Download or read book Xurt an written by Suzanne Cook and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Xurt’an (the end of the world) showcases the rich storytelling traditions of the northern Lacandones of Naha’ through a collection of traditional narratives, songs, and ritual speech. Formerly isolated in the dense, tropical rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico, the Lacandon Maya constitute one of the smallest language groups in the world. Although their language remains active and alive, their traditional culture was abandoned after the death of their religious and civic leader in 1996. Lacking the traditional contexts in which the culture was transmitted, the oral traditions are quickly being forgotten. This collection includes creation myths that describe the cycle of destruction and renewal of the world, the structure of the universe, the realms of the gods and their intercessions in the affairs of their mortals, and the journey of the souls after death. Other traditional stories are non-mythic and fictive accounts involving talking animals, supernatural beings, and malevolent beings that stalk and devour hapless victims. In addition to traditional narratives, Xurt’an presents many songs that are claimed to have been received from the Lord of Maize, magical charms that invoke the forces of the natural world, invocations to the gods to heal and protect, and work songs of Lacandon women, whose contribution to Lacandon culture has been hitherto overlooked by scholars. Women’s songs offer a rare glimpse into the other half of Lacandon society and the arduous distaff work that sustained the religion. The compilation concludes with descriptions of rainbows, the Milky Way as “the white road of Our Lord,” and an account of the solstices. Transcribed and translated by a foremost linguist of the northern Lacandon language, the literary traditions of the Lacandones are finally accessible to English readers. The result is a masterful and authoritative collection of oral literature that will both entertain and provoke, while vividly testifying to the power of Lacandon Maya aesthetic expression.

Download or read book Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians Volume 3 written by Victoria Reifler Bricker and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-22 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sixteen-volume Handbook of Middle American Indians, completed in 1976, has been acclaimed the world over as the single most valuable resource ever produced for those involved in the study of Mesoamerica. When it was determined in 1978 that the Handbook should be updated periodically, Victoria Reifler Bricker, well-known cultural anthropologist, was elected to be general editor. This third volume of the Supplement is devoted to the aboriginal literatures of Mesoamerica, a topic receiving little attention in the original Handbook. According to the general editor, "This volume does more than supplement and update the coverage of Middle American Indian literatures in the Handbook. It breaks new ground by defining the parameters of a new interdisciplinary field in Middle American Indian studies." The aim of the present volume is to consider literature from five Middle American Indian languages: Nahuatl, Yucatecan Maya, Quiche, Tzotzil, and Chorti. The first three literatures are well documented for both the Classical and Modern variants of their languages and are obvious candidates for inclusion in this volume. The literatures of Tzotzil and Chorti, on the other hand, are oral, and heretofore little has been written of their genres and styles. Taken together, these essays represent a substantial contribution to the Handbook series, with the volume editor's introduction placing in geographic perspective the five literatures chosen as representative of the Middle American literary tradition.

Download or read book Ancient Maya State Urbanism Exchange and Craft Specialization written by Kazuo Aoyama and published by Center for Comparative Arch. This book was released on 1999 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exhaustive analysis of political and economic change right through the sequence of Maya civilization, based on the direct evidence of chipped stone assemblages from a wide variety of contexts in two regions. The acquisition of raw materials, the production of tools, and the use of tools are all fully considered for what they can tell us about long-distance political and economic relations and local economic organization. An unexpected bonus of the study was information on the use of chipped stone in warfare. The full dataset is provided electronically. Complete text in English and Spanish.

Download or read book Lacandon texts and drawings from Nah written by Robert D. Bruce and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Star Gods of the Maya written by Susan Milbrath and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars played a central role in ancient Maya lifeways, as they do today among contemporary Maya who maintain the traditional ways. This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Precolumbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples. Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Precolumbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices [painted books], and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. This investigation yields new data and a new synthesis of information about the specific astronomical events and cycles recorded in Maya art and architecture. Indeed, it constitutes the first major study of the relationship between art and astronomy in ancient Maya culture.

Download or read book Textos y dibujos lacandones de Naja written by Roberto Bruce Saxón and published by Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: De gran interés es, ver como con el transcurso de los años y una mayor familiaridad de los lacandones la escritura producen cambios perceptibles en su estilo literario y forma de expresión escrita en los textos de sus canciones y sus leyendas. Estos textos sin embargo, ocupan un lugar propio entren las fuentes utilizadas para el estudio de la literatura autóctona de los pueblos mayas. Desde los tiempos en que sus antepasados escribían una literatura representada por el Códice Madrid, éste es el primer libro de literatura y arte gráfica hecho por autores y dibujantes lacandones.

Download or read book Latin American Indian Literatures written by and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book American Elves written by John E. Roth and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Folklore is replete with tales of elves. Little is known about why or how they came into being, but they seem to be a part of the folk myth of every country in the Western Hemisphere. This unique reference work provides comprehensive information on the known little people from 340 ethnic groups within 49 linguistic divisions in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in the United States. The approximately 3,500 entries provide descriptions of each group of elves, alternate names, information on well-known individual elves in the group, their supposed habitat, and magical powers.

Download or read book Handbook of Middle American Indians written by Robert Wauchope and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Flora and Fauna Imagery in Precolumbian Cultures written by Jeanette F. Peterson and published by British Archaeological Reports Oxford Limited. This book was released on 1983 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Literatures written by Munro S. Edmonson and published by Austin : University of Texas Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Anthropological Research Paper written by and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Fifth Palenque Round Table 1983 written by Merle Greene Robertson and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Anthropological Linguistics written by and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mesoam rica directorio y bibliograf a 1950 1980 written by Alfredo Méndez-Domínguez and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Artifacts from the Cenote of Sacrifice Chichen Itza Yucatan written by Clemency Coggins and published by Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University Publications Department. This book was released on 1992 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, specialists analyze the great variety of objects found in the Well of Sacrifice and debate whether they represent evidence of dateable prehistorical ritual. The collection includes the rare remains of hundreds of textiles, wooden objects, and copal incense offerings, as well as lithics, ceramics, and bone and shell artifacts.

Download or read book A Grammar of Mayan Hieroglyphs written by Victoria Reifler Bricker and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: