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Tribus, 44.1995,N.F.

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Bibliographic Data

fullscreen: Tribus, 44.1995,N.F.

Journal

Structure Type:: Journal

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714817

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-714817

Persistent identifier:: BV044415258

Title:: Tribus

Sub Title:: Jahrbuch des Linden-Museums

ISSN:: 0082-6413

Place of Publication:: Stuttgart

Publisher:: Linden-Museum

Year of Publication:: 1953

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Domain:: Social and cultural anthropology > General overview

Journal Volume

Structure Type:: Journal Volume

Works URN (URL):: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711776

URN:: urn:nbn:de:kobv:11-711776

Persistent identifier:: 1510644899860

Title:: Tribus, 44.1995,N.F.

Year of Publication:: 1995

Call Number:: LA 6621

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Issue

Structure Type:: Journal Issue

Title:: N. F. Bd. 44, 1995

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Journal Article

Structure Type:: Journal Article

Title:: Tzotzil Maya Cosmology

Other person:: Lamb, Weldon

Collection:: Journals and Newspapers > Journals of Ethnology

Contents

Table of Contents

Tribus

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Tribus, 44.1995,N.F.

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Front Cover

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Front Paste Down

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Prepage

[1]
Title Page

[3]
Legal Notice

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Table of Contents: Inhaltsverzeichnis

5
Journal Issue: N. F. Bd. 44, 1995

7
Minutes: Bericht des Direktors über das Linden-Museum im Jahr 1994 / Thiele, Peter

7
Other: Organisationsplan Stand: 1.10.1995

16
Minutes: Referate Museumspädagogik und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit / Schierle, Sonja

17
Minutes: Ausgewählte Ergebnisse der Besucherbefragung 1994/95 am Linden-Museum Stuttgart, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde / Buhl, Ulrike

25
Minutes: Berichte über Erwerbungen im Jahr 1994 der Abteilungen Afrika, Islamischer Orient, Südasien, Ostasien, Südsee und Amerika / Forkl, Hermann

47
Journal Article: Von der Stadt zur sakralen Landschaft. Bóohée Burji. Eine städtische Siedlung in Südäthiopien. Von Helmut Straube, bearbeitet von Hermann Amborn Helmut Straube zum 10. Todestag gewidmet / Amborn, Hermann

65
Journal Article: Das Rätsel des Apo Kayan. Megalithische Skulpturen und Sarkophage im Apo Kayan-Gebiet. Studien einer Reise ins südöstliche Apo Kayan im Juli/August 1994 / Baier, Martin

100
Journal Article: Tjeritera Patigolo Arkian. Struktur und Variation in der Gründungsmythe des Fürstenhauses von Larantuka (Ostindonesien) / Diertrich, Stefan

112
Journal Article: Afrikaner und Africana am württembergischen Herzogshof im 17. Jahrhundert / Firla, Monika

149
Journal Article: Schiitische Standartenaufsätze / Frembgen, Jürgen W.

194
Journal Article: Tod und Beerdigung im chinesischen Altertum im Spiegel von Ritualtexten und archäologischen Funden / Kuhn, Dieter

208
Journal Article: Tzotzil Maya Cosmology / Lamb, Weldon

268
Journal Review: Petroski, Henry: Messer, Gabel, Reißverschluß. Die Evolution der Gebrauchsgegenstände / Jacobeit, Wolfgang

280
Journal Review: Raabe, Eva Ch. (Hrsg.): Mythos Maske - Ideen, Menschen, Weltbilder. Roter Faden zur Ausstellung, Bd. 19 / Schroeter, Willy

281
Journal Review: Seiler-Baldinger, Annemarie: Systematik der Textilen Techniken. Beiträge zur Ethnologie, Bd. 32 / Dombrowski, Gisela

281
Journal Review: Spindler, Konrad: Der Mann im Eis - Die Ötztaler Mumie verrät die Geheimnisse der Steinzeit / Schulze-Thulin, Axel

282
Journal Review: Wirsing, Rolf: Gesundheits- und Krankheitsverhalten und seine kulturelle Einbettung in einer Kleinstadt im Südosten der Türkei. Kölner Ethnologische Mitteilungen, Bd. II / Sterly, Joachim

283
Journal Review: Blanc, Ulrike: Lieder in Erzählungen der Bulsa. Eine musikethnologische Untersuchung. Forschungen zu Sprachen und Kulturen Afrikas, Bd. 3 / Grupe, Gerd

285
Journal Review: Braukämper, Ulrich/Schlottner, Michael (Hrsg.): Kulturentwicklung und Sprachgeschichte im Naturraum Westafrikanische Savanne, Bd. 3. Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268 / Frank, Barbara

286
Journal Review: Bureau, Jacques, en collaboration avec Eshetou Wonbera: Le Verdict du Serpent. Mythes, Contes et Recits des Gamo d'Ethiopie. (Bulletin de la Maison des Etudes Etiopiennes, No. 4) / Guggeis, Karin

287
Journal Review: Röschenthaler, Ute: Die Kunst der Frauen: zur Komplementarität von Nacktheit und Maskierung bei den Ejagham im Südwesten Kameruns / Göbel, Peter

288
Journal Review: Tafla, Bairu: Ethiopia and Austria. A History of their Relations. Äthiopische Forschungen Band 35 / Best, Renate

288
Journal Review: Baer, Gerhard / Hammacher, Susanne / Seiler-Baldinger, Annemarie (Hg.): Die Neue Welt 1492-1992 - Indianer zwischen Unterdrückung und Widerstand / Schulze-Thulin, Axel

289
Journal Review: Berlo, Janet Catherine (Ed.): Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan: a Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks 8th and 9th October 1988 / Kurella, Doris

290
Journal Review: Der große Bertelsmann Bildatlas: Indianer - Die Ureinwohner Nordamerikas. Geschichte, Kulturen, Völker und Stämme / Schulze-Thulin, Axel

291
Journal Review: Boone, Elisabeth Hill (Hg.): Collecting the pre-Columbian past: a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 6. und 7. Oktober 1990 / Fischer, Manuela

291
Journal Review: Fagan, Brian M.: Das frühe Nordamerika. Archäologie eines Kontinents / Schulze-Thulin, Axel

293
Journal Review: Graham, Ian: Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. Volume 4, Part 2 (Uxmal) und Part 3 (Uxmal & Xcalumkin, dieser unter Mitarbeit von Eric von Euw) / Riese, Berthold

294
Journal Review: Gramly, Richard Michael: The Richey Clovis Cache: Earliest Americans Along the Columbia River / Schulze-Thulin, Axel

295
Journal Review: Hoffmann, Klaus / Wagner, René: Karl-May-Museum. Kurzführer durch die Ausstellungen - Indianer Nordamerikas, Karl May - Leben und Werk / Schulze-Thulin, Axel

295
Journal Review: Müller-Wille, Ludger (Hrsg.): Franz Boas. Bei den Inuit in Baffinland 1883-1884. Tagebücher und Briefe / Rousselot, Jean-Loup

295
Journal Review: Stuart, David & Stephen Houston: Classic Maya Place Names. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art & Archaeology, Nr. 33 / Gaida, Maria

297
Journal Review: Verswijver, Gustaaf Hubert: Ornaments and Ethno-History in the Amazon: Proposition of a Methodological Model. (Werkdocuments over Etnische Kunst 7) / Illius, Bruno

298
Journal Review: Sabloff, Jeremy A./Henderson, John S. (Eds.): Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D. A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks 7th and 8th October 1989 / Kurella, Doris

299
Journal Review: Pinkwart, Doris /Steiner, Elisabeth Bergama Cuvallari. Die Schmucksäcke der Yürüken Nordwestanatoliens. Stammesgeschichte, Musterrepertoire, Bestimmungshilfe / Reinhard, Ursula

300
Journal Review: Zschoch, Barbara: Deutsche Muslime: Biographische Erzählungen über die Konversion zum fundamentalistischen Islam. (Kölner Ethnologische Arbeitspapiere, Bd. 6) / Schmelz, Bernd

301
Journal Review: Bawden, Charles R.: Confronting the Supernatural: Mongolian Traditional Ways and Means / Schroeter, Willy

302
Journal Review: Okada, Amina/Nou, Jean-Louis/Joshi, M.C.: Taj Mahal / Bautze, Joachim K.

303
Journal Review: Sellato, Bernard: Nomads of the Borneo Rainforrest: The Economics, Politics and Ideology of Settling Down / Baier, Martin

304
Index of Authors

307
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268
WELDON LAMB
■
Tzotzil Maya Cosmology
Introduction
Almost every Tzotzil Maya town in mountainous central Chiapas, Mexico, regards
itself as the navel of the universe. These communities hold in common many beliefs
about the cosmos but they do differ on the details. This study sketches several con
temporary (1950-1980) traditions about the directions, the structure of the earth, the
heavens and the underworld: the world pillars, and some of the stars and planets.
The Directions
Like most Maya peoples, the Tzotzil do not define horizontal space with the Western
quarters of east, west, north and south. They relate it to the sun’s circuit. “East” is
xlok’jtotik “dawn” or “our honorable father comes out”; slok’e’m jtotik “the place of
the coming out of our (honorable) father” (Gossen 1974: 33; Köhler 1972: 322), and
lok’eb k’ak’al “emergent heat or day” (Gossen 1972: 119) or “place where the sun
comes out or buds”. It apparently spans the entire horizon between the solstitial
points. It is where the sun, having started its ascent from the nadir at 1 a. m. (Köhler
1972; 323; Köhler 1977; 106, 107, 113), comes up over the horizon and rises to the
zenith. Of course, then, “east” also glosses with ‘ak’ol “above, up” (Gossen 1972:
117). The Tzotzil associate east with up, increasing heat, the male principle (Gossen
1982: 30, fig. 2), and, I assume by analogy to the associations of the other directions,
with dawn, birth and the period between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox,
when the days begin to grow longer.
West, the whole span between the solstitial points, the Tzotzil name sbat jtotik “our
honorable father goes,” smale’m jtotik “the place of the self-outpouring (leaving) of
our father” (Köhler 1972:322), sch’ayeb k’ak’al “the place where the fiery one (sun)
disappears,” maleb k’ak’al “the fiery one (sun) grows old” or “waning heat” (Gossen
1972:119), and ‘anehal (García de León 1971:38, 39, 90), approximately “place glo
wing like embers”. It is where the sun, having begun its descent from the zenith at 1
p. m., goes down below the earth and descends to the nadir, the navel of the under
world; of course, then, west is also called ‘olon “down, below, beneath” (Gossen
1972:117; 1974:21) and even “center” (García de León 1971:63). It connotes down,
waning heat, the female principle, sunset, incipient death, and the period between the
summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, when the days start to grow shorter until
they last only as long as the nights (Gossen 1974: 33-35).
“North” is xokon vinajel “edge of the sky” or xokon vinajel ta batz’i k’ob “edge of
the sky on the right hand” of the sun (Gossen 1974: 31-32). Batz’i means not only
“right” but also “most representative, true” and connotes good; this association with
the right hand helps to imbue this direction with good fortune and virtue (Gossen
1972: 119-120). North glows all the more positive first because it is the horizontal
equivalent to the sun’s vertical position at noon, the hour of maximum heat and light;
and second because the Tzotzil know that the sun apparently shifts northwards along
the horizon during the increasingly longer days between the vernal equinox and the
summer solstice, the period of the first rains of the wet season and the beginning of
the annual highland growing cycle (Gossen 1972: 119-120).
“South,” too is xokon vinajel (Guiteras Holmes 1961: 36), “the edge of the sky” ta
tz’et k’ob “on the left hand” of the sun (Gossen 1974: 31). It is the horizontal coun
terpart to the nadir, the sun’s vertical position at midnight. In the daily cycle south
represents night and the underworld. In the annual round it corresponds to the span
of ever shorter days between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, the period

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