Wi’-k’an is Maya for ‘uncle’.
[←363]
Haab’ is part of the Maya calendric system. It was the Maya version of the 365-day calendar known to many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica. Unlike the Tzolk’in, another Mayan Calendar system with no obvious relation to an astronomical or geophysical cycle, the Haab’ approximated the solar year. The Haab’ comprises eighteen “months” of twenty days each, plus an additional period of five days (‘nameless days’) at the end of the year known as Wayeb’.
[←364]
Please note that the treatment for rabies used here is not Maya. The general information is adapted from The History And Traditional Treatment Of Rabies In Ethiopia by Richard Pankhurst.
[←365]
Pa-al (Mopan), Solanum rudepannum Dunal, is also known as Susumba (Spanish), and Toom-pa ‘ap (Mopan). Among other traditional uses, snake doctors treat snakebite victims with a poultice made from the mashed root, and a hot bath made with a leaf decoction.
[←366]
Pu-ja is Mopan for Similax sp., also known as China Root, Red China Root, and Wild Sarsa. When boiled in water, it gives a pleasant tasting blood tonic. It is good for fatigue, anemia, acidity, toxicity, rheumatism, and skin conditions.
[←367]
We stink no madafok. is read ‘We stink like madafok.’
[←368]
Ch’u’j-tz’i’ is Maya for ‘rabid dog’. Ch’u’j means ‘rabid’ and tz’i’ means ‘dog’.
[←369]
Kis is Maya for ‘excrement, animal dropping, shit’.
[←370]
Tok’ is Maya for ‘quartz or flint’. The important ingredient here is silica. It is being used for its healing qualities and as a desiccant.
[←371]
Iit is Maya for ‘anus’.
[←372]
Oorah was originally a Comanche war-cry that meant “All-right” or “Let’s go!” in the Comanche Language. ‘Oorah’ is a war cry also used by the United States Marine Corps, as well as by Russian Ground Forces.
[←373]
Baläm Nimalaj T’uyulibal Is Maya for ‘Jaguar Throne’.
[←374]
Noh-il is Maya for ‘Greatness’.
[←375]
Ichik is a Maya male name meaning ‘Rainbow’.
[←376]
Pohoc is Ke’kchi for the fine fiber material made from the henequen plant.
[←377]
Kiskis is Kriol for wooden tongs made from the fire-resistant trunk of the pokono-bwai palm, Bactris major, and used for moving coals in a fire, holding hot utensils, catching crabs, etc.
[←378]
Olicuáhuitl is the Nahuatl (Aztec) word for the tree Castillo elastic, the Panama Rubber tree.
[←379]
Ipomoea alba is also known as the ‘moonflower’. This species of morning glory blooms at night. The plants tend to grow near rubber trees, and both plants were considered sacred in several Mesoamerican cultures. Morning glory, for example, was also used in religious ceremonies for its hallucinogenic properties.
[←380]
To the Ancient Maya, a woman’s crucial physical productive ability was likened to her ability to create fabric and clothing. In addition, it has been found that while the emphasis for non-elite Maya women seems to be on food preparation capabilities, the focus for elite women appears to be their skills in textile manufacture indicating that fabric production and fabric were high status actions and objects within ancient Maya culture. An elite woman’s ability to supply fabric to a household’s tribute paying capabilities and wealth seems to have been of considerable concern, both to the Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures, perhaps even as much as the injection of powerful bloodlines.
[←381]
Kaab Ya ‘ax is Maya for ‘Green World’. When the world was created, a pillar of the sky was set up. There was the white tree of abundance in the north. Then the black tree of abundance was set up in the west. Then the yellow tree of abundance was set up (in the south). Then the (great) green (ceiba) tree of abundance was set up in the center. Chilam Baläm. (Note: The Bacab of the East carried the color red.)
[←382]
Ch’ajch Chiyul is Maya for Sacred Waterfall. The Hidden Valley Falls is sometimes referred to by this name in the Sisimito series.
[←383]
Pu-ta is Mopan for ‘guava’, Psidium guajava. Other names are Pici, Pi-chi, (Mopan); Pa-tá-h (Ke’kchi); Guayaba (Spanish).
[←384]
Chay is Maya for ‘obsidian’.
[←385]
Ba ‘at is Maya for ‘axe’ or ‘hatchet’. This hatchet, also used as a weapon, was a wooden ax hardened by fire and edged with flint or obsidian blades.
[←386]
Ch’aw-baq is Ke’kchi for ‘bone flute’.
[←387]
Ch ‘o’ is Maya for ‘rat’ or ‘mouse’. Here, it is a shrew or shrew mouse that is being referred to. It is a small mole-like mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. Although its external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, a shrew is not a rodent, as mice are, and is in fact more closely related to moles. Shrews have sharp, spike-like teeth, not the familiar gnawing front incisor teeth of rodents. The nature of shrew sounds, unlike those of bats, are low amplitude, broadband, multi-harmonic and frequency modulated. They contain no ‘echolocation clicks’ with reverberations and would seem to be used for simple, close range spatial orientation. In contrast to bats, shrews use echolocation only to investigate their habitat rather than additionally to pinpoint food.
[←388]
Manik is the Maya god of sacrifice, of sacrificial victims, and of purifying suffering.
[←389]
Buluc-Chabtan is also known as ‘God P. This deity is the god of war, violence and death, to whom human beings were sacrificed regularly. In the Dresden Codices, he is depicted as being eaten by maggots. He is further depicted setting homes on fire, killing people, and roasting them on skewers over a fire.
[←390]
Fi geh lee waif is Kriol for ‘to have sex’.
[←391]
Cha-cá (Mopan) is Bursera simaruba (L) Sarg. Other names are gumbolimbo, birch bark (English), broton, indio desnudo (Spanish). As a bath, it alleviates sunburn. As a tea, it prevents sun stroke.
[←392]
Abix is Maya for ‘corn plant’ or ‘cornfield’.
[←393]
K’ik’ is Maya for ‘rubber’.
[←394]
Taman is Maya for ‘cotton’.
[←395]
Yu is Kriol for ‘your’.
[←396]
Pacaya is an active complex volcano in Guatemala which first erupted approximately 23,000 years ago, and has erupted at least 23 times since the Spanish invasion of Guatemala. Pacaya rises to an elevation of 2,552 meters (8,373 ft.). After being dormant for a century, it erupted violently in 1965 and has been erupting continuously since then. Much of its activity is Strombolian, but occasional Plinian eruptions also occur, sometimes showering the area of the nearby Departments with ash.
[←397]
In Aztec mythology, Huehuetlotl is the god of fire. Although known mostly in the Aztec mythology and others of the Central Mexico cultures of that region, images and iconography depicting Huehuetlotl have been found at other archaeological sites across Mesoamerica, such as in the Gulf region, Western Mexico, and Protoclassic-era sites in the Guatemalan highlands such as Kaminaljuyu.
[←398]
Xch’úup is Maya for ‘woman’.
[←399]
Pumble stoan is Kriol for ‘pumice’.
[←400]
Fino is Spanish for ‘fine’.
[←401]
Baläm Qajaw is Ke’kchi for ‘Jaguar God’.
[←402]
Ilonel is Ke’kchi for ‘shaman’. A shaman is a member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for pu
rposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events.
[←403]
Punani is Kriol for ‘vagina’.
[←404]
Here, Kish is referring to Chiac’s 2IC, Robertson.
[←405]
Here, Ukab refers to 2IC.
[←406]
Wahn lat a prikl is Kriol for ‘A lot of prickles’.
[←407]
Chukwa’ is Maya for ‘chocolate’. Here it is used to refer to an alcoholic drink made using the sweet cacao beans pulp mixed with peppers, special herbs, honey, and flowers. It is both inhaled and drank, is used by kings, and for special ceremonies.
[←408]
Ko’yem is a Maya corn drink.
[←409]
Moho is the White Moho, Heliocarpus popayanensis Kunth. The tree grows 6 - 30 meters tall.
[←410]
Bering grong is Kriol for ‘graveyard’.
[←411]
Ded pipl is Kriol for ‘dead people’.
[←412]
In 1973 political opposition in Belize was weak and the ruling People’s United Party (PUP) had never lost a legislative election since its foundation. The main opposition parties, the National Independence Party (NIP)and the People’s Development Movement met together with a new Liberal Party to consider forming an alliance to fight the PUP. The resulting merger formed the United Democratic Party on 27 September, 1973. Controversially, a significant portion of an association called the United Black Association for Development also voted to join the UDP upon its foundation. The color associated with the NIP was Red and that of the PUP was Blue.
[←413]
Xul is Ke’kchi for ‘clay whistle’.
[←414]
Töt is both Ke’kchi and Mopan for ‘conch shell’.
[←415]
Some sources indicate that Hukte’ Ahaw is Vucub Hunahpú (Seven-Hunahpú) and the Maya Sports God. Vucub Hunahpú is uncle of the Hero Twins.
[←416]
Ah-nakom is the name given to priests carrying out human sacrifice. Their status was relatively low.
[←417]
Jatz’om is Maya for ‘spearthrower’ also knows as an ‘atlatl’. This weapon is a device used for throwing the spear (bate’). The spear is placed in a groove on the atlatl then the atlatl is strapped to the arm. After throwing the spear, the tip of the spear (a dart) is projected out of the spear into the enemy. After the battle is over, the spear (not the dart) can be retrieved.
[←418]
Bos yu rass is Kriol for ‘Give your ass a severe beating’.
[←419]
Nimal is Maya for ‘leader, chief, or boss’.
[←420]
Uinal: This is a Maya period of 20 days. The Maya year was divided into 19 months. Each is designated as an uinal and has a name and a corresponding glyph. Of those months, the first eighteen have twenty days and the last one, called Uayeb, has only five.
[←421]
Ikan is a Maya boy name meaning ‘star’.
[←422]
Kohaw: This is a war helmet made of stone such as pyrite and worn only by an ajaw or a kaloonte’. An ajaw is a lord, ruler, king, or leader. The ajaw may also perform religious activities. A kaloonte’ is an elite warrior associated with the jaguar and may also be a hunter, a nacon (officer), or a batab (war chief).
[←423]
K’iin is Maya for ‘day’.
[←424]
Rok’men is Maya for ‘wet (place)’.
[←425]
Iztali is a Maya boy name meaning ‘Reality is the dream’.
[←426]
Chicahua is a Nahuatl male name meaning ‘strong’.
[←427]
Kus is Maya for a ‘quiver’ for arrows.
[←428]
Iuitl is a Nahuatl unisexual name meaning ‘feather’.
[←429]
Mazatl is a Nahuatl male name meaning ‘deer’.
[←430]
Fi waif is Kriol for ‘for sexual favors’.
[←431]
Huitzilli is a Nahuatl male name meaning ‘hummingbird’.
[←432]
Quauhtli is a Nahuatl male name meaning ‘eagle’.
[←433]
Nim-q’ij is Maya for ‘Royal’, as in Royalty, Nobility, and the Elite.
[←434]
Xiuhcoatl is a Nahuatl unisexual name meaning ‘fire serpent’ or ‘weapon of destruction’.
[←435]
Armor: Maya armor usually consisted of short cotton jackets packed with rock salt and tight bindings of leather or cloth on the forearms and legs.
[←436]
Sotz’ is Maya for ‘bat’. The Mexican free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis, can reach speeds of 60.0 mph (96.6 km/h) in flight.
[←437]
Kaab is Maya for ‘honey’.
[←438]
Spoiling attack is a tactical maneuver employed to seriously impair a hostile attack while the enemy is in the process of forming or assembling for that attack.
[←439]
Koz is slang for ‘cousin’.
[←440]
K’éek’en is Maya for ‘pig’.
[←441]
Nabe is Maya for ‘First’, and Ukab is Maya for ‘Second’.
[←442]
Ha’ is Maya for ‘lake’.
[←443]
Áayin is Maya for ‘crocodile’. Crocodiles sometimes sleep through the warm season without eating. They rest in the mud and they can stay in that state for up to a year. During their hibernation or estivation, they live off their stored fat.
[←444]
Chokoh is Maya for ‘warm or hot’, referring to weather.
[←445]
The reference is to Dune, the 1965 Frank Herbert novel.
Sisimito II--Xibalba Page 69
