Sisimito I--Ox Witz Ha
Page 42
Brochure Published by the Department of Archeology, Belmopan, Belize. Phone: (501) 822-2106; (501) 822-2227
Fax: (501) 822-3345
With assistance from the M.A.S.D.P. European Union Project 6: ACP:RPR:544.
Design: Cubola Productions, March 1999.
Note: Some images were substituted or omitted for clarity reasons. Those used were from various Internet sources.
For updated information on Caracol, please go to: www.nichbelize.org
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arvigo, Rosita, Michael Balick. Rainforest remedies: One Hundred Healing Herbs of Belize. Twin Lakes: Lotus Press, 1993.
Baquedano, Elizabeth. Aztec, Inca & Maya. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. 1993.
Belize Audubon Society. Snakes Of Belize. Belize: Belize Audubon Society, 1995.
Burn, David M (Editor). The Complete Encyclopedia Of The Animal World. London: Octopus Books Limited, 1980.
Belize Department of Archeology. Caracol (Brochure). Belmopan: Belize Department of Archeology, 1999.
Dolnick, Barrie. Simple Spells for Love: Ancient practices for emotional fulfillment. New York: Harmony Books, 1994
Folklore Book Fund Committee. Characters & Caricatures in Belizean Folklore. Belize: Belize UNESCO Commission, 1998.
Henderson, John S. The World Of The Ancient Maya. New York: Cornell University Press, 1997.
Miller, Carolyn M. 100 Birds of Belize. Gallon Jug: American Bird Conservancy, 1995.
Martin, Simon and Grube, Nikolai. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London.
Paterson, Helena. The Celtic Tarot. London: Thorsons, 1995
Time-Life Books (Editors). The Magnificent Maya. Alexandria: Time- Life Books, 1993.
www.caracol.org. The Caracol Homepage.
www.ihomm.org/grnscp.html. The Green Scapular. www.newadvent.org. Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint Stephen.
Notes
[←1]
Kriol (Creole): Ethnic group, traditionally in the colonies, people born of European or African descent, or a mixture of both. In Belize it refers to anyone with a mixture of African and other ancestry.
[←2]
Fokin is Kriol for ‘fucking’. Other variations are fok for fuck, foked for fucked, madafok for mother-fuck, madafoka for mother-fucker. The proper British spelling is ‘fock’. When referring to sex, ‘fuck’ or ‘fucking’ is used.
[←3]
Chree is Kriol for ‘three’.
[←4]
Malpago is Spanish for a ‘hardpay person’ who does not want to pay a debt.
[←5]
Fumfum is Kriol for ‘a beating”.
[←6]
Gyal is Kriol for ‘girl’.
[←7]
Tóolok is Maya for ‘lizard’. Chiac calls his penis ‘Tóolok’.
[←8]
Tiga maaga but e strong is a Belizean Kriol proverb. The literal meaning is: The tiger is meager but it is strong. The actual meaning is: Don’t be fooled by a person’s seeming insignificance.
[←9]
Green Scapular. The Green Scapular, called by Our Lady, “The Badge of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” was given to the world by the Blessed Virgin Mary through a series of apparitions to Sister Justine Bisqueyburo, a Daughter of Charity, in the early 1840’s in Paris, France. On the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, Sept. 8th, 1840, the Mother of God appeared holding in her right hand her Immaculate Heart, mounted by flames and holding in her other hand a scapular.
The scapular consisted of a simple piece of green cloth, rectangular in shape, hanging from a green string. On one side was an image of Our Lady dressed in a long white gown which reached to her bare feet. Over this she wore a light blue mantle. However, she wore no veil. Instead, her hair hung loosely about her; and in her hands she held her Heart from the top of which gushed abundant flames. Her bearing was enhanced by a majestic beauty all heavenly. On the other side of the scapular was pictured her Immaculate Heart, all ablaze and transparent as crystal, with rays pouring out that appeared more dazzling than the sun. This Heart, pierced with a sword, was encircled by an inscription in the form of an oval and topped by a golden Cross. The inscription read: “Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.”
[←10]
Adobe: clay used with straw for making bricks and walls.
[←11]
Alameda: a tree-bordered walk.
[←12]
Yellowtails: Psarocolius montezuma; also known as Montezuma Oropendola, zacua mayor, xhom bzan.
[←13]
Bower: a shaded recess created by boughs or twining plants.
[←14]
Cedar tree: Cedrela odorata L; also known as cedro, ku-che.
[←15]
Burl: a warty protuberance found on some tree trunks.
[←16]
Piam-piam: Cyanocorax morio; also known as Brown Jay, urarca,
pa’ap.
[←17]
Mountain lion, Puma concolor: This large cat is also called the ‘red-tiger’ in Belize. It is properly called a Cougar, a Puma or a Panther.
[←18]
Litter: rotting leaves, stems, and debris of a forest or jungle floor.
[←19]
Kua is Ke’kchi for ‘tortilla’.
[←20]
Givnat is Kriol for ‘gibnut’, Agouti paca, a large rodent.
[←21]
Milpas are small farms prepared by the slash and burn method. The
milpero is he who works the milpa. The Maya word for milpa is kool and for milpero, it is koolnáal.
[←22]
Alcalde is Spanish for Mayor. With respect to a village, it refers to the Village Chairman.
[←23]
Awas Q’ij is Maya for Holy Week.
[←24]
Na’ is Maya for ‘mother’.
[←25]
Taat is Maya for ‘father’.
[←26]
Ulew is Maya for ‘earth, land, soil’. Here, Ulew is Earth.
[←27]
Q’uq’umatz (alternatively Qucumatz, Gukumatz, Gucumatz, Gugumatz, Kucumatz etc.) was a deity of the Postclassic K’iche’ Maya. Q’uq’umatz was the Feathered Serpent divinity of the Popol Vuh who created humanity together with the god Tepeu. Q’uq’umatz is considered to be the rough equivalent of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, and also of Kukulkan of the Yucatec Maya tradition. It is likely that the feathered serpent deity was borrowed from one of these two peoples and blended with other deities to provide the god Q’uq’umatz that the K’iche’ worshipped. Q’uq’umatz may have had his origin in the Valley of Mexico; some scholars have equated the deity with the Aztec deity Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl, who was also a creator god. Q’uq’umatz may originally have been the same god as Tohil, the K’iche’ sun god who also had attributes of the feathered serpent, but they later diverged and each deity came to have a separate priesthood.
Q’uq’umatz was one of the gods who created the world in the Popul Vuh, the K’iche’ creation epic. Q’uq’umatz, god of wind and rain, was closely associated with Tepeu, god of lightning and fire. Both of these deities were considered to be the mythical ancestors of the K’iche’ nobility by direct male line. Q’uq’umatz carried the sun across the sky and down into the underworld and acted as a mediator between the various powers in the Maya cosmos. The deity was particularly associated with water, clouds, the wind and the sky.
Kotuja’, the K’iche’ king who founded the city of Q’umarkaj, bore the name of the deity as a title and was likely to have been a former priest of the god. The priests of Q’uq’umatz at Q’umarkaj, the K’iche’ capital, were drawn from the dominant Kaweq dynasty and acted as stewards in the city.
Ballcourt marker at Mixco Viejo, depicting Q’uq’umatz carrying Tohil
across the sky in his jaws.
[←28]
Raashoal (vulgar) is Kriol for ‘asshole’.
[←29]
The Maya Hero Twins are the
central figures of a narrative included within the colonial K’iche’ document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the K’iche’ language, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the Classic Mayas (200-900 AD). The twins are often portrayed as complementary forces. The complementary pairings of life and death, sky and earth, day and night, sun and moon, among multiple others have been used to represent the twins.
The Hero Twins shooting a perched bird demon with a blowgun. Izapa Stela 25.
[←30]
Ix Chel is the moon goddess and consort of the sun, patroness of weaving, divination, medicine, and childbirth.
[←31]
Monkey: This is a clay jar, with a spout, used to keep drinking water cool.
[←32]
Acan is the Maya God of Wine and Intoxicating Beverages. He is a very boisterous god who loves to make a fool of himself while under the influence. His name means ‘groan’ and by all accounts he does a lot of groaning — particularly during the morning after. Unconfirmed reports claim that he’s best friends with Cacoch, a Creator God. Drinking buddies? (The Legendary Mythology Encyclopedia)
[←33]
When a card is said to be dignified, it means it is fully charged and activated with the energies of its corresponding element. A dignified Page of Cups is the Page of Cups appearing upright in a tarot spread during a reading (as opposed to its nonactivated state in the deck on a table, not in use). When the Page of Cups appears upright in a tarot reading, it is charged and activated with all the corresponding energies and traits we associate with the Page of Cups. Thus, it is dignified.
If, say, that Page of Cups appears in reverse in a tarot spread during a reading (assuming reversals are read), then the reversal itself has changed the energies of that card in some way. The energy of the reversal is interacting in a particular way with the general energy of the Page of Cups. That reversal is said to (1) weaken the essential state of the Page of Cups, (2) invert the essential state, (3) negate the essential state, or (4) delay the manifestation of the essential state Which of the four possibilities applies will of course depend on the reading itself, on a case by case basis. As a result of that adjustment, the card is now said to be ill-dignified.
[←34]
Icim isMaya for Mottled Owl, Strix virgata, Búho Tropical (Americano). A forest dweller, this bird of prey hunts at night.
[←35]
Tapesco: triangular platform, used for sleeping and built above ground.
[←36]
Chac-pom is Mopan Maya for Grande Betty, Cupania belizensis Standl, also known as palo carbon (Spanish).
[←37]
Borracho is Spanish for ‘drunk’ or ‘drunkard’.
[←38]
Kool is Maya for ‘milpa’. The milpero is koonáal.
[←39]
Pikayri is the Kriol word for Peccary, Tayassuidae angulatus, also known as the White Collared
Peccary, a wild pig. The Maya word is kitam.
[←40]
Boxing Day is a holiday that commemorates the old European tradition of the Aristocracy boxing leftovers from their Christmas Celebrations and distributing them to the poor.
[←41]
Xibalba: The Mayan City of the Underworld was known as Xibalba, or “The Place of fright,” and its inhabitants were indeed frightful characters. Of- ten depicted as diseased creatures with distended bellies and foul breath, the Xibalbans emitted streams of excrement and flatulence. The Mayan believed that the terrestrial counterpart to the heavens was a monstrous lizard-like animal floating in a great pool, its
back forming the surface of the Earth. The underworld, Xibalba, occupies the maw (stomach of an animal; jaws or throat of a vora- cious animal) of this beast, whose jaws emit the gods at birth and swallow the dead. The underworld has nine levels, each with its own lord of the night. These deities rule the days (or nights) in succession. Taken from The World of the Ancient Maya
[←42]
Chaali Prais is Kriol for ‘Charlie Price’ which refers to a large rat, possibly, the Norwegian Rat, Rattus norvegicus or the Roof Rat, Rattus rattus.
[←43]
Jig is slang for ‘masturbate’.
[←44]
Pop: Unexpected move in a quick or hasty manner with the soccer ball.
[←45]
Spence is an older word for ‘semen’.
[←46]
Krus Che’ is actually a mountain near Santa Cruz de Quiché, Guatemala.
[←47]
Combats refer to military issue shirt and pants.
[←48]
Bergen is a military issue knapsack.
[←49]
Aiguille: This is a needlelike peak or pinnacle.
[←50]
Football: This is ‘soccer’, not American Football.
[←51]
SLR is the acronym for Self Loading Rifle.
[←52]
Ku-che is the Mopan Maya word for the ‘cedar’ tree, Cedrela odorata L; also known as cedro (Spanish).
[←53]
Cot-a-cam is the Mopan Maya word for ‘vervain’, Stachytarpheta cayennensis (L. Rich.) Vahl. It is also known as ‘vervine’, ‘verbena (Spanish), kaba-yax-nik (Mopan Maya) and xtyay-ach-bak-shúl (Ke’kchi Maya).
[←54]
Poada bon is Kriol for ‘powder bun’, a sweet bread made with raisins.
[←55]
Blowdown: This refers to any number of trees knocked down by the wind.
[←56]
Campo Chico is Spanish for Boy Camp or Little Camp
[←57]
Sali Si Puede (Spanish) Camp means Leave If You Can Camp.
[←58]
Kak is Kriol for ‘cock, penis’.
[←59]
Janikayk is Kriol for Johnny Cakes, also known as ‘journey cakes’.
[←60]
Koal seed is Kriol for ‘goose bumps’.
[←61]
Kos is Maya for the Laughing Falcon, Herpetotheres cachinnans, also known as Halcón Guaco (Spanish).
[←62]
Husk is being used here as a slang for ‘woman’.
[←63]
Poem by Robert Herrick.
[←64]
Mi rass is Kriol for ‘my ass’ (Vulgar).
[←65]
Kuhoon is Kriol for cohune, Attalea cohune, also known as tutz and manaca (Maya), cocando and corozo (Spanish), kuhoon paam (Kriol).
[←66]
The Hashishi Pampi are ashen in color, hence their first name, Hashishi, and because they are smaller than duendes (dwarfs), their second name is Pampi, which can be traced to “pampi pig,” which, in the Caribbean, refers to a small boy or dwarf. Other names are Ashishi Pampi, Hasheshe Pampi and Ashes Pompey. In El Salvador, the Cipitios are much like the Hashishi Pampi. In the Sisimito Series, they are reffered to as Alaj Chaj-r-ij Wíiniks. For more information, see the Appendix.
[←67]
Rum-p’ok is Ke’kchi Maya for Hog Plum, Spondias radlkoferi Donn. Sm; also known as puk (Mopan Maya) and jobo (Spanish).
[←68]
Sani-bay is Kriol for ‘sandy bay’.
[←69]
Jabin (Spanish), Piscidia piscipula (L.) Sarg is also known as Palo de Gusano (Spanish), dogwood, may bush and wormwood (English).
[←70]
Ground sheet is a water proof sheet, a standard military issue.
[←71]
Naat is Kriol for the northwind. It usually refers to a cold front.
[←72]
Ek-chi-chan is Mopan Maya for the Maiden Hair fern, Adiantum tenerum Sw, also known as
black stick (English), helecho and palo negro (Spanish), and ok-pich (Mopan Maya).
[←73]
Kraana is the Kriol name for Cichlosoma meeki, also known as Firemouth Cichlid, a type of freshwater fish.