Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize

Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms The sources for church terminology are the Original Catholic Encyclopedia (OCE), Livingstone (2000), and Stravinskas (1998). Other sources used: the American Heritage Dictionary (AHD), the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Andrews (1991), Taylor (2004), and glossaries in Farris (1984), Jones (1989), McAndrew (1965), Ramirez (1989), Restall (1997, 1998, 2004), and Thompson (1999). alcalde (Sp.): Justice, magistrate, or judge in Indian town government; the administrator of a cabildo, or town council. alcalde mayor (Sp.): A provincial governor; Spaniard. alguacil (Sp.): Constable or bailiff; the word may be derived from a Mayan term. altar: In its most general sense, an altar is an elevated feature that serves as a ritual focus in religious ceremonies. The Hebrew word for “altar” in the Bible comes from a word that means “to slaughter” for sacrifice. In the early church, the Eucharist was celebrated in homes on a table, a practice that persisted when churches first became permanent and altar tables, often of wood, were put in place for the liturgy and then removed. (We find that portable altars were the practice at Tipu and Lamanai and presumably in all the Belize missions. This must partly reflect convenience, but can also be seen as part of the return to the primitive church.) As Christian communities grew in size, the meal dimension of the Eucharist diminished in importance, and the sacrificial dimension took on greater importance in the fourth century. At that time, fixed stone or metal altars came into use. This is ascribed to the decline of paganism, in that it became possible to use permanent altars without “having pagan associations confuse the faithful. Thus, the danger no longer existed that the unique Sacrifice of Christ would be perceived as the same as the many animal sacrifices of the Temple in Jerusalem or those of the pagans” (Stravinskas 1998, 57). In the Maya lowlands, of course, fixed altars of the Christians would bear strong resemblance to altars used in pre-Columbian rituals. Even the later practice in the Christian world of associating relics with altars would have parallels in Maya practices, in which rulers’ tombs lay in the cores of platforms on which altars were placed, and ceremonies held. In the early church, the altar was free-standing, and in Rome, churches were built with the doors facing east. From the fifth century onward, the custom was to have the apse and the altar face east, and the altar was placed against the apse wall. This held true until Vatican II (1965–68), when the practice reverted to that of the early church, with the altar free-standing to serve as a table around which the clergy and people can gather. If altars are attached to the floor and are immovable, they must be consecrated by a bishop. Movable altars are simply blessed. Today, movable altars no longer need to enclose relics, and although since 1977 relics are no longer required to be part of 375 fixed altars, the practice of enclosing relics in or under the altar is nonetheless recommended (Stravinskas 1998, 57). Placing relics in altars was an important part of late medieval practice, but we do not know if the movable altars used at Tipu and Lamanai included relics, although I expect this would have been important to the friars. On the other hand, having relics in altars would have increased the parallels with preColumbian practices, which the friars would have wanted to avoid. The sources differ in one important point on why relics became important to the church and associated with altars. They agree that it probably derived from the fact that early Christians often celebrated the Eucharist at martyrs’ gravesites. But Stravinskas (1998, 57) states that although the celebration involved the gravesite, it did not take place on the tomb, whereas Livingstone (2000, 17) asserts that the custom of celebrating the Eucharist on the tombs of martyrs led to the introduction of stone altars. This is an important point which is discussed in more detail in the text, but the association of inhumations of honored individuals with an elevated feature (altar) that served as an important focus of ritual is a common feature of both Maya and Christian religious practice. ara (Latin): A portable altar stone or slab symbolically representing Christ. artifact: An object or material modified in some way by humans. audiencia (Sp.): High court. auto de fé (Sp.): Act of ecclesiastical sentencing, or the resulting punishment. Aztec: A term applied by the Spaniards to one of the...