[From the Introduction to the Verse Drama]
In the winter of 1711-12, there lived in the village of
Cancuc an Indian girl, about nineteen years of age,
named Maria Candelaria, the latter word being the
Spanish equivalent for the English "Candlemas," from
which festival of the Church it had doubtless been as-
signed her.
She appears to have been an orphan, as her aunt,
Magdalena Diaz, is mentioned, and her uncle, Sebastian
Gomez, but not her parents.
This uncle is alleged to have been a priest of the
dreaded secret organization among the Indians, known
as the Nagualists, a fraternity which I have described
fully in another work, and some account of which I shall
give on a later page. Suffice it here to say that its spirit
was intensely hostile to the Spanish government, and to
Christianity, as represented by the Roman Catholic
Church.
Doubtless Maria imbibed these sentiments early and
deeply ; but that she was merely the tool of Gomez, as is
stated by one writer, is contradicted by the course of
events and by the testimony of another author (Ordonez),
who attributes to her alone "all the plans of the insur-
rection." With a deep religious temperament, brooding
long on the wrongs inflicted on her people, she passed
into that condition of spiritual exaltation which precedes
and prepares a revelation of the divine prescience.
On a certain day in the early spring of 1712, at a short
distance from the village, the Holy Virgin Mary appeared
to Maria, and commanded her to call together the people
and have them erect a chapel on that spot, in which
she and her uncle, not white priests, were to conduct the
worship. The mandate was promptly obeyed by the
villagers, the chapel was erected, and in it Maria Can-
delaria, who then took the name of Maria Angel de la
Virgen, and Sebastian Gomez, who adopted that of
Gomez de la Gloria, performed the sacred rites.
They soon revealed other intentions than that of merely
repeating prayers. The chapel became the center of an
active propaganda of national liberty. Men and women
were instructed in the plans for the overthrow of the
white invaders, and were sent forth to incite all the Tzen-
tal towns, and to those of affiliated tribes such as the
Chols, Quelens and Zotzils— some say, far into Tabasco
and Oaxaca. *
In all this Maria was the leading spirit. In her chapel,
immediately behind the altar which had been erected to
the Holy Virgin, was stretched a screen of Indian matting.
When the faithful were assembled, she would retire be-
hind this for a short time and, reappearing, filled with the
divine ecstasy, would pronounce the decrees of Holy
Mary and prophetic utterances concerning the struggle in
preparation. She chose from her own sex some of her
most effective acolytes and apostles...
The plan evidently was at a concerted signal to massa-
cre the white male population in all the villages, and
then to unite the forces and march rapidly on San Cris-
tobal. This city captured, the affiliated tribes would un-
doubtedly unite with them.
The plan failed through the precipitate action of some
villages and the timid procrastination of others. Prema-
ture outbreaks occurred at Diasole and Chilun. At the
latter town on Trinity Sunday, June, 1712, the congrega-
tion was attacked during the mass by several hundred
Indians, the three officiating priests were slain at the altar,
and men, women and children were cut to pieces on the
floor of the church.
Similar disorders rapidly followed. The towns of
Tenango, San Martin, Ocozingo, Tonala, Occhuc, Hue-
teupan, Yajalon and others revolted amid scenes of more
or less bloodshed. At Occhuc, two friars were thrown
into pits and stoned to death; at Simijovel, they burnt
the church and hanged the priest; at Tonala, they slew
Father de Andrada at the altar; and so on, the ecclesias-
tics being the objects of their especial hatred.
By the beginning of August the insurrection was at its
flood- tide, and on the tenth of that month a grand festi-
val was held at Cancuc in celebration of its success.
Maria presided as high priestess and queen of the liber-
ated nation. By her command, all the silver vessels,
ornaments, money and books, which had been taken from
the churches were brought to Cancuc and placed in her
custody. They were concealed somewhere by her order
and were never afterwards recovered.
During the festival a general council of war was held,
at which she also presided and promulgated the laws of
the new state, "the main bearings of which," says the
historian Ordonez," were that there should not remain a
trace to indicate that a European had ever stepped on the
soil of her land." Her words, according to another,
were that thenceforth there should be in her domain
"neither bishop nor priest, taxes nor king."
On that day Maria Candelaria was at the acme of her
power and glory, undisputed and absolute mistress of her
nation and its resources, commanding a victorious army of
many thousand warriors who idolized her as more than a
queen, almost as an actual, living goddess...
The appointment of a woman to the primacy of the
priesthood in the native religion of the Tzentals dates back
to their famed culture hero Votan, himself. By the
breath of his mouth he hollowed out his cave temple in
the rocks near Tlazoaloyan, and in it stored the sacred
books and magical images. On his departure, he assigned
it to a number of custodians, and as chief of them all or-
dained a high priestess, who was always to be succeeded
by one of her own sex. So it continued until 1691, when,
as Votan still delayed his return, the Christian custodian
revealed the secret to her bishop, who promptly burned
the holy relics in the town square.
To some it may seem that the sentiments attributed to
Maria are at times above what an Indian girl could have
developed. I would ask such readers to bear in mind
that she belonged to the highest type of the red race; to
a tribe many of whom could at that time read and write
in their own language as well as in Spanish; as is clearly
shown by one of her laws that no one should be appointed
to a high position in her state who could not read; and
who were as intelligent and certainly less bigoted than
their white instructors. 3 Not, therefore, the savage of
our western plains, nor yet the semi- civilized Aztec or
Maya of the time of Cortes, represents the native American
with whom I am dealing, but the originally most ad-
vanced of the race after two hundred years of further
development under conditions of European civilization
and Christian instruction, such as they were...
According to one of the writers on this insurrection (Or-
donez), it had its origin in the machinations of the native
secret society of the Nagualists.
This mysterious organization dated from before the con-
quest, and probably continues to the present day among
the Indians of Mexico and Central America. It is a sur-
vival in part of the ancient priestly caste, blending the
old pagan rites with modern Christian superstitions, and
persistently hostile to the church and state introduced by
the European invaders.
Its name is derived from the root na, knowledge, and
has reference to the mystic or thaumaturgic knowledge
which in primitive thought is synonymous with magical
power. The nagual is the personal spirit, the alter ego
or daiinon of the individual. Through its aid the adept
can practice sorcery, cause or cure disease, conjure
demons, cast spells, forecast the future, and especially
acquire the power of " shape- shifting," that is, transform-
ing himself at will into some animal.
The organization of the society was well defined, con-
sisting of acolytes, sub-priests, priests and high-priests.
The acolytes were taught in classes, and were obliged to
undergo severe ordeals and initiations. It is especially
noteworthy that not only were all these grades open to
women, but in several well-known instances, these occu-
pied the most responsible positions in the sodality.
The meetings of the initiates were held at night, either
in some secluded forest dell or, when practicable, in caves.
A number of such cave-temples have been described by
writers. They contained the idols of the ancient gods,
cups for burning incense (gum copal), votive offerings,
etc. The religious rites solemnized included songs,
dances, prayers and invocations addressed to the gods, to
the four elements, to the sacred symbolic animals and to
the reciprocal (generative) principles of nature. A num-
ber of such invocations have been preserved. They re-
veal a strange jumble of pagan and Christian religious
notions, and are couched in a curious metaphorical jar-
gon, unintelligible except to the initiated.
The fundamental tenet of Nagualism, as already said,
was hatred of the Spanish civil and ecclesiastical rule,
and the aim which kept it alive was the hope of destroy-
ing the white supremacy. One who has dispassionately
studied the record of the treatment of the Indians by
both the Church and the State in that land, will be
forced to sympathize with the native population in this
hope, and will be tempted to excuse even the utmost
lengths to which it carried them. While now and then
there was a righteous judge, or a priest inspired by truly
Christian love, the majority were greedy, cruel and de-
praved. The influence they exerted brutalized and de-
based the native population, and made their lives one
long story of misery and injustice. This is fully acknowl-
edged by some of the most enlightened modern writers
on the subject, studying it on the spot...
[From the Verse Drama]
Third Dance of the Acolytes, after -which they ar-
range themselves behind Gomez and Maria,
who approach altars at opposite
sides of the stage.
Gomez. (Holding the serpent wand. Invoca-
tion to the constructive male potencies.')
To the sacred three and the three times three,
The gods who have builded whatever there be ;
To the fount of life neath the primal tree,
And the fourfold streams which flow from it
free;
I burn the gum, and I pour the wine {burns
copal and pours a libation),
I scatter what's beaten nine times nine (scat-
ters tobacco),
I utter the words of power divine,
I pray that their aid may ever be mine.
Maria. (Holding an aspergillum. Invocation
to the destructive female potencies.)
To the mother of all, on whose fateful shrine,
The cradle and grave their symbols entwine ;
To the eagle -wraith whose scent from afar
Feeds on the fumes of the fields of war
To the serpent-queen, whose poisonous breath
Hissingly utters the summons to death
To the spectre-maids, with flying locks,
Who will rend the earth with its final shocks ;
To the lethal queens of the unseen world,
I scatter the drops on the scroll unfurled (as-
perges the parchments').
On its mystic glyphs and its figures old,
And I conjure success for our warriors bold.
Solemn procession of the Acolytes, who then leave the
stage.
No comments:
Post a Comment