Sisimito I--Ox Witz Ha

by Henry W. Anderson

  Duenditos (Alaj Ponopiks) are playful characters, miniature duendes (dwarfs). Ponopik is Maya for ‘dwarf person or animal, Alaj for ‘small; little’. At night, they play, leap in the ashes of the burnt milpa (kool), and create a ruckus by throwing stones and whistling continuously, imitating the sound of the wind.

  El Dueno de Los Kekeos (Kitam Ajchaq’e) is Spanish for Master of the Peccaries. Ajchaq’e is Maya for ‘owner; master’, Kitam for peccary. He is an old man with beady eyes, a long white beard, and wears tattered clothes and a strange hat. He looks after the collard peccaries that are grey in color with a light-colored strip across their ‘collars’. He treats their wounds with mud and spit, and punishes hunters who kill more than needed for food. At the head of his drove are the mature animals, then the younger ones, then the old and sick. He communicates by a loud, eerie hoot.

  Hashishi Pampi (Alaj Chaj-r-ij Wíinik) are small creatures that look like little men, smaller than duendes. They have the color of ashes and frolic mischievously in the fire-hearth at night. They are harmless and found where milpas (kools)are burnt or there has been a forest fire. Hashishi refers to their ashen color. The word Pampi comes from the Caribbean and refers to a small boy or dwarf. Alaj is Maya for ‘little’, Chaj-r-ij for the color ‘grey’, Wíinik for ‘man’.

  Kechelaj Jupuq is the Jungle Horde. In the Sisimito Series, this refers to all the animals under Sisimito’s (Mahanamatz’) control.

  Kechelaj Komon refers to all the Jungle Folk in the Sisimito Series.

  La Llorona (Xwáay Ok’ol). Xwáay is Maya for ‘witch’, Ok’ol for ‘cry’. This woman has haunting cries, can float, and can turn into a two-tailed snake. She can stick her tails into nostrils and squeeze. She is found near rivers on a rock and under almond and breadfruit trees. She drowned her illegitimate child and at night she has haunting cries, and appears helpless thus attracting men. She can also have a glowing light or fire coming from her fingers.

  La Sigua (Xwáay Mulibal-k’ux’) is a wicked witch whose eerie laughter and loud whistling frightens. Xwáay is Maya for ‘witch’, Mulibal-k’ux for ‘ugly, nauseating’. She is unbearably ugly and she comes out of the bush at nights looking for drunks who she takes away. When they return to the village, they are ill and no medical doctor, priest, or curandero (bush doctor) can help. Mustard seeds distract her and make her cry like a child. Her hair is the stem of a bunch of bananas, her mouth is the jawbone of an old cow, her arms are covered with the greenish hair of young corn, her dress is made from dried banana leaves, in one ear she wears a black flower. In one hand, she holds another black flower and in the other she carries a stick that supports her jaw. When she finds a drunk, she takes his hands and wrap her arms around his neck. She then takes him into the bush.

  La Sirena (Xwaáy Kumätz). Xwáay is Maya for ‘witch’, Kumätz for ‘snake’. She is evil, half woman half snake, has long black hair and is clothed in white. Her face may be hidden, ugly or beautiful. She may be hiding a horse face or skull under the cloth she wears over her head. She got tired of her child and threw it in a stream to drown. She now sits by a stream at night and if you see her, it is an omen of death. She, sometimes, carries off children for three days and when they return they are unable to function normally for days. She mostly chooses men, drunks, and may even impersonate a sweetheart. She then leads them down paths difficult to return. When found, the men are frustrated and delirious.

  La Sucia (The Dirty: English) (Xwáay Éek’). Xwáay is Maya for ‘witch’, Eek’ for ‘dirty’. She is a large woman with long golden hair, lives near rivers, is mischievous, and enchants men especially drunks. She is relatively harmless. When she sees a drunk, she exposes her breasts and laughs. The man follows, but she suddenly disappears. He loses his way and falls into exhaustion. When he awakens, he is usually sleeping on a grave in a cemetery. He then suffers from confusion, fever, and delusions.

  Mozon (Etzelal Iq’). Etzelal is Maya for ‘evil, wickedness, badness’, Iq’ for ‘wind’. He is the wind and comes in short, sudden gusts. People can be affected. They fall down and begin to tremble violently. They may also vomit, faint, or get a high fever which can be cured by a curandero (bush doctor).

  Negro de Agua (Q’eq Ja’ Wíinik) is Spanish for Black Man of the Water. He takes drowned bodies to dens under water in rivers. The palms of his hands and feet are white. Ja’ is Maya for ‘water’, Q’eq for ‘black’, Wíinik for ‘man’.

  Ole Heg (Xwáay Chikoop). Xwáay is Maya for ‘witch’, Chikoop for ‘vampire bat’. She sucks blood and can transform herself into a flying ball of fire or a thin ray of light to enter a keyhole. She mainly travels at night searching for victims to suck their blood. She prepares by saying a prayer that allows her to remove her skin which she hangs on a ceiba tree. She can strap on two straw mats to fly with. She prefers to suck mainly sleeping children, returning night after night, while the victim becomes paler and thinner and die. She avoids the color blue and asafetida, a foul-smelling gum resin, will keep her away. Skinny, skinny, yu no know me? is her tortured cry. If one scatter wangla seeds, she becomes obsessed with picking them up, fills her hand, then throws them down again. When morning comes, she can be beaten to death with a broom. If you sprinkle her skin with salt, when she puts it on it stings and she gives her cry.

  Ralxik is the name given to Mahanamatz’ bocotora clapansaya. It is Maya for ‘large snake’. ‘Ralxik’ is not a Belizean Folklore name.

  Sisimito, also known as Mahanamatz: A full description is given in the Foreword.

  Tata Duende (Tata Ponopik). Duende is Spanish for dwarf. Tata is Maya for old man, and Ponopik for dwarf (person, animal). He is three feet tall and wears a wide brimmed hat. He has a white beard and dresses in white satin, carries a machete or knotted stick, and smokes a pipe. He may also wear a big red hat, animal skins for clothing, red or brown shirt or pants, a big straw hat, and pointed boots. He is stocky built, has a hairy body, an ugly and mean face. He has his feet turned backwards. When he comes, there is a whistling sound and/or the fragrance of the ‘Dama de la Noche’ orchid flower. He has no thumbs and will wring off those of anyone who falls prey to him. If you meet him, you must hide your thumbs in your hands. He then likes you and will teach you to play his silver guitar or other instrument. If you imitate his whistle, he takes you away. To scare him, you need only to make the sign of the cross. Offer him food and he will return kidnapped children safely.

  Waari Massa (Hach-k’ek’en Ajchaq’e). Ajchaq’e is Maya for ‘owner, master’, Hach-k’ek’en for ‘Waari’, (Kriol). He has a white face which is fierce and cruel, and is master and protector of the waaries, the white-lipped peccaries. He has droves of hundreds and when they march the Waari Massa is in front. He directs keeping the youngest animals at the front, the partly mature in middle, the full grown at back. The adults are greyish-black and the younger ones are reddish brown, and they have razor sharp tusks. The Waari Massa protects the droves and nurses the hurt. Hunters may be feverish for days after warries have charged them.

  Xtabai hides in the Ceiba tree. She can turn into a green snake and may use her tail to stop up a man’s nose. She appears as a beautiful Indian woman with long hair, wears a long flowing white huipil and sometimes a white cloth over her head. She may also appear as an old woman, have human features but no flesh, as a woman spirit with the face of a vulture, or a young woman with large black eyes, small mouth, slender waist. She has a hollow rough back covered with hard bony scales which she tries to hide. Her left foot is cloven like a goat and the other clawed like a turkey. She walks with one heavy step and then one light forming the pattern of an X as she walks. She can appear as a large floating mass and change quickly into a hissing green snake, a prickly tree, or a vicious old hag. Legend states that she was a beautiful Indian woman of the Maya aristocracy, with beautiful eyes and an enchanting smile; yet, ignored all suitors. An enchantress who wanted a gallant noble for herself tricked the maiden to drink a portion that made her promiscuous and led to h
er early death. She enchants men, especially on moonlit nights when she bares her upper body, enticing the men to follow her beckoning finger. As a snake, she seizes men, carry them to the underworld, or throw them in a well. She may choke a man to death. Men who follow her get fever, lose their mind, and die. If a man stays with her, he is unharmed until he fries to leave. She is stopped by prayers and disappears if she sees the sign of the cross. Villagers wear their sandal straps around the feet from left to right, in order to keep Xtabai away.

  Illustration 51: Maya Northern and Southern Lowlands, and the Maya Highlands.

  CARACOL - OX WITZ HA

  CARACOL - SNAIL

  INTRODUCTION

  Located on the western edge of the Maya Mountains within the Chiquibul Forest reserve, Caracol sits high on a plateau, 500 meters above sea level. The site is located twenty-six miles from the Douglas D’Silva Forest Station in the Mountain Pine Ridge. Cutting across the hilly terrain, remnants of extensive agricultural field systems give evidence of an extensive farm industry that once provided sustenance for a large population. An internal road system made up over 60 kilometers of sacbeob (roads) and causeways served as routes for transportation and communication.

  POPULATION & SOCIAL ECONOMY

  Caracol maintained a small Maya population during the Late Preclassic and early Classic periods (300 BC-AD 550). Following an era of wars with Tikal (Yax Mutul) and Naranjo (Maxam), cities in present day Guatemala, in the Late Classic Period (AD 550-700), Caracol’s urban domain expanded dramatically.

  The social organization of Caracol included all levels of society from poor farmers to powerful elite. Specialized ritual and mortuary practices suggest the development of an elite identity at Caracol. An emergent Maya “middle class” also constituted a large portion of the community. Shell and chert workshops occur in residential areas and artisans once engaged in specialized craft production. A system of causeways served as marker routes along which materials and goods were exchanged and acquired from local and regional sources.

  SITE DESCRIPTION

  Illustration 52: Caracol (Ox Witz Ha) Core Site.

  A Group (Structures A1-A12)

  This assemblage of buildings may once have been an astronomical observatory (known to archeologists as an “E Group”). The eastern side of this group includes Structure A6 also known as the Temple of the Wooden Lintel. The western building, Structure A2 is 25 meters high and supports Stela 22, which has the longest glyphic text in Belize. This stela was dedicated during the reign of Lord K’an II in the seventh century. The north building, Structure A3, was once covered with modeled red stucco, and has a tomb inside that dates to the late seventh century (AD 696). The building at the southern edge of the main plaza is Structure A1.

  Temple of the Wooden Lintel (Structure A6)

  This is the largest structure3 on the A Group’s eastern platform, and one of the oldest and longest used buildings at Caracol. This structure has several construction phases, with the zapote wood crossbeams dating the currently visible building phase to the Late Preclassic (1st century AD). The earliest construction here dates to 300 BC and the building was in use until AD 1100. A cache excavated within this structure revealed a cloth bundle placed over a pool of 684 grams of liquid mercury.

  Altar 21 (between Structures A11 & A12)

  This ballcourt marker was dedicated in AD 633 by Lord K’an II. The text explains that K’an II’s father, Lord Water, engaged in two war events with Tikal in AD 556 and AD 562.

  Central Acropolis (Structures A33, 34, 37, 38, 40)

  This is an elite residential group, which in its final Late Classic form, contained two religious buildings, a funerary building, palaces, and two smaller structures. A royal tomb at the base of the northern structure contained the remains of four individuals and 20 pottery vessels. A painted text dated the tomb construction to AD 582. This tomb was used twice by the ancient Maya for the interment of their ancestors.

  B Group (Structures B1-B57 & B65-B149)

  The B Group is the most massive architectural complex at Caracol. The B Group is comprised of Caana, a ballcourt, several plazas, buildings, and a man-made water reservoir. At the eastern edge of the group, there is an elite residential complex known as Barrio. The Bound Captives Altar Stone (Altar 23) is in the central plaza of this group. Several stelae were also found in the B Group Plaza. A religious/residential complex (Structures B4-B6) forms the south side of the plaza with a ballcourt at the western side of the B Group Plaza.

  Caana (Structure B14-B20)

  This “sky place” complex rises some 43 meters above the B Group Plaza and is one of the tallest manmade constructions in Belize. Consisting of four residential complexes and three religious buildings, this is one of the most elaborate architectural constructions known from the Classic Period in the Southern Maya Lowlands. Rooms on the summit probably housed the royal family compound.

  B19-2nd Tomb

  The largest and most elaborate tomb known from Caracol was found at the summit of Caana (Structure B19-2nd). The tomb contained the remains of a woman, found in a way that suggests that she was buried position upright, or in a bundle. The remains may be that of Lady Batz’ Ek who married into the ruling dynasty at Caracol in AD 584. Hieroglyphs painted inside the tomb record a date in AD 634. This probably does not represent the date of Lady Batz’ Ek’s death. It is likely that the interment (burial) took place several years after her death, as recorded on monuments commissioned by her son, Lord K’an II.

  Altar 23

  This large, round stone monument was erected in AD 800, and represents two bound royal captives seated cross-legged on stone altars. The captive on the right was taken from the site of Ucanal in Guatemala; the one of the left is from the (unknown) site of “Bital”.

  Barrio (Structures B21-26)

  This elite residential plaza is accompanied by three palaces and a religious building to the north. The currently visible constructions date to the Late Classic Period (AD 800), and were used until the abandonment of the central core of Caracol around AD 859.

  C Group (Structures B59-B64)

  The third major plaza forming the central core of Caracol is situated at the point where a major causeway enters “downtown” Caracol. On the western side of the plaza, there is a palace compound decorated with stucco texts that documents Caracol’s late history. This compound was occupied until the final abandonment of the central core area.

  South Acropolis (Structures Di-D35)

  This elite residential complex consists of several plaza groups at the south- ern end of the site core. One cremation burial and several tombs have been excavated from this area dating to AD 450-650.

  Reservoirs

  The human-made reservoirs served as the only known water sources at Caracol. They were raised and plastered for efficient catchment and storage of water. The smaller of the two central reservoirs (or aguadas) is to the southwest of the B Group. A second, larger reservoir is located just north of the South Acropolis.

  Northwest Acropolis (Structures A61-A73, H1-H7, F1-F42)

  The Northwest Acropolis is made up of several plaza complexes set into a hilltop, northwest of the A Group. This residential area is joined to the city centre by a causeway that extends from behind Structure A2. A tomb was found at the back of Structure F2, holding a chamber filled with many hu- man bones (at least 24 individuals). Many of the bones and grave goods show signs of having been burnt.

  EXCAVATION HISTORY

  The site was found in 1939 by Rosa Mai, a logger looking for mahogany. That year, A. H. Anderson visited the site and named it “Caracol” (Spanish for snail). In recent years, the emblem glyph (a hieroglyphic site identification symbol) has been translated to mean ox witz há or “place of three hills”. An alternative translation of the emblem glyph is ku kau tu mak, the meaning of which is not yet known.

  In 1950, Linton Satterthwaite (University of Pennsylvania) excavated and recorded 32 stone monuments within five plazas. Satterthwait
e mapped the central area of the site and discovered two causeways. A. H. Anderson, the first Archaeological Commissioner of Belize, carried out minor excavations during the mid-1950’s. In 1978-79, Paul Healy from Trent Unive4rsity investigate agricultural terraces that extend three kilometers from the site core. From 1985 to 1999, the Caracol project, under the direction of Arlen and Diane Chase of the University of Central Florida, has undertaken major excavations and surveys that reveal a massive central core, and dense continuous settlement extending out over a radius of eight kilometers.

  CARACOL: AN ANCIENT MAYA CITY

  Archeological research at Caracol has shown that this was a huge city with a population of more than 150,000. The metropolis of Caracol, with its bustling markets, busy thoroughfares, craft workshops, and agricultural production relied upon an interdependent system of social and economic networks to maintain its vitality. Visionary political leaders, artists, engineers, farmers, warriors and villagers worked together to create a vibrant community. Although it now lies in ruin, the people who once lived in this city have left a lasting impression on the physical and cultural landscape that we now know as Caracol, Belize.