Yaxcabá and the Caste War of Yucatán: An Archaeological Perspective

Glossary

163 Glossary Adoratorio—a shrine or small chapel. Aguada—a shallow depression that provides water; the depressions form permanent ponds in situations where clay has sealed the fissures of the limestone substrate. Ahcuchcab—a member of a council of officers serving under a batab, head of an extended family group often living in the same neighborhood or barrio. Ahkin—Maya priest. Albarrada—dry-laid stone walls, composed of unfaced limestone blocks, used to fence house lots or to construct animal pens. Alcalde—mayor, justice, or magistrate; top-ranking civil official of the ayuntamiento or the república de indios. Arbitrios municipales—a schedule of municipal taxes gathered for the support of the town council. Arriate—a circular surround constructed of rock or masonry that retains soil and aids in the cultivation of herbs, seedlings, and trees by protecting the roots. Arriero—mule driver. Asalariado—salaried worker. Audiencia—an administrative or municipal building that serves the activities of the town council, either the ayuntamiento or the república de indios. Ayuntamiento—town council. Batab—headman; a hereditary cacique or chief and governor of a Maya town. Cabecera—the administrative capital or municipal seat of a civil territorial division, a partido, or a parish. Cacique—native Maya leader, batab, or halach uinic. Capitán a guerra—war captain, a Creole government official stationed in each district or partido under the Bourbon intendancy. Casa de burros—a stable for livestock, especially burros and horses. 164 / GLOSSARY Casa de máquinas—a building that houses the machinery of a hacienda or landed estate, especially equipment for crushing sugarcane or extracting fiber from henequen leaves. Casa principal—principal or main house of a hacienda. Cenote—collapsed limestone doline that exposes the water table, a natural well. Chan Santa Cruz—a village (Little Holy Cross) in what is now the state of Quintana Roo, headquarters of the Caste War rebels and the cult of the talking cross, now known as Felipe Carrillo Puerto or Noh Cah Santa Cruz. Chich—crushed limestone, often used as a building material and floor fill or for roads. Chilam balam—books based on pre-Columbian Maya codices, reworked by Maya during the colonial period, that describe historical and prophetic events (among other things). Chiquero—a pig sty. Cofradía—a religious confraternity that accumulates resources for the annual festival celebrating the patron saint. Cofradía estate—the property of a religious confraternity, sometimes called “church haciendas,” whose produce was used to support the annual celebration of the cofradía’s patron saint. They were created through endowments by the Indian elite, who consequently exercised considerable control over the confraternity’s activities. Comisario ejidal—a municipal official charged with overseeing the distribution, use, transfer, and cultivation of a town’s communal lands. Congregación—forced resettlement of dispersed Maya populations into towns. Creole—a person of European descent born in the New World. Cruzob—Maya rebels who fought against the Creoles in the Caste War, followers of the talking cross whose center of operations was the village of Chan Santa Cruz. Cuchcabal—a hierarchically organized political jurisdiction or province, headed by a native Maya leader known as the halach uinic or cacique, that united several Maya towns headed by batabs. Cuchteel—a group of extended families that lived close to one another, often in the same neighborhood. Debt peonage—a form of labor organization common on haciendas where Maya laborers became indebted monetarily and socially to the hacienda’s owner and thus could not leave the estate. Because debts were inherited and transferable, the patrimonial relationship could extend over several generations, and when the hacienda was sold, laborers’ debts (and sometimes the laborers themselves) were passed to the new owner. Diezmo—a religious tax, a tithe of 10 percent. Doctrina—catechism. GLOSSARY / 165 Encomienda—a grant of the tribute owed by specified Indian towns to an individual Spaniard. Ejido—village communal lands. Era—an irrigation berm or channel, usually constructed of masonry. Estancia—the term for a landed estate used before “hacienda,” in Yucatán it usually refers to a small cattle ranch. Gallinero—a chicken or poultry coop. Ganado mayor—large or “greater” livestock such as cattle and horses. Ganado menor—small or “lesser” livestock such as sheep and goats. Granja—grain storage facility. Hacienda—a landed estate, usually owned by Creoles, characterized by mixed agricultural and livestock production, permanent infrastructure, and employing large...