Parallel Worlds: Genre, Discourse, and Poetics in Contemporary, Colonial, and Classic Maya Literature

7. Narrative Structure and the Drum Major Headdress

195 Narrative Structure and the Drum Major Headdress Karen Bassie-Sweet, Nicholas A. Hopkins, and J. Kathryn Josserand 7 Classic period inscriptions refer to the accession of a lord into the office of king in a variety of ways. One accession statement refers to the fastening of a white headband on the new king (k’ahlaj “fasten, enclose, bind, or tie,” sak huun “white headband ”) (Grube, cited in Schele 1992: 39–40; Schele, Mathews, and Lounsbury 1990: 4–5; Stuart 1996: 155). Several scenes, such as the Palenque Temple XIX platform and Bonampak Sculptured Stone 1, show a sak huun headband being handed to the incoming ruler. This crown of kingship is illustrated as a flexible headband of bark cloth tied onto the head with a large knot in the back (Schele 1992: 22–24). Another headdress that appears on four monuments at Palenque has been nicknamed the drum major headdress for its visual similarity to headgear worn by the leader of a marching band. This headdress is composed of a tall base of jades capped with a short crop of feathers and long tail feathers. In some examples, the long feathers are tipped with jade beads. The drum major headdress has also 7 196 Karen Bassie-Sweet, Nicholas A. Hopkins, and J. Kathryn Josserand been identified as a crown of kingship (Fields 1991: 167; Freidel 1990: 74; Schele 1978; Taube 1998: 454–460). By examining the narrative structure of these four monuments, we will argue in this chapter that the drum major headdress represented an office or function that was related to, but quite separate from, the office of king. We will also discuss the possibility that one of the duties of the secondary lords of Palenque, who carried the title yajawk’ahk’, may have been to maintain one particular drum major headdress and the buildings that housed it. Before we address the nature of the drum major headdress, a brief overview of the relationship between text and image is needed. Many Maya monuments include both a main block of text and caption texts that frame the figures and actions in the scene. Generally speaking, the caption text in closest proximity to a figure or action identifies that figure or explains what the event is (BassieSweet 1991: 10–76, 200–237). These captions are often broken up into blocks of text that frame the figure or action. Such framing devices clarify details such as the specific date of the event, the name of the protagonist, and other details related to the pictured action. The focus of a scene that contains more than one participant or action is indicated by the frontal pose of the main figure, elaboration of costume, gaze of the figures, or domination of the picture plane. These issues are important for understanding the relationship between text and image, as well as how the majority of the extant narratives from the Classic period relate to the imagery they accompany. Though this chapter does not explicitly address the issue of how narrative style interacts with poetic form, these initial forays into text and image issues beg further investigation. The Headdresses The Maya used the bark of fig trees (Ficus spp.) to create both cloth and paper. The word huun refers to products as well as certain objects made from these materials, such as headdresses and books. In the hieroglyphic texts, the word huun is represented a number of different ways. Although it can be spelled out using phonetic signs, a plain bark-cloth headband tied with a knot is also commonly used (Grube, cited in Schele 1992: 39–40). Hieroglyphic signs can be reduced to a key element, and the huun headband sign is often reduced to just the knot. Whether this sign is meant to refer to bark-cloth, barkpaper, a headdress , or a book depends on the context in which it is found. Although it can be illustrated without decoration, the sak huun headdress frequently has either a T533 ajaw sign or a small head attached to the forehead area. The head has been nicknamed the “jester god” because the foliage-like element that emerges from it looks like the cap worn by Medieval court jesters (Schele 1974: 49). Jester gods typically have a zoomorphic face with a downward -curving snout, but they can also have the face of a human. A jester god 197 Narrative Structure and the Drum Major Headdress with a...