Representations of these divinities were carved in wood and stone, and the words chee abah, "wood and stone," usually mean, when they appear together in Xahila's narrative, "idols or images in wood and stone."
The Stone God, indeed, is a prominent figure in their mythology, as it was in their daily life. This was the sacred Chay Abah, the Obsidian Stone, which was the oracle of their nation, and which revealed the will of the gods on all important civil and military questions. To this day, their relatives, the Mayas of Yucatan, attach implicit faith to the revelations of the zaztun, the divining stone kept by their sorcerers; and if it decrees the death of any one, they will despatch him with their machetes, without the slightest hesitation.[1] The belief was cherished by the rulers and priests, as they alone possessed the power to gaze on the polished surface of the sacred block of obsidian, and read thereupon the invisible decrees of divinity. (See above, p. 25).
As the stone came from the earth, it was said to have been derived from the under world, from Xibalbay, literally the unseen or invisible place, the populous realm in Quiche myth, visited and conquered by their culture hero, Xbalanque. Hence in Cakchiquel tale, the Chay Abah represented the principle of life, as well as the source of knowledge.[2]
The Cakchiquel Annals do not pretend to deal with
- ↑ For an interesting note on the zaztun, see Apolinar Garcia y Garcia, Historia de la Guerra de Castas en Yucatan, p. XXIV (folio, Merida, 1865).
- ↑ For the derivation of Xibalbay, and for the myths referred to in the text, see my article, before referred to, The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths, pp. 27, 28.
