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8. Lightning Is Born: Using Ch'orti′ Ritual to Interpret Ancient Maya Art
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8 Lightning Is Born Using Ch′orti′ Ritual to Interpret Ancient Maya Art Matthew Looper Scholars have long pondered the relationship between ancient and modern cultures in the Maya area. Earlier researchers who had experience in both archaeology and ethnography, such as J. Eric S. Thompson, frequently allowed their interpretations of ancient Maya civilization to be colored by their perceptions of the modern Maya. In some instances, Maya informants encouraged such comparisons, as when a Yucatec ritual specialist, or h-men, told Redfield andVilla that the technique he employed for killing fowl in milpa ceremonies replicated the ancient method for sacrificing human victims (Redfield andVilla 1934: 135). Over the course of the twentieth century, such observations gradually coalesced into the more concrete methodology of ethnographic analogy, which utilizes modern ethnographic data to interpret ancient cultural patterns . A pioneer in this area was Rafael Girard, whose extensive knowledge of early to mid-twentieth century Ch′orti′ religious rituals served as the basis for speculation regarding the symbolism of monumental art, especially at Copan. Frequently, these interpretations consist of little more than reading an ancient Maya symbol directly in terms of the ethnographic data. An example is his identification of some snake images at Copan as representing chijchans, the mounts of the rain spirits of the Ch′orti′ (Girard 1962: 102). However, other comparisons are more extensive . For example, he noted that the Ch′orti′ ritual complex consisting of a cross installed before an altar with a pit in the earth for food offerings may be both structurally and symbolically analogous to the stela-altarcache complex seen at many ancient sites (Girard 1962: 204–5). Girard employed these comparisons in order to claim that the Ch′orti′ are the le108 Using Ch′orti′ Ritual to Interpret Ancient Maya Art · 109 gitimate inheritors of the ancient Maya culture, a point rebutted by some critics (for example, Starr 1951). Nevertheless, Girard’s work serves as a foundation for more recent analyses, which draw extensively on diverse ethnographic examples in order to interpret ancient Maya culture (for example , Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993; Houston 1996; Tate 1992). It also prefigures studies of modern Maya culture that cite archaeological antecedents (for example, Christenson 2001; Tedlock 2003). Despite its wide usage, ethnographic analogy remains problematic, partly because of its assumption that the meanings of cultural symbols remain unchanged over time (see Hodder 1991: 148–49; Kubler 1970). Moreover, the historical relationships between ancient and modern groups are often imperfectly understood, as is the case for the Ch′orti′ in relation to sites such as Copan and even to the language recorded in hieroglyphic inscriptions (see Chapters 7 and 12). The use of Ch′orti′ ethnographic data to interpret ancient Maya culture thus leads to questions concerning the precise history of transmission of motifs and lore from ancient to modern times. In particular, the existence of common symbols in both ancient and modern cultures does not necessarily imply cultural or ethnic continuity. This chapter illustrates these points, using an example from Ch′orti′ ethnography—the complex series of traditional rainmaking rites—to interpret a monumental sculpture program at the ancient site of Quirigua, Guatemala. The Contemporary Ch′orti′ Rain Cult The information concerning Ch′orti′ rainmaking derives mainly from the work of Rafael Girard, who focuses on rites performed at Quezaltepeque in the early twentieth century (Girard 1949, 1962, 1966). Additional information on rain ritualism appears in the work of Fought (1972); López and Metz (2002: 206–9); and Wisdom (1940). More recent work by Kufer and Heinrich (2006) supplements, but largely confirms, the data gathered by Girard. At Quezaltepeque, the confraternity of St. Francis the Conqueror is responsible for the agrarian cult, which conducts rainmaking and other activities . Ritual specialists, a married couple entitled padrino and madrina titular (godfather and godmother in office), carry out their duties for a period of two years. They are assisted by five younger men called adornantes , or ‘decorators,’ according to Kufer and Heinrich (2006: 388). The agricultural cycle is structured according to a count of 260 days, starting on February 8 and ending on October 25 (Girard 1962). February 8, a date associated with cosmic renewal and creation, is marked by a pilgrimage to the sacred pool of El Orégano, located to the west of town. [3.90.187.11] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:51 GMT) 110 · Matthew Looper This body of water is recognized as a portal to the underworld, as well as a cosmic basin...