Chol Ritual Language
with Terrence Lee Folmar, Heidi Altman, Ausencio Cruz Guzmán, and Bernardo Pérez Martínez
©1996 J. Kathryn Josserand and Nicholas A. Hopkins

The Ritual Vocabulary of Tila Chol

Most scholars believe Chol to be the modern language most closely related to the language of the Classic period cities and their elites, but Yucatec, a distantly related Mayan language, is often used as a source by epigraphers because of the quality of Colonial dictionaries and other sources of information available for Yucatec. While Yucatec is probably the language of the Post-Classic codices, and linguistic material on Yucatec is relatively abundant, Yucatec is not as relevant to interpretations of Classic culture and hieroglyphic writing as is Chol. Knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of the modern Chol language has been shown to be the most important language for the study of Classic Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions. The interpretation of many of the political and religious acts displayed on monuments, on ceramics, and on other artifacts has been possible through glyphic readings involving words whose meanings can be deciphered because cognate words are attested in Chol and other Mayan languages. Chol sources, however, are still not extensive enough to serve the needs of scholars investigating Classic life.

The specialized vocabulary of ritual activity is preserved to some extent in the modern Chol town of Tila, Chiapas. Unique among Chol-speaking communities, Tila has preserved a ritual organization that dates back to Colonial times and beyond, along with the corresponding vocabulary in Chol. For instance, the 1789 response by the priest of Tila to a royal questionnaire (Fernández 1892; Josserand and Hopkins 1988), contains a term for ritual performance, recorded as ak’titi, otherwise unknown in Chol sources, which corresponds to the Classic term recently deciphered and read as ak’ota ti ’dances as (a deity)’ by Nikolai Grube (1992). While it is inevitable that the Pre-Columbian culture has been greatly affected by syncretism with Catholicism, it is still possible to analyze vocabulary for forms and meanings that indicate earlier usages, and it is of primary importance to identify native vocabulary for the best evidence of Pre-Columbian religious beliefs and practices.

Modern Chol texts describing Tila ceremonial life (Pérez Chacón 1988) document the use of specialized Chol vocabulary in the contexts of temple ceremonies focussed on sacred images, prayers, offerings, petitions, pilgrimages, house blessings, agricultural activities, ritual performances ("dances"), cave rites, and the ritual exchanges and ceremonies associated with marriage, birth, and other life cycle events. Most of these contexts have some parallel in Classic Maya life as depicted on ceramics and other media, and one can expect considerable continuity in associated language.

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