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 Tila Cargo System

Tila residents participate in an extensive ceremonial organization similar to the cargo systems of better-known Tzeltal and Tzotzil Maya communities to the south (Cancian 1965, Gossen 1986; Arias 1990), but virtually unique in the Chol-speaking area. Formal speech in Chol survives in Tila to an extent not found in other Chol-speaking communities, and Chol is spoken in Tila in ritual contexts that do not exist elsewhere. A rich cycle of annual ceremonial activities includes many "dances" with associated set speeches, public performances that act out core cultural values in symbolic form (such as Jaguars in combat with Bulls, symbolizing the clash between native and hispanic cultures). Shamanic curing, cave rituals, and other less public rites also present varied contexts for formal speech. Some of these ritual contexts are to a certain extent continuations of Pre-Columbian ceremonial life. On Classic Period monuments, the display of the ruler in ritual performances is a common theme (ak’ota ’dancing’, in the terminology of modern epigraphers), and the language of these monuments has been shown to be reflected in modern traditional narratives (Josserand, Schele and Hopkins 1985, Hopkins and Josserand 1990, Josserand 1991).

The extent of ritual activity in Tila is evidenced in the number of ritual offices and occasions on which public rituals take place. Pérez Chacón (1988: 59-76) describes a cargo system (ch’ujulbä ’e’tel ’holy work’) that in any given year includes between 50 and 90 cargo holders, depending on how many secondary and tertiary positions are filled. The positions are hierarchically organized, the top level composed of four mayordomos who manage the cargo system, headed by the mak yumlal ’[mayordomo of] Our Great Father’, who cares for the Señor de Tila, and the mak na’lal ’[mayordomo of] Our Great Mother’, who cares for the Virgin Mary. These roles are marked symbolically by ceremonial dress: the top 25 mayordomos carry staffs of office; behind them come 15 captains, who wear red headscarfs and carry red flags to mark their office.

These office holders are each associated with a particular saint, and as a group they have the responsibilities of caring for the church and its saints, organizing public ceremonies, and receiving from supplicants petitions directed to the saints. Marriage is a necessary prerequisite for office, and women’s duties and participation are essential parts of the ritual occasions. A man who has passed through a number of cargos retires as a respected elder (local Spanish tatuch, Chol lak tatna’ob ’our ancestors’). The cargo system constitutes one of the three power bases in the political life of the community, the others being the official Catholic church hierarchy (bishop and priests) and the civil government (the Ayuntamiento Constitucional).

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