In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

447 N o t e s o f M i d d l e A m e r i c a n A r c h a e o l o g y a n d E t h n o l o g y Carnegie Institution of Washington Division of Historical Research No. 104 June 25, 1951 Ethnological material from British Honduras William R. Coe and Michael D. Coe to sing, “Thinthinwegweg, thinthinwegweg!” The deer (ceh) came. It started to whistle, “Pucunpucun pux, pucunpucun pux!” The peccary (citam) arrived. It began to sing, “Cilim thapthah, cilim thapthah!” The armadillo (weeh) came. It began, “Zip zip zip!” The curassow came, it was already dawning. It began, “Martha haha, tzaten in wenel anha, martha haha, tzaten in weasel anha!” The cox (the qualm or cojolito; Penelope purpurascens Wagl., a black pheasant-like bird) came. It saw while flying that the owner was coming with his shotgun and warned them, screaming , “Wai wai wai (here, here, here)!” and it set off in flight. It was already daylight. The owner came and heard the uproar of the animals which ran and flew. They were watching over Aunt Squirrel who was on the roasting spit. Among the Maya of Socotz, there is a firm belief in the existence of a monster known as the zizimit. This is a huge, hairy, ape-like creature of great strength. It has no knee joints and its feet are turned backwards. There are both male and female zizimites , The zizimit carries off sinners by persuasion or force to a cave, where it eats the person of its own gender, but only the lower half of the body. There are two ways to avoid capture: (1) When known to be followed, one runs into the bush and hides; the monster will trail one to the spot, but missing the sight and sound of its quarry, it will then notice its oven footprints pointing in the opposite direction to those of its intended victim; the zizimit turns and hurries back along the trail. (2) When one notices While excavating not far from the village of Socotz, in the Cayo District of British Honduras, during the summer of 1949, our Maya workmen supplied us with some interesting ethnological material. The story was told to us by Ascension Alfaro, an Indian born in the vicinity of Lake Peten Itza in Guatemala, where he learned the tale. The rest of the material was given us by Jacinto Cunil, our foreman from Socotz. THE SToRy of THE SNAIl (U TzICBAL Ix MAN URICH) Once upon a time a farmer had a corn shed in his milpa. A bold squirrel came to eat the farmer’s corn. In the milpa shed lived Aunt Snail (Ix Man Urich) on one of the rafters. When Aunt Squirrel (Ix Man Cuuc) suddenly arrived to eat corn, the little snail warned her that the owner of the milpa was coming by singing , “Here comes the owner of the milpa, he has his jicara, he has his calabash, he has his posole, thararu!” But she paid no attention. While this was going on, the owner of the granary came and saw Aunt Squirrel and fired his gun and killed her. The man did this, then he got up a load of corn and returned to his house. He forgot all about Aunt Squirrel. WhennightcameAuntSnailbegantosing,“Here comes the owner of the milpa, mamavenita, he has his jicara, he has his calabash, he has his posole, thararu!” During this Aunt Mole (Ix Man Bah) came and began to dance, “Bahcitinbahcin, bahcitinbahcin!” During this dance the spotted agouti (tzub) arrived. It began WilliAm r. Coe And miChAel d. Coe 448 the zizimit close behind, one starts dancing, laughing , and whirling around and around; the monster, liking to dance, will at once copy ones steps, whirling around and laughing until it becomes dizzy and falls; then one escapes. It is apparent that this monster is the same as the mahanamatz or sisimito of the Kekchi Maya to the south (see Thompson 1930:67). Among the Kekchi, one avoids it by setting its shaggy coat on fire. It is also quite clear that the zizimit is the Tzitzimitl of the Aztec.OftheTzitzimime(pluralofTzitzimitl)Sahagun says, “. . . there was a great eclipse of the sun. It was very dark for five hours for the stars appeared and the people were very afraid, and they said that some monsters, which they called Tzitzimis had to descend from the...

Share