Images de page
PDF
ePub

similar tradition may possibly be our Christmas carol of the Cherry Tree :

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

a carol which is certainly founded on a wide-spread tradition, probably related to those referred to but modified, for Raphael has a painting of the Holy Child with a bunch of cherries. A somewhat similar legend to that of Xquiq, was told in Mexico proper of the birth of Huitzilopochtli. His mother Cohuatlicue was sweeping the temple when a ball of feathers dropped out of the sky. She hid it in her bosom till the sweeping was done, but when she put her hand into her bosom, the feather ball had disappeared, and she soon after perceived that she was pregnant.

These curious myths are perhaps dim reminiscences of the forbidden fruit, with the result of the first transgression united to its remedy. There may have been a lingering tradition of the fall through the apple, and of the promise that the seed of the woman should come to reverse the work of ruin, and perhaps, though unrecorded by Moses, the original promise was, that the Messiah's birth should be of a virgin mother. This is rendered not improbable from the prevalence of myths uniting the fruiteating with virginal conception.

In the Popol Vuh the traditions of the Flood are faint and uncertain. The book does not, however, appear to be complete. There is certainly a hiatus after the account of the destruction of the wooden men, and the genesis of earth is interrupted by the story of the wars of the heavenly twins with the race of the giants; nor is it again resumed, consequently we are left in ignorance as to the creation of men. It is not improbable that the transcriber of the Popol Vuh purposely omitted a large portion of the sacred book relating to the formation of man, the Deluge, and the dispersion of races, as the myths in the Quiche work clashed with the narrative in the Holy Scriptures, and, as a Christian, he may have felt it unlawful to reproduce these fables—a feeling which, to some extent, influenced Ximenes, the translator. The Popol Vuh, abruptly leaving the cosmogony and genesis of earth, turns to heroic legends. The Mexican

reminiscences of the creation of man, the flood, and the confusion of tongues, are known to us, and fill this gap.

According to the generally-received myth, there were four or five ages of the world. Among the Hindus and Zends the number was four; but Hesiod reckons five. The first age was that of earth, or of giants. In this age took place the great struggle between the demigods and the race of Vukub-Cahix. The age came to an end through a general famine. An evil spirit blighted the herbage, and the beasts fell upon men and devoured them. With this agrees an account in the Popol Vuh of the revolt of the beasts against the dominion of the wooden manikins. The second age was that of fire, so called because it ended in a general conflagration, from which the birds alone of the dumb animals escaped. One family of men sought refuge in a deep cave, and thereby escaped destruction.

The third age was that of storm. It was wrecked in a violent outburst of the wrath of Hurakan, when before his breath the earth was swept of all thereon,-houses, men, beasts, birds. The men took refuge in the forms of apes, and have never left these shapes since. But one pair, with greater discretion, concealed themselves in a cavern, and of them the next age, that of water, was peopled. The age of water was so called because it came to an end in an overwhelming deluge. One pair alone escaped, the name of the man was Coxcox, the name of the woman Xochiquetzal, who took refuge on a cypress trunk, and were stranded on Mount Colhuacan. As this Coxcox is also called by the unpronounceable name Huehuetonacateocipatli, ie. Fishgod-of-our-Flesh, he reminds one of the Indian Avatar, in which Vishnu assumes the fish form, and the Chaldee Oannes or Dag-on. According to another variety of the story, Coxcox and his wife escaped in a boat with several animals, and as the water began to decrease, they sent forth a vulture, which did not return; then they sent forth a kolibri, which came back with a twig in its beak. The fifth age is the present.

After the drying up of the earth, Coxcox became the father of fifteen sons, who were all dumb. Then a dove gave them fifteen tongues, and thence originated that number of languages, with which the Mexicans were acquainted. In the old hieroglyphs representing the Flood, is a representation of this dove with its

numerous tongues.

The second part of the Popol Vuh contains a painful account of the origin of human sacrifices, veiled in legend. The first inhabitants of Central America were unacquainted with the means of producing fire, and when the Quiche race came among them, they greatly desired its acquisition. Tohil was the firegod of the Quiches.

'The tribes were comfortless because of the cold and the frost, trem

bling, and with their teeth chattering, almost lifeless, their hands and feet stiff, so that they could hold nothing when they came. "Do not insult us," they said, "now that we have come to you asking a little of your fire." But they were not well received, and the hearts of the tribes were very sad.'-P. 221.

Then there appeared a messenger of Xibalba, who gave the following advice:

:

"In truth, there is your god, him whom you hold up, who is the symbol of the shadow of your Creator and Maker. Give not of your fire to these tribes, till they have given themselves to your god Tohil. Ask then of Tohil what recompense they shall make for the fire you give them," spake the messenger of Xibalba, whose shape was that of a bat. "I have been sent by your Creator and Maker," he said.

Then they were filled with joy. The heart of Tohil was lifted up whilst spake the messenger of Xibalba. And when he had spoken, he vanished without ceasing to exist.

"Then arrived other tribes perishing from cold; for there had been great frost and a frozen rain, a piercing chill. And all the tribes were gathered shivering and quaking with cold, when they came before (the leaders) Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Ïqui-Balam. Great was their misery. Their mouths, their faces were full of sorrow. " Will you not compassionate us?" they asked. "We only entreat a little fire. Were we not all one, and with one country, when we were first created? Have pity upon us!" they again exclaimed.

"What will you give us that we should compassionate you?" was the answer made to them.

6.66

We will give silver," answered the tribes.

"We will not have silver," said Balam-Quitze and Balam-Agab.

"What do you require then?" they asked. It was answered, "We will inquire of Tohil." The tribes replied, "It is well.”

"What shall the tribes give thee, O Tohil, in return for a little fire?" asked then Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam.

"Let them be united to me betwixt the armpit and the belt. Will their hearts agree to embrace me, Tohil? If not, let them have no fire." Thus spake the good Tohil; and he added, "Tell them that this shall be little by little, and that it will not be the union of themselves between the armpit and the belt." And thus he spake to Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam.

"Then they repeated the message of Tohil. "It is well," they said, onhearing the words of Tohil, "We will embrace him." They were not long. They received the fire and they warmed themselves.

When

'But one tribe stole the fire in smoke, the house of Zotzel. they passed in the smoke, they passed gently, coming and stealing fire, and the Cakchiquels did not ask for fire and yield up themselves. But all the other tribes were taken in the snare, for when they yielded from the armpit to the belt, it was for the cutting open of the breast that Tohil spake, when the tribes are sacrificed before his face, and when they tear the hearts out of the breast.

This rite had not been practised, till death was enigmatically proposed by Tohil in horror and majesty by the hand of Balam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam.-P. 223-227.

The name of the tribe which did not submit, but stole the fire, explains that portion of the fable. Cakchiquel is derived from Cag-che-qui-el, which is literally, fire produced from wood; that is, they were acquainted with the method of

obtaining fire by friction, and had not, therefore, to submit to be sacrificed in order to obtain it. This resembles the myth of Prometheus stealing fire, the name Prometheus being the Sanskrit pramantha, the stick which, rubbed in a socket, elicits fire.

Little by little, as Tohil promised, this horrible sacrifice prevailed, till, when the Spaniards discovered Central America, every altar was reeking with human gore, and in the temples the accumulations of human hearts, which had been torn from still palpitating bodies, filled the invaders with horror. Along with cruelty as part of worship prevailed the most horrible vices which had polluted the nations cast forth from Canaan, and destroyed by the people of God; and if we sometimes feel regret at the extermination of a high civilization and proficiency in arts which existed in that central region betwixt North and South America, we cannot but feel that such an extermination was called for by a creed which outraged every noble feeling of human nature.

Having given an outline of the contents of the Popol Vuh, let us consider the result of M. Brasseur de Bourbourg's labours in the field of Quiche historical antiquities.

Our thanks are due to him for having given us the original text and a faithful translation of the curious book of Quiche mythology; but for his Commentary on the same, and for his voluminous Early History of Central America,' less thanks are deserved. The latter work, when it appeared, was calculated to arouse considerable interest. It professed to give the history of the Maja and Nahual races, from their migration into America to the Spanish conquest. The heroic ages of the Tolteks, the middle ages of the Aztek monarchy, and the foundation of the Mexican empire, were related on the authority of 'original and unpublished documents found in the ancient native archives.' As these sources of information were beyond the reach of the learned, it was impossible for them to form a just appreciation of the historical value of the work, and they waited with anxiety for the promised publication of the texts. The Popol Vuh is the first instalment, and as that and the Cakchiquel MS. are the main authorities quoted for the carly history of the races of Central America, and as the Cakchiquel MS., from the fragments published, seems to be of a similar character to the Popol Vuh, we are able to arrive at some satisfactory conclusion as to the historical worth of the authorities, and the critical appreciation of the commentator.

Unfortunately, the Abbé has set to work with strong bias in his mind, and has viewed his texts from an entirely false position. What are clearly mythological he has regarded as historical, and, failing to perceive this, he has raised a vast

superstructure on the slenderest of foundations. His history has about as much historical value, as would have a chronicle of the affairs of Greece drawn exclusively from the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Under every legend lurks a chronological fact; every myth contains historical truth. Such is his theory. According to him :

"The arrival of the Nahuas in Tamoanchan, their attempts to civilize the people and to form them after the image of their own institutions, the destruction of their colony by a hurricane and inundation, the discovery of maize by Pau Paxil, their establishment in the land, their struggles, slight at first, then their open revolt against Xibalba, their perils, their trials, and their final triumph, terminating in the apotheosis of the heroes who died in this formidable conflict, such is the outline of the historical account contained in the two first parts of the sacred book, and which is found to underlie the Mexican ritual, whose mysteries are singularly elucidated thereby.'

This idea he developes. The creation described in the Popol Vuh, is an account of the origin of castes. The fight with Vukub-Cakix and his sons, is the history of the invasion of America by the Mexican races, and their conflicts with the ancient inhabitants of the land.

The ball-playing of the heavenly twins is the murmuring of the discontents against Xibalba. M. de Bourbourg is sadly perplexed, because there was no such a place as Xibalba in ancient America, and he supposes it to be Palenque; whyexcept that there is a red river flowing somewhere near it, and which he considers to be the river of gore passed by Hunahpu and Xbalanque-is not clear. The Abbé holds the Spanish writers to scorn because they told how that the natives called, in their language, hell, Xibalba. After relating the legend of the descent of Hunhunahpu into Xibalba, his death, the conception of Xquiq by the calabash, the birth of Hun-ahpu and Xbalanque, and the transformation of Hun Batz and Hun Chouen into monkeys, he observes :

'It demands no great amount of perspicuity to discover the reality beneath the allegory. In the clandestine union of Xquiq with Hunhunahpu we have an account of the union of the Nahuas with the women of the country, whom they gain by their superiority. Hun-ahpu and Xbalanque represent the fruit of their loves, no less odious to those of the foreign race, which was pure of all admixture, figured by Hun Batz and Hun Chouen, than to the ancient aborigines.'

But if the system of interpretation adopted by the Abbé is wholly worthless, the documents on which he founds it remain of interest, not historically, but mythologically; and it is interesting to find the familiar myths of an Oannes, of a descent into Tartarus, a Titan war, a pregnancy through fruit-eating, as prevalent in ancient America as they were in Europe and in Asia in remote antiquity.

« PrécédentContinuer »