Who Wrote the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel?
Don Adumaro Molina
This manuscript, found by Don Adumaro Molina in the early nineteenth century, when Mexico was still a Spanish colony, describes the Spanish conquest of the Yucatan Peninsula as well as the history, rituals, prophecies, astronomy, architecture, mythology, calendar, songs, and incantations of the local Maya peoples.
When was the book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel written?
1837
The most important of these twelve surviving books are the Books of Chilam Balam of Tizimin (1837), Chumayel (1837), and Mani (1837), all written in the Yucatec language. All three describe the arrival of the Spanish and Christianity.
What kind of book is the Chilam Balam?
Books of Chilam Balam, group of documents written in Yucatec Maya with Spanish characters during the 17th and 18th centuries. A principal source of knowledge of ancient Mayan custom, they contain myth, prophecy, medical lore, calendrical information, and historical chronicles.
What does Balam mean in Mayan?
: a supernatural being in Mayan religion that guards cornfields and villages the Mayas of Central America speak of Balam as a god of agriculture, describing him as an old fellow with a long head. He walks in the air and whistles as he goes—a much-dreaded nocturnal being— W. D. Wallis.
What is Balam named after?
The Books of Chilam Balam (Mayan pronunciation: [t͡ʃilam ɓahlam]) are handwritten, chiefly 17th and 18th-centuries Maya miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Maya and early Spanish traditions have coalesced.
Did Mayans worship Jaguars?
To the ancient civilisations of Mexico; the Olmecs, the Mayans and the Aztecs, the jaguar was worshipped as a deity. Because of its ability to see in the night, they believed that jaguars were able to move between worlds. The jaguar was a being of the stars and the earth.
