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

Cargoholders and Related Statuses

The religious cargos are organized around the saints, and cargoholders’ activities include the day-to-day care of the saint’s altar and image, the celebration of the saint’s festival at the appointed time, and intercession with the saint on behalf of petitioners. The cargo system itself is called ch’ujulbä e’tel ’holy work’, and the cargoholders are referred to individually as aj ch’ujwanaj (sometimes recorded as aj ch’uwanaj) ’cargoholder’, and collectively as xch’ujwanajobä ’those who are cargoholders’. Alternatively, they are called the motomaj(ob), an early Colonial loan from Spanish mayordomo, that has assimilated to Chol patterns (in a series of stages that were something like mayordomo > martomo > motomaj).

An appreciation for the historical importance of the base term ch’ujwanaj requires an explanation of its etymology. The term xch’ujwanajobä is composed morphologically of six elements (morphemes): x-ch’uj-wan-aj-ob-bä.  The outer layers are most easily dealt with; it begins with the collective x-, and ends with the plural marker -ob followed by the relativizer -bä, thus the translation, ’those who are ch’ujwanaj’.  The central part of the word, its stem, is derived from the root ch’uj ’holy’, and the -aj suffix forms a noun agent from derived verb stems. But the suffix -wan, which must form a verb, is not otherwise attested in modern Chol data, and it appears likely that this term is an archaic frozen form, the only word currently known that preserves this sufix. It is interesting to note that Kaufman and Norman (1984: 107) reconstruct a Proto-Cholan verbal suffix *-wan (from pre-Proto-Cholan **-(a)w-an) expressing the completive aspect of positional verbs (verbs which describe a position or state of being).  This suffix is found on positional verbs in modern Chontal, Chol’s nearest relative. The -wan suffix is also known from Classic Period hieroglyphic inscriptions (written syllabically -wa-ni), where it again marks the completive aspect of positional verbs, most notably in chum-wan ’he was seated (in office)’.  This may be the suffix preserved in the Tila Chol title ch’ujwanaj ’cargoholder’, in which case the approximate meaning of this word in terms of its origin is something like ’those who are holy’.  Thus, the modern Chol title which designates the whole class of cargoholders appears to be an archaic word based on the root ’holy’, just as cargo service is described as ’holy work’.

Within the system of ch’ujulbä e’tel ’holy work’, the specific cargos are referred to as k’äjnibalbä e’tel ’useful work’.  The root of this word, k’än also appears in the forms k’än-bil ’used, used up’ and k’äjn-el ’to be used’ which imply a transitive verb *k’än ’to use something’, but this verb is, in fact, not attested in modern Chol, that is, it no longer is used in its full range of forms, and has become a defective verb, leaving only frozen archaic forms. These forms have taken on a new range of meanings, exemplified by k’äjn-ibal ’importance, utility, duty’, as in Mi’ wen mel i k’äjnibal cha’an komisariado ’He does his duties as a commisioner very well’ (Aulie and Aulie 1978: 45).

There are 25 motomaj ’mayordomos’, cargoholders with the title aj motomaj, who occupy the top level of the Tila cargo system. At the top of this level of the hierarchy are the four principal mayordomos, who serve the principal figures of the Tila pantheon: Christ (the Señor de Tila), the Virgin Mary, the Blessed Sacrament, and Saint Matthew. The two highest cargoholders carry the modifier ’great’ in their titles; they are the (xch’uwanaj) makyumlal ’(mayordomo of) Our Great Father’ (the Señor de Tila) and the (xch’uwanaj) makna’lal ’mayordomo of Our Great Mother’ (the Virgin Mary). These two phrases are based on the roots yum ’father’ and na’ ’mother’, with the possessive prefix k- ’our’, which requires the suffix -lal.  Unique in modern Chol vocabulary, these two titles preserve the ancient adjective ma ’great’, which is known from Classic Period hieroglyphic inscriptions, in royal titles like ma k’inaj and ma kuch.

The other two cargoholders of the top rank are known by the specific saints they serve, but they do not carry the ma title: xch’uwanaj Sakramentu ’Sexton of the Holy Sacrament’, and xch’uwanaj Samateyu ’Sexton of Saint Matthew’.  The rest of the mayordomos in this rank, who care for the lesser saints in the church, are also called by their saints’ names. These 25 top cargoholders carry ceremonial staffs of office to symbolize their status, and may each have one or two men serving as their official helpers (their ’seconds’ and ’thirds’), but these lesser offices are not always filled for the less important cargos.

The second rank of the Tila cargo hierarchy includes fifteen officeholders who are also called ’mayordomos’, but their office title is aj kaptan, from Spanish capitan ’captain’; collectively they are called xch’uwanaj kaptanob ’mayordomo captains’.  These, too, are associated with individual saints: Santiku kaptan ’captain of Santiago’, etc. The captains symbolize their status by carrying red flags, called y-oromentuj-ob ’their vestments’, an assimilated early loan from the ecclesiastical Spanish term ornamentos ’vestments’ (otherwise ’ornaments’). The use of ceremonial staffs and banners or standards to symbolize ritual status again recalls Classic Period usage. Still lesser cargos are occupied by the kapural-ob ’corporals’ (from Spanish caporal). In all, there are between 75 and 90 positions in the Tila cargo system, though not all the lesser positions are regularly filled. A civic-minded Chol aspires to serve a year in a cargo at each level of this hierarchy during his lifetime.

Numerous other statuses are associated with the practice of cargo rituals and the activities of the mayordomos. There are assistants, aj kotayaj-ob (from ko(l)-tan ’to help’), caretakers, aj käntiy-ob (from kän-tan ’to care for’), petitioners, aj k’ajtiyaj (from k’aj-tin ’to request’), the xpejkayosob ’those who speak to God’, and the xsubnichimob ’those who offer the candles’, and so on. The construction of these words is interesting, in terms of their prefixes. The prefix x- is used to refer to a ’class’ of people (who do a certain work). This prefix is attested in Colonial documents and in hieroglyphic texts, in gods’ names like Xbalanque, one of the Hero Twins, and Xbolon Chac ’the Nine Chacs’.  The pre-posed element aj ’he of’ or ’master of’ is also attested in Classic Period titles (Ah K’in ’sun priest’; Ah Hun-k’al Bak ’he of (captor of) 20 prisoners)’. Many modern Chol titles are formed from transitive verbs ending in -tan or -tin, which form agentive nouns with the suffix -aj.  It would be reasonable to expect titles which end in these suffixes to emerge from among the undeciphered Classic titles. A number of known hieroglyphic titles are written with final Ca syllables even when this syllable is not synharmonic with the preceding root or stem vowel, e.g., mak’ina(j), ch’ahoma(j).  It is possible that some of these reflect a final -aj suffix. Note that the preposed element aj gives the following nouns or noun phrases the status of titles, just as the similar suffix does for verbs.

A man who has passed through a series of cargos retires as a respected elder, one of the trensipal-ob ’principal men, chiefs, directors’ (from Spanish principales). These men are also known as lak tat-na’-ob ’our-Fathers-Mothers’, that is, ’our Ancestors’.  They take on the social role assigned to the mythological ancestors, and are also known as noj nox-ix-bä ’the most ancient ones’.  They are experienced elders who have proven their commitment to the welfare of the community. They know how things are supposed to be done, and they counsel younger, less experienced, people in the resolution of their affairs—as well as exercising sanctions against those who do not behave properly. In local Spanish, these influential elder men are called by a term which comes from Chol (but which is no longer thought of as a Chol word): tatuch, from Chol tat-äch ’really (intensively) father’.

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