the Pre-Columbian period to the present / Allen J. Christenson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Christenson, Allen J., 1957- author.

Series:

Linda Schele series in Maya and pre-Columbian studies

The Linda Schele series in Maya and Pre-Columbian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mayas--Rites and ceremonies.

Mayas.

Mayas--Religion.

Mayas--Religious life and customs.

Tzutuhil Indians--Religion.

Tzutuhil Indians.

Tzutuhil Indians--Rites and ceremonies.

Holy Week.

Santiago Atitlán (Guatemala)--Religious life and customs.

Santiago Atitlán (Guatemala).

Holy Week--Guatemala--Santiago Atitlán.

Guatemala--Santiago Atitlán.

Physical Description:

x, 363 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2016.

Summary:

In Maya theology, everything from humans and crops to gods and the world itself passes through endless cycles of birth, maturation, dissolution, death, and rebirth. Traditional Maya believe that human beings perpetuate this cycle through ritual offerings and ceremonies that have the power to rebirth the world at critical points during the calendar year. The most elaborate ceremonies take place during Semana Santa (Holy Week), the days preceding Easter on the Christian calendar, during which traditionalist Maya replicate many of the most important world-renewing rituals that their ancient ancestors practiced at the end of the calendar year in anticipation of the New Year's rites. Marshaling a wealth of evidence from Pre-Columbian texts, early colonial Spanish writings, and decades of fieldwork with present-day Maya, the Burden of the Ancients presents a masterfully detailed account of world-renewing ceremonies that spans the Pre-Columbian era through the crisis of the Conquest period and the subsequent colonial occupation all the way to the present. Allen J. Christenson focuses on Santiago Atitlán, a Tz'utujil Maya community in highland Guatemala, and offers the first systematic analysis of how the Maya preserved important elements of their ancient world-renewal ceremonies by adopting similar elements of Roman Catholic observances and infusing them with traditional Maya meanings. His extensive description of Holy Week in Santiago Atttián demonstrates that the community's contemporary ritual practices and mythic stories bear a remarkable resemblance to similar cultural entities from its Pre-Columbian past. Book jacket.

Contents:

Pre-Columbian rituals of world renewal in Yucatan

New year's ceremonies in the Maya highlands

Easter and the Spanish conquest

Post-conquest ceremonies of world renewal

Holy Monday

Holy Tuesday

Holy Wednesday

Holy Thursday

Good Friday

Aftermath and conclusions.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-351) and index.

ISBN:

9781477309957

1477309950

9781477310267

1477310266

OCLC:

936205618