Maya creation myths : words and worlds of the Chilam Balam

The Resource Maya creation myths : words and worlds of the Chilam Balam

Label

Maya creation myths : words and worlds of the Chilam Balam

Title remainder

words and worlds of the Chilam Balam

Statement of responsibility

Timothy W. Knowlton

Language

eng

Summary

There is no Classical Yucatecan Maya word for "myth." But around the close of the seventeenth century, an anonymous Maya scribe penned what he called u kahlay cab tu kinil, "the world history of the era," which he chronicled events before Christianity came to the Peten. In this, he collected numerous accounts of the cyclical destruction and reestablishment of the cosmos; the origins of gods, human beings, and the rituals and activities upon which their relationship depends; and finally the dawn of the sun and the sacred calendar Maya diviners still use today to make sense of humanity's place in the otherwise inscrutable march of time. These creation myths eventually became part of the documents known today as the Books of Chilam Balam
Maya Creation myths provides not only new and outstanding translations of these myths but also an interpretive journey through these often misunderstood texts, providing insight into Maya cosmology and how Maya intellectuals met the challenge of the European clergy's attempts to eradicate their worldviews. Unlike many scholars who primarily focus on traces of pre-Hispanic culture or Christian influence within the Books of Chilam Balam, Knowlton emphasizes the diversity of Maya mythic traditions and the uniquely Maya discursive strategies that emerged in the Colonial period
This book will be of significant interest to Maya scholars, folklorists, and historians, as well as students and scholars of religion, cosmology, and anthropology. --Book Jacket

Cataloging source

N$T

Dewey number

299.7/842024

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

LC call number

F1435.3.R3

LC item number

K63 2010eb

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

dictionaries
bibliography

Series statement

Mesoamerican worlds : from the Olmecs to the Danzantes

Context

Context of Maya creation myths : words and worlds of the Chilam Balam

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