Loyola College - Review Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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ШОУ ОНА COLLEGE REVIEW — are engaged in the cultivation of the Products, hemp especially, which grow in those regions. They profess the Catholic religion. Physically they are dark, short and muscular; intellectually they are alert, straightforward and re- liable. Supper, a German explorer, en- thusiastically praises their honesty, punctuality and family life. They have remained to this day virtually a sepa- rate nationality, as their uprisings for independence clearly demonstrate. Let us leave for the present this prosaic and mechanical era, and guided by our antique Codices, allow our imaginations to transport us to two thousand years ago, when Itzammá, the first deified hero of the Mayas, opened his way through the turbulent waters of the Pacific. He came with all the pomp and splendour of an oriental monarch to found a mighty empire, destined to produce a race of thrifty men, who left as a legacy to mankind architectural jewels which show forth both the vivacity of their imagination and the serenity of their genius, by their bold and picturesque designs and by the elegant and tasteful symmetry of their edifices. Itzammá, at the head of the first mi- gration came to this continent with the setting sun. About тоо А.р., Kukulcan (Feathered-serpent) arrayed with the brilliant splendour of the rising sun, reached Yucatän from the East. He was the founder of the Maya civilization. Mayapan was the royal city where the kingly family of Cocom ruled over their entire domain. Three other noble fami- lies shared their power: Tutl-xiu at Uxmal; Itz4 at Chichen-Itzá, and Chelé at Izamal, the sacred city governed by a hereditary priesthood. The rulers of these three cities were compelled to spend part of the year in Mayapan with the supreme authority. In the eleventh century Mayapán was des- troyed as a result of a successful revolt of the confederates against the emperor. The sceptre passed to the family of =-— Tutul-xiu at Uxmal. Mayapán was ге- built only to encounter the same dis- astrous fate early in the Fifteenth cen- tury, when the old Empire broke up into petty kingdoms still extant at the time of the Conquest. The early mis- sionaries, inflamed with zeal for the diffusion of the Christian faith, were extraordinarily active and energetic in their defence against the oppression of the early conquerors. It is unfortunate, from an historical point of view, that many pagan images and manuscripts were ordered to be destroyed at this time. We must not, however, be over- strict in our criticisms, since we are ignorant of the actual and practical circumstances of the case, and since it is a fallacy to judge the actions of the men of past ages 1n the light of modern thought. In 1575, the ‘‘Matlalzahuatl,”’ a dreadful desease, brought death to two thousand people, while by 1597, through the pest and Nine the populos had decreased by three- ourths. The Seventeenth and Eight- eenth centuries were marked by several revolts, which continued even after Mexico had cast away the yoke of Spain. Even in roro, President Porfirio Diaz was compelled to send detachments to Yucatán to quell a rebellious out- burst. Such is briefly the history of the Maya race, up to modern times. Society was constituted according to the clan system. Authority was cen- tered in the king with absolute power; a counc il of nobles and priests held the place of an advisory board. The legisla- tive and executive power resided in the emperor, and while he also exercised judicial functions in important cases, minor ones were left either to provincial kings or to local judges. The right of general ownership was also vested in the emperor, who in turn gave out land to nobles and officials who wereresponsible for the cultivation of the soil and the support of the aged and crippled. The ordinary people had their share of the i6k

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EQ. Y ОБА COLLEGE REVIEW HE peninsula of Yucatán, КА once the seat of a mighty М empire, projects into the BY blue waters of the Gulf 994 of Mexico, under the warm rays of the tropi- y) calsun, alasting memori- | al to the culture of the Maya race. Its aboriginal inhabitants have disappeared, its splendour is hidden under a dense and variegated veget- ation, its past is clad in mystery, but the piercing eye and adven- turous heart of the explorer and the untiring efforts of the scholar and hilologist have unravelled its secrets, y opening to the world the treasures of the proudest, most interesting and probably the most ancient race in America, and by deciphering the Calculi- form hieroglyphics which reveal to us all the splendour of its romantic civili- zation. Our purpose is not to show the analogies between the Maya and Egyp- tian or Oriental ruins, neither do we intend to make a deep and scientific investigation into their hieroglyphic script. The sole aim of this article is to give a broad view of Maya culture, as revealed to us from the five sources of information known to the modern archæologist: The architectural re- mains, including temples, palaces and stelæ—the literary evidence exhibited on these monuments—three native man- uscripts: the Codex Dresdensis, which is the earliest one; the Codex Peresianus kept in Paris, and the Codices Troano and Cortesianus, subsequently proved to be parts of the same manuscript which are to be found in Spain. All of these were written in pre-Conquest 57 Maya Civilization times. The third is the Codex Dresden- sis, which exhibits the closest relation to the most antique hieroglyphics. Our next chief source of information com- prises the native traditional records reduced to writing in post-Conquest times, including the books of Chilan- Balan, of Popul Vuh, and of Kachikel; and last, but not least in importance, the accounts of the early Spaniards. Landa, first Bishop of Yucatán, wrote his ' 'Relación'' іп 1566,—this work was discovered only in 1863. It deals with the Mayas as he knew them and with the calendrical system used at the time of the Conquest. The first attempt in deciphering the script exhibited on the walls of the monuments consisted in an application of the calendrical system as presented by Landa, to the hiero- glyphic writing as exhibited on the ruins. Our brief summary of the history, of the institutions, habits and learning, and of the colossal architectural remains of the Mayas, is based on these five sources. What is known about the Maya of to- day? To-day there are about two thou- sand Mayas scattered overa territory of sixty thousand square miles, including the Mexican provinces of Yucatan, Chiapas, Campeche and Tabasco, as well asBelize, Guatamala and Honduras, where monuments may also be found. In the provinces of Vera-Cruz among the Totonacs, and among the Haustexs in the Pánuca Valley, Maya is also spoken, but there is no evidence of any archi- tectural effort. These people, two- thirds of whom are of pure Maya stock, speak twenty different dialects. Some are hunters or trappers, but the majority 15%

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LOYOLA ICOILLÆEGE REVIEW = — common land and paid taxes in produce and by military service. It 1s inspiring to remark that the Mayas held the family as a sacred in- stitution. Though polygamy was for- bidden, it must be admitted that the observance of such a prohibition was not as rigid as might have been ex- pected of an otherwise highly civilized race. The children of the poor were educated in the occupations of their parents, who, in general, were either agriculturists or hunters. The average Maya even to this day cultivates his small plot of land, where he raises henequén' (hemp), a most valuable fibre, ‘‘chicle,’’ or other products proper to that climate. The children of the rich were skilled in art and music, and were taught his- tory, mathematics and religion. It is a deplorable fact that the average man in America is not more acquainted with the aboriginal civilizations of this continent. Unreliable and prejudiced novels give us a distorted idea of their history as well as their institutions and habits. They depict these early peoples as savage hordes ever massacring cach other, with no idea either of morality or of intellectual development. Quite to the contrary, we know that the astronomical system of this race, considering their lack of modern instru- ments is such as perplexes the mind, while their chronological system, as far as accuracy is concerned, equals, if not surpasses our present one. At first they had an arbitrary count of two hundred and sixty days, resulting from a count of twenty days (Imik, Ik... . Ahau) joined with the numerals one to thirteen, so that 1 Imik returns in the series in the 26oth place. This unit is called ‘“Tonalamatl.”’ The Haab is the Maya year, composed of eighteen months of twenty days each (Bop, Шо, “Zip... . Cumbu). The Џауеђ, ' or five unlucky days, is added to form the total of three hundred and sixty-five days, —a solar year. The “Calendar Round” is a combina- tion of the Tonalamatl and the Haab, resulting in 18,980 days, or 52 years; constituting a circle which finds a parallel both in Aztec and in ancient Japanese and Chinese chronologies. It is curious to remark that the Maya numeral system was vigesimal, and not decimal as our own. The basis of twenty was probably suggested by the addition of the ten fingers of the hand to the ten toes. Let us take 125 as an example: In our system 125 =5+(2x10) +(ахтохто) = 125. If the digits repre- senting 125 were placed in this identical order and reckoned according to the Maya vigesimal system the result would be as follows: 12525--(2x20)--(1xzox 20)=445. The Mayas had three dif- ferent ways of expressing theirnumerals: First, the Normal way; secondly, by means of “Ғасев”; thirdly, by means of ‘‘Numerals.’’ It would be too lengthy and tedious to enter into a discussion concerning these three modes; however, here is an example of the Normal way, 19 = =:: Since their system is vigesi- mal, it follows that there are 19 digits. The Mayas were polytheists and honoured their gods in temples con- structed on artificial mounds. The Maya pyramid, therefore, served a different purpose from the Egyptian; the former was intended as a foundation and sup- port, the latter as a tomb. One Gol, however, they dared not represent in stone or painting; this God, the Father of all gods, was invisible and im- material. It is extraordinary that the unaided reason of these aboriginal tribes should have arrived in some respect at that knowledge which the philosophers of ancient Greece attained only after years of incredible wandering and labour. In matters of art it is easy to err. In giving, therefore, an appreciation of the colossal remains of human skill found within a triangle formed by Mayapán, Chichén-Itzá and Uxmal, to the North; Palenque, Piedras-Negras and Menché {7}