HEAVEN BORN MERIDA AND ITS DESTINY - Histomesoamericana

22 INTRODUCTION
passages but is not mentioned in the katun histories. It may have ended
in a balche ceremony.
Act 9. Seating of the Katun. This is the main point of the ritual. The
new Jaguar Priest, dressed in robes of jaguar and rattlesnake skin and with
his face tied (i.e., masked), having been ceremonially designated ten years
before, took his place on the throne and mat of the katun in the cycle seat
(Merida for the Xiu, Mayapan for the Itza).
Act 10. Seating of the Yearbearers. These were local priests; each city
had its own set of four, each identified with and by a direction color.
They were probably thought to represent not only the years but also the
gods of death, wind, sun, rain, and fire. The "high fan" may have been part
of their paraphernalia.
Act 11. Pacing of the Katun. This was a ceremonial procession of seven
priests, the Pacers (uuc taz cab), with a surveying stick [p'iz te), who ritually
confirmed land-titles. The corresponding references in the katun histories
are to settling, tying, bearing, dividing, and measuring the land, as
well as to payment of tribute.
Act 12. Dawn. This was the moment for the counting (ranking) of the
mats (of the lords) and for accepting "requests," that is, applications for
future offices. This was in many respects the most political moment of
the drama, since what was at stake were not only the priesthoods but also
the positions of governor (hal ach uinic) and "fathers of the rope" [ba
tabob) of the subject towns and cities. A declaration of candidacy in this
ceremonial context was like the ritual of nomination at a national convention
in the United States, and the ceremonial recognition mattered.
Act 13. Sacrifice. In the katun histories the references to sacrifice are
euphemistic and elliptical. They are a little more explicit elsewhere. The
heart sacrifice ("painless death"), the arrow sacrifice, hanging, burning,
and drowning were the principal forms, but often the only reference is to
the accompanying music: the drum and rattle of the katun.
Act 14. Examination. The examination ceremony was always accompanied
by a feast at which aspirants to lordship were tested by ritual riddles
(chapters 30 and 31). Naturally most of these concerned food, but examinations
are also referred to in the katun histories in more or less riddle
form: the food and water of the katun, its speech, judgment, and "face."
Act 15. The Word. The general character and fate of the katun are always
given in the katun histories, usually in a terse riddle, metaphor,
kenning, or keyed couplet: shield and arrow, lying and crazy, quetzal and
blue bird, gods, sticks and stones, hanging, church, war, full swollen, locust,
cord and rope, feast and famine. This was presumably announced by
the new Spokesman of the Jaguar.
Act 16. Penance. References in the katun prophecies to work, hunger,
poverty, sins, burning, need, and lamentation normally follow the imagery
of act 15. There is also reference to the gourd, bowl, and cup of the katun.
I believe that all this refers to the continence, fasting, and bloodletting expected
of the lords and that this was the point at which they collected
their own blood in bowls and offered it to the gods. The yearbearers were