Maya Priesthood and Shamanism

The religious life of the ancient and modern Maya depended on a class of full-time specialists who served as intermediaries between the human and the supernatural. These specialists, generically called priests or shamans, were literate in the Maya calendar, trained in ritual, and authorized to perform the sacrifices and ceremonies on which the cosmic order was thought to depend. While kings often performed the central ritual acts, the day-to-day religious work of Maya communities was carried out by professional priests, daykeepers, and shamans.

The ah k’in — the daykeeper

The most important priesthood in Maya society was the ah k’in, literally “he of the day” or “he of the sun.” The ah k’in was the keeper of the 260-day Tzolk’in, the master of the almanacs and divinatory texts, and the officiant at the New Year ceremonies. The Dresden Codex, the longest of the surviving Maya books, contains the major almanacs used by the ah k’in: the Tzolk’in, the Haab’, the Venus cycle, and the eclipse tables. The daykeeper was also an astronomer, a diviner, and a ritual specialist.

In the colonial and modern periods, the role of the daykeeper persisted in the highlands of Guatemala and in the Yucatan. The modern Maya daykeeper, called the ajk’in in K’iche’ or the ah k’in in Yucatec, uses the same 260-day almanac and the same divinatory methods as his pre-Columbian ancestors, often consulting a set of 260 colored seeds called the tzolk’in kinh. His office is sometimes hereditary, sometimes achieved by personal calling, and he is paid in cash, candles, and small offerings for each consultation.

The chilam — the oracular voice

The chilam (or chilan) was a specific type of priest who was understood to be possessed by, or to speak for, a particular supernatural entity. The name is the source of the term “Chilam Balam” — the “Jaguar Priest” — given to the colonial Yucatec books that record the prophecies of past chilanes. Famous historical chilanes include Chilam Balam of Mani, who predicted the Spanish conquest in strikingly accurate terms, and Chilam Balam of Chumayel, whose book is one of the most important colonial Maya documents.

The chilam was not a generic diviner; he was the voice of a particular god or ancestor, channeled in trances induced by fasting, bloodletting, or the ingestion of hallucinogenic substances. In the Classic period, the chilam was a court official, attached to a royal palace or a major temple. In the Postclassic, chilanes attached to the league of Chichen Itza and to the highland K’iche’ capitals served as both religious and political figures.

The ah men — the healer

The ah men was the healer-priest, a ritual specialist who combined knowledge of herbal medicine with religious ritual. The modern ah men is still active in Maya villages, where he cures illness by a combination of prayer, herbal remedies, copal smoke, and ritual cleansing. In the Classic period, the ah men was a temple official who performed the same kind of work, but on a more elaborate scale.

The ah men’s knowledge of medicinal plants was substantial. The Maya pharmacopoeia included tobacco, morning glory, jimson weed, copal, ceiba bark, wild yam, and dozens of other plants. The ah men knew how to prepare these plants as infusions, poultices, and fumigants, and he understood the ritual context in which they should be administered.

The shaman and the vision quest

Distinct from the temple priest was the shaman, a part-time religious specialist whose primary activity was the vision quest. The shaman’s job was to enter the supernatural world, often through the use of hallucinogenic substances, and to bring back lost souls, stolen maize, or hidden knowledge. The shaman might be a part-time farmer or artisan who had a particular gift for the work.

The principal hallucinogens used in shamanic ritual were the psilocybin mushroom (called k’aizalaj ixim in some Maya languages), the morning glory (whose seeds contain lysergic acid amide), the water lily, and the balche tree (whose bark contains DMT). The iconography of the Classic period repeatedly shows the Vision Serpent emerging from a bowl of bloodied paper, but it also shows the inhalation of smoke from a censer, the consumption of a mushroom, and the application of ritual substances to the body.

The most famous shamanic image in Maya art is the Madrid Codex’s depiction of a small mammal, sometimes identified as a mouse opossum, sitting on a column of smoke and holding a bowl of liquid — a representation of the shaman’s flight to the underworld. The equivalent modern figure is the h-men or h-mol, who still travels to the underworld to retrieve sick souls in ceremonies of “soul retrieval.”

The chilam in the colonial era

The chilanes were active throughout the colonial period, and their prophecies were recorded in the Books of Chilam Balam, the post-conquest Yucatec books that combined traditional Maya prophecy, Christian chronology, and historical annals. The most famous of these prophecies is the prediction of the arrival of bearded strangers from across the sea, who would overthrow the old gods and impose a new order. Modern scholars debate the antiquity of these prophecies, but they remain central to the historical memory of the modern Maya.

The colonial authorities attempted to suppress the office of the chilam, but it survived in modified form. In some communities the chilam was indistinguishable from a Catholic priest who had absorbed pre-Hispanic ritual; in others he was a lay person who was believed to be possessed by an ancestral spirit.

The priest-king

In the Classic period, the king was himself a religious figure. The inscriptions repeatedly describe kings as “he of the 20 names,” “holy lord of [city name],” and “the one who performs the [ritual].” The accession of a new king was marked by a series of bloodletting and Vision Serpent rituals, and kings are shown performing the central bloodletting acts of the Yaxchilan lintels and the Bonampak murals. K’inich Janaab’ Pakal of Palenque was both a great builder and a religious reformer; his sarcophagus lid is one of the most elaborate religious objects of the Maya world.

The king therefore stood at the apex of the religious hierarchy. Below him were the high priest, the daykeeper, the chilam, and the ah men. The lower ranks of the priesthood were recruited from the sons and daughters of the nobility, who were educated in the temples and trained in the calendar, the rituals, and the divinatory arts.

Initiation and training

Maya priestly training was long and rigorous. Novices learned the Tzolk’in, the Haab’, the Venus cycle, the eclipse tables, the almanacs, and the divination techniques. They were trained in the use of the calendar instruments — the calendar round, the Long Count, and the planetary cycles. They memorized the ritual texts, the songs, the prayers, and the myths. They were also trained in the visual arts: painting, carving, and the construction of the ritual paraphernalia.

The training of a chilam was more secretive, involving the use of hallucinogens and the invocation of ancestral spirits. The initiate would fast, abstain from sexual relations, and undergo a series of vision-quest rituals, often in caves or at the summits of temples. The successful initiate was recognized by the community and given the title of chilam.

The priest in the modern Maya world

The role of the priest in the modern Maya world is one of continuity and adaptation. In highland Guatemala, the daykeeper continues to use the 260-day almanac, the 20-day uinal, and the 365-day Haab’ alongside the Christian liturgical calendar. He performs the New Year ceremonies in late July or early August, when the Maya solar year begins, and he participates in cofradía rituals, marriages, baptisms, and funerals. In the Yucatan, the h-men and the h-mol continue to perform curing rituals that are recognizably continuous with pre-Hispanic practice.

The syncretic Maya religion of the colonial and modern periods has incorporated Christian elements — saints, the cross, the rosary — into the older framework. But the underlying structure of the priesthood, the calendar, and the rituals remains recognizably ancient, and the 260-day almanac is still consulted for advice on planting, marriage, healing, and the choice of an auspicious day.

Female religious specialists

Although the religious hierarchy of the Classic Maya was dominated by men, women also played important roles. Royal women of the Late Classic period are shown performing the central bloodletting acts, and the inscriptions record the names of female priests and female chilanes. Lady Sak K’uk’ of Palenque, the mother of K’inich Janaab’ Pakal, served as regent of the city and was the focus of an elaborate posthumous cult. Lady K’atun Ajaw, a member of the ruling dynasty of Tikal, held the title of “K’atun lord” — a title normally reserved for men.

In the modern era, women continue to play important religious roles. The ajk’in’s wife, the aj’tz’ib’ (or woman scribe), and the ajk’uh (the female ritual specialist) are all part of the modern Maya religious hierarchy. The midwives of the highland communities, who combine medical knowledge with ritual practice, are a clear continuation of the older tradition of female ritual specialists. The daykeepers of highland Guatemala and Yucatan are still predominantly men, but women serve as diviners, herbalists, and curers in many communities.

The relationship between the male and female religious roles is not simply one of hierarchy; it is one of complementary opposition. Just as the king and the queen of the Classic period performed different kinds of bloodletting rituals — the king on his penis, the queen on her tongue — so the modern daykeeper and the modern midwife are seen as complementary specialists. The female ritual specialist is associated with the moon, with fertility, with the milpa, and with childbirth; the male ritual specialist is associated with the sun, with warfare, with the calendar, and with the temple.

The ritual implements of the priest

The priest used a set of ritual implements that are well documented in the inscriptions, the codices, and the archaeological record. The most important were the following:

The incensario (or censer), used for the burning of copal and the burning of blood-soaked paper. The Classic-period censers were often elaborate ceramic works shaped as gods, animals, or supernatural beings.
The tecomate (or gourd), used for the mixing and offering of blood. The tecomate is frequently depicted in the iconography, often held in the hand of the king during a bloodletting ritual.
The stingray spine or obsidian blade used to draw blood from the ears, tongue, or genitals.
The bark-paper that was burned in the bowl to conjure the Vision Serpent.
The bloodletter — a small implement with a sharp spine, used to perforate the penis or the tongue.
The jeweled belt and the jeweled ear ornaments worn by the king during rituals.
The ball of the Mesoamerican ballgame, used in the symbolic re-enactment of the Xibalba cycle.

The implements of the priest were stored in the temple or in the priestly house, and they were passed from one generation to the next. Many of them are depicted in the Dresden Codex and in the carved inscriptions of the Late Classic period. The modern daykeeper uses a different set of implements — colored seeds, candles, copal, and a special calendar wheel — but the ritual logic is recognizably the same.

Sources

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Taube, K. A. (2010). Maya Deities and the Place of Vision: A Workbook on Maya Iconography. Precolumbia Mesoweb Press. — link
Tedlock, D., trans. (1996). Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings (rev. ed.). Touchstone. — link
Edmonson, M. S., trans. (1971). The Book of Counsel: The Popol Vuh of the Quiché Maya of Guatemala. Tulane University, Middle American Research Institute Pub. 35. — link
Bassie-Sweet, K. (2002). Corn From the Heavens: The Sacred Geography of the Ancient Maya. University of Texas Press. — link
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