The Mayan Chilam Balam books consist of nine manuscripts named after small Yucatec towns such as Chumayel, Mani, and Tizimin. They mostly consist of disparate texts in which Mayan and Spanish traditions have coalesced. The Yucatec Mayas ascribed these to a legendary author called Chilam Balam, a chilam being a priest who gives prophecies. Some of the texts actually contain prophecies about the coming of the Spaniards to Yucatan while mentioning a chilam Balam as its first author. This authorship was traditionally extended to include all the disparate texts found within a particular manuscript.
The Chilam Balam texts consist chiefly of history (both pre-Spanish and colonial), calendrics, astrology and herbal medicine. Written in the Yucatec Maya language but in European script, the manuscripts stem from the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet, many of the texts that found their way into these books date back to the time of the Spanish conquest. It is assumed that in the earliest books, the element of prophecy came to the fore more strongly.
Whereas the medical texts are quite matter-of-factual, the historical and astrological texts belong to esoteric lore. At various places in these texts, bits of information about early mythology crop up. Of great interest is the creation mythology, cast in abstruse language, and connected to katun 11 Ahau. Apart from their intrinsic value, the historical texts (or chronicles) are also important because they have been cast in the framework of the native Maya calendar (although with adaptations to the European calendrical system) and contain ancient tun and katun predictions. Reconstructing Postclassic Yucatec history from these data has proven to be an arduous task.
The archaic Yucatec idiom and the often allusive, metaphorical nature of the Chilam Balam books offer a formidable challenge to translators. The outcome is sometimes heavily influenced by external assumptions about the texts' purpose. As a result of these factors, the quality of existing translations varies greatly. From a scholarly point of view, the translations of Barrera Vásquez & Rendón, Reifler Bricker & Miram, and Roys count among the best.
Notes
References
- Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo and Silvia Rendón (translators), El Libro de los Libros de Chilam Balam. Traducción de sus textos paralelos. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1948. (Many later editions.)
- Bricker, Victoria Reifler and Helga-Maria Miram (translators) (2002). An Encounter of Two Worlds: The Book of Chilam Balam of Kaua. Middle American Research Institute, publication 68. New Orleans: Tulane University. ISBN 0-939238-98-5.
- Clendinnen, Inga (1987). Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570. Cambridge Latin American studies, no. 61. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33397-0. OCLC 4356013.
- Edmonson, Munro S. (translator) (1982). The Ancient Future of the Itza : the Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Edmonson, Munro S. (translator) (1986). Heaven Born Merida and Its Destiny : the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Luxton, Richard N. (translator), The (Chilam Balam) Book of Chumayel; The Counsel Book of the Yucatec Maya. California: Aegean Park Press, 1995.
- Restall, Matthew, Maya Conquistador. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
- Roys, Ralph L. (translator), The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.
- Sawyer-Laucanno, Christopher (translator), The Destruction of the Jaguar: Poems from the Books of Chilam Balam. San Francisco: City Lights, 1987
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