The Chol Maya of Chiapas

The Chol Maya who live in the western Mexican state of Chiapas are direct descendants of the Maya of the Classic period. Exploring their history and culture, volume editor Karen Bassie-Sweet and the other authors assembled here uncover clear continuity between contemporary Maya rituals and beliefs and their ancient counterparts.

With evocative and thoughtful essays by leading scholars of Maya culture, The Chol Maya of Chiapas, the first collection to focus fully on the Chol Maya, takes readers deep into ancient caves and reveals new dimensions of Chol cosmology. In contemporary Chol culture the contributors find a wealth of historical material that they then interweave with archaeological data to yield surprising and illuminating insights. The colonial and twentieth-century descendants of the Postclassic period Chol and Lacandon Chol, for instance, provide a window on the history and conquest of the early Maya. Several authors examine Early Classic paintings in the Chol ritual cave known as Jolja that document ancient cave ceremonies not unlike Chol rituals performed today, such as petitioning a cave-dwelling mountain spirit for health, rain, and abundant harvests.

Other essays investigate deities identified with caves, mountains, lightning, and meteors to trace the continuity of ancient Maya beliefs through the centuries, in particular the ancient origin of contemporary rituals centering on the Chol mountain deity Don Juan. An appendix containing three Chol folktales and their English translations rounds out the volume.

Charting paths literal and figurative to earlier trade routes, pre-Columbian sites, and ancient rituals and beliefs, The Chol Maya of Chiapas opens a fresh, richly informed perspective on Maya culture as it has evolved and endured over the ages.