I wish to acknowledge the valuable advice, support, and encouragement of Dr. Susan D. Gillespie as she intuitively pointed me towards study of the Popol Vu h during my doctoral program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Cham-paign. This study is in part a result of her teaching and emphasis on alternative approaches to this text. Special thanks to Dr. Ruth E. Quiroa-Crowell for the time invested in reading and editing this article throughout its different stages. Finally, I would like to express appreciation to the reviewers and editors of The Americas for feedback that greatly broadened my knowledge on this topic, as well as contributed to the final, polished version.

1. Here and throughout this document the name “Popol Vuh” refers to Fr. Francisco Xîménez’s eighteenth-century transcription and Spanish translation of the Maya-K’iehe1 mythic-historical narrative.

2. Tedlock, Dennis, The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings (New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore: Simon & Schuster, 1985).Google Scholar See also Coe, Michael, The Maya (New York: Praeger, 1986).Google Scholar

3. Carmack, Robert M., The Qttiche Mayas of Utatlán: Evolution of a Highland Guatemala Kingdom (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981)Google Scholar and The Título de Totonicapán (Mexico: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1973).

4. This paper was read as part of a panel titled “Text and Context in Colonial Latin America: Power, Politics, and Religiosity” during the Fiftieth Latin American Studies Association meeting, held in Miami in May 2000.

5. Most transcriptions and translations of the K'iche' mythic-historical narrative do not discuss the physical context or acknowledge Ximénez's religious objectives; they give readers the idea that there is in fact a stand-alone Popol Vuh prccolonial manuscript. This approach has been consistent in the most popular transcriptions and translations including those of Recinos, Adrian, Popol Vuh: Las antiguas historias del Qtiiché (Guatemala: Piedra Santa, 1947)Google Scholar; Recinos, Adrián, Goetz, Delia, and Morley, Sylvanus G. , , Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Ancient Qtiiché Maya (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950);Google Scholar Edmonson, Munro, The Book of Counsel: The Popol Vuh of the Qtiiché Maya of Guatemala, Middle American Research Institute (New Orleans: Tulane University, 1971);Google Scholar and Ted-lock, Dennis, Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985), among others.Google Scholar

6. Himelblau, Jack, in his book Quiche Worlds in Creation: The Popol Vuh as a Narrative Work of Art (California: Labyrinthos, 1989)Google Scholar offers a complete exposition of the author, the time frame of composition, and various conflicting theories regarding Ximénez’s manuscript.

7. Tedlock, , Popol Vuh, p. 28.Google Scholar

8. Ximénez, Francisco, Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala [Bibloteca Goathcmala de la Sociedad de Geografía e Historia] [1721] (Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional, 1929) p. 5.Google Scholar

9. Ximénez, Arte de las tres lenguas (The Newberry Library 1700–1703), escolios, MS 1515, p. 94r. Throughout this paper Ximénez's entire text will be cited as MS 1515, with reference to particular appended sections of the manuscript noted.

10. Carmack, Robert M., Gaseo, Janine, and Gosscn, Gary, The Legacy of Mesoamcrica: History and Culture of a Native American Civilization, Exploring Cultures series, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007), p. 27.Google Scholar

11. Ini 830, the Ximcncz manuscripts were transported from the Dominican monastery in Antigua to the University of San Carlos Library in Guatemala City as part of a governmental confiscation of all ecclesiastic property. See Tedlock, , Popol Vuh, p. 30.Google Scholar

12. Scherzer, Karl, Las historias del origen de los indios (Viena: Casa de Carlos Gerold c Hijo, 1857), p. 7.Google Scholar This edition was strongly criticized by scholars for its many spelling errors. However, his version is the only one that acknowledged and included Ximénez’s prologue and annotations. In 1967, the Sociedad de Geografìa e Historia de Guatemala published a special edition of his translation of Ximénez’s escolios.

13. Brasseur de Bourbouq, Charles Etienne 1861, Popol Vuh, Le livre lacré et les lythes de l’antiquité américaine (Arthur Bertand éditeur, Paris).

14. Recinos, Adrian, Popol Vuh: Las antiguas historias del K’iche’ (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1995), p. 43.Google Scholar

15. In like manner, Ximénez’s entire manuscript is referred to as MS 1515 in this paper.

16. By “early colonial texts,” I refer to manuscripts written in the middle of the sixteenth century. In the case of highland Guatemala, many títulos and other narratives, including the native-authored “original” Popol Vuh, arc dated as early as 1554. Louise Burkhart focuses on the ethnographic treatises written by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún between the years of 1558 and 1560.

17. Burkhart, Louise, The Slippery Earth: Νahua-Christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth-Century Mexico (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989), p. 5.Google Scholar

18. Ibid., p. 6.

19. See Carmack, The Qttiché Mayas of Utatlán; Carmack, , “El Popol Vuh conio etnografia del Quiche,” in Nuevas perspectivas sobre el Popol Vuh, eds. Carmack, Robert and Morales Santos, Francisco (Guatemala: Editorial Piedra Santa, 1983);Google Scholar Akkeren, Ruud van, La visión indígena de la conquista (Guatemala: Scrviprcnsa, 2007);Google Scholar and Edmonson, Munro , “Historia de las tierras altas Mayas, según los documentos indígenas,” in Desarrollo cultural de los Mayas, eds. Vogt, Evon Z. and Ruíz, Alberto (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1964).Google Scholar

20. Burkhart, , The Slippery Earth, p 9.Google Scholar

21. Ibid., p. 5.

22. Adorno, Roleiia, “Reconsidering Colonial Discourse for Sixtenth- and Seventeenth-Century Spanish America,” Latin American Research Review 28:3 (1993), pp. 138–39.Google Scholar As cited by Bremer, Thomas S., “Reading the Sahagún Dialogues,” in Sahagún at 500: Essays on the Quincentenary of the Birth of Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, ed. Schwaller, John Frederick (Berkeley: Academy of American Franciscan History, 2003), p. 13.Google Scholar

23. Bremer analyzes the work of the sixteenth-century Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún among the Nahautl speaking people of the central valley of Mexico. Scholars consider Sahagún to be the “father of modern anthropology.” Nevertheless, Bremer points out the importance of considering the historical, social and cultural contexts in which Sahagún lived and worked, especially his Franciscan missionary concern with the evangelization of the people of New Spain. He defines Sahagún’s Coloquios y doctrina cristiana as a “monologue pretending to be a dialogue,” which he attributes to Sahagún’s inability to stray from the missiological imperative of expanding the Christian empire.

24. It should be noted that although the comparison between Fr. Sahagún and Fr. Ximénez is apt, their work among the native cultures differed chronologically, as well as in the methodology by which they conducted their ethnographic work.

25. Unless otherwise indicated, all English translations are those of the author.

26. It should be noted that Ximénez’s paraphrased version in his Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapay Guatemala also included an introductory chapter and a more elaborated set of annotations that further explicated his view of the indigenous religion. This version is also used in the analysis of this paper.

27. For the purpose of this study, I have paginated this section 1 to 4 recto.

28. Himelblau, , Quiche Worlds, p. 2.Google Scholar

29. A full transcription and translation of Ximénez’s prologue to his Tratado segundo is provided in a study by the author, titled “Francisco Xîméncz and the Popol Vuh: The Text, Structure, and Ideology in a Prologue,” Colonial Latin American Research Review, 11:3 (2002). This article demonstrates how the prologue reflected Ximénez’s ideology and intentions for translating the indigenous narrative.

30. Ximénez, , prologue to Tratado segundo, MS 1515, p. 94v.Google Scholar

31. For instance, in his study of the conversion of New Spain, John F. Schwaller defines three major phases; conversion through example, conversion through intellectual and cultural engagement, and conversion through extirpation of idolatries. “Conversion, Engagement, and Extirpation: Three Phases of the Evangelization of New Spain, 1524—1650,” in Conversion to Christianity: From Late Antiquity to the Modern Age: Considering the Process in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, eds. Kendall, Calvin, Nicholson, Oliver , Phillips, William D. Jr., and Ragnow, Marguerite (Minneapolis: Center for Early Modern History, University of Minnesota, 2009), pp. 259–92.Google Scholar

32. Pedro Borges, O.F.M., Métodos misionales en la cristianización de America siglo XVI (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Departamento de Misionología Española, Raycar, S.A, 1960).Google Scholar

33. Megged, Amos, “‘Right from the Heart’: Indians’ Idolatry in Mendicant Preaching in Sixteenth-Century Mesoamerica,” History of Religions 35:1 (August 1995), pp. 61–82.Google Scholar

34. de Remesal, Antonio, Historia general de las indias occidentales y particular de la gobernación de Chiapa y Guatemala [1619] (Guatemala: Editorial José de Pineda Ibarra, 1966), p. 750.Google Scholar

35. Chuchiak, John, “Toward a Regional Definition of Idolatry: Reexamining Idolatry Trials in the ‘Relaciones de méritos’ and Their Role in Defining the Concept of‘Idolatría’ in Colonial Yucatán, 1570–1780,” Journal of Early Modern History 6:2 (2002), p. 167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36. For further analysis of the term “extirpation,” consult Duviols, Pierre, La destrucción de las religiones andinas (durante la conquista y la colonia) (México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1977);Google Scholar Griffiths, Nicolas, The Cross and the Serpent: Repression and Resurgence in Colonial Peru (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996);Google Scholar and Mills, Kenneth, Idolatry and Its Enemies: Colonial Andean Religion and Extirpation, 1640–1750 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).Google Scholar

37. Greenleaf, Richard E., “Persistence of Native Values: The Inquisition and the Indians of Colonial Mexico,” The Americas 50:3 (January 1994), pp. 351–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar

38. Borges, , “La extirpación de la idolatría en Indias como método misional (siglo XVI),” Misstonalia hispánica 41 (1960), p. 195.Google Scholar

39. Greenleaf, , “The Inquisition and the Indians of New Spain: A Study in Jurisdictional Confusion,” The Americas 22:2 (October 1965), pp. 138–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

40. Ibid., p. 141.

41. Ibid., p. 138.

42. Timmer, David E., in his study “Providence and Perdition: Fray Diego de Landa Justifies His Inquisition Against the Yucatecan Maya,” Church History 66: 3 (September 1997), pp. 477–88,CrossRefGoogle Scholar offers an illustrative case of how Diego de Landa fully utilized the inquisitorial rights provided by the papal bull.

43. This exclusion of the Indians from the jurisdiction of the Holy Office was presaged by the violent action against the native population three decades before, including the idolatry trials of Fray Diego de Landa in the 1960s in Yucatán, as well as the burning of Don Carlos of Texcoco under Bishop Juan de Zumárraga in 1539. See Greenleaf, Richard E., “The Inquisition and the Indians of New Spain,” p. 140;Google Scholar Schwaller, John F., “Conversion, Engagement, and Extirpation: Three Phases of the Evangelization of New Spain, 1524–1650,” in Conversion to Christianity: From Late Antiquity to the Modern Age: Considering the Process in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, eds. Kendall, Calvin, Nicholson, Oliver, Phillips, William D. Jr., and Ragnow, Marguerite (Minneapolis: Center for Early Modern History, University of Minnesota, 2009.Google Scholar

44. Greenleaf, , “The Inquisition and the Indians of New Spain,” p. 138.Google Scholar

45. Greenleaf, , “The Mexican Inquisition and the Indians: Sources for the Ethnohistorian,” The Americas 34: 3 (January 1978), pp. 315–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

46. Clendinnen, Inga, “Disciplining the Indians: Franciscan Ideology and Missionary Violence in Sixteenth-Century Yucatan,” Past and Present 94 (February 1982), pp. 27–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47. Ibid., p. 34.

48. For a discussion of Fr. Landa’s motives and actions in Yucatán, refer to Timmer, David E., “Providence and Perdition,” p. 481 Google Scholar. Timmer demonstrates how Landa’s outrage and actions are better understood in the context of Franciscan “millenearism,” through which Landa interpreted Maya apostasy as a threat of perdition and the inevitable destruction of the Christian faith. On the other hand, Inga Clendinnen interprets Fr. Landa’s brutal methods of discipline as a shift of Franciscan ideology in the New World, legitimized through a “father-child,” relationship with the natives.

49. Borges, , “La extirpación,” p. 195 Google Scholar

50. Ibid., p. 222.

51. Ibid., p. 198. Pedro Borges cites Pedro de Córdoba’s 1544 Doctrina cristiana para la instrucción e información de los indios as an example of a n on-confrontational approach in early to native religion.

52. A geographical area founded by the Dominican order in 1551 for the purpose of evangelization. It included the territory of what is today Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Chiapas up to the Tehuantepec isthmus in the Gulf of Mexico.

53. Megged, , “Right from the Heart,” p. 69.Google Scholar In 1558, this mandate became official for the Dominican order. In 1573, the Spanish Crown adopted it mandate as a royal decree.

54. Ibid., p. 70.

55. MacCormack, Sabine, “The Heart Has Its Reasons: Predicament of Missionary Christianity in Early Colonial Peru,” The Hispanic American Historical Review 65:3 (August 1985), pp. 443–46 CrossRefGoogle Scholar

56. Stern, , “Paradigms of Conquest: History, Historiography, Politics,” Journal of Latin American Studies, Quincentenary Supplement, 24 (1992), pp. 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

57. Ibid., p. 9.

58. Remesal, , Historia, p. 752.Google Scholar

59. Ibid., p. 753.

60. Ibid., p. 749.

61. Ibid.

62. Ibid.

63. Ibid.

64. Ximcnez, , Arte de las tres, prologue to the escolios, MS 1515, p. 2v.Google Scholar

65. Ibid., p. 2r.

66. Van Oss, Adriaan, Catholic Colonialism: A Parish History of Guatemala 1524–1821 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986).Google Scholar This seminal study of the history of the parish in colonial Guatemala, offers an analysis of the struggle between the mendicant orders and the secular Church over the control of parishes in highland Guatemala. Through a process known as “secularization,” or the reassignment of secular priests to parishes, the Catholic Church desired to bring the mendicant orders under episcopal authority. Despite many attempts starting from the early colonial period, the secularization of parishes did not begin until 1754.

67. Van Oss demonstrates how mendicant friars used their competency in native languages to resist secularization. Because the secular friars worked primarily with Spanish-speaking communities, they usually did not learn native languages.

68. Ximénez, Arte de las tres, prologue to K’iche’ stories, MS 1515.

69. Ibid.

70. Ibid.

71. Ibid.

72. For this section, I follow Ximénez’s spelling for the K’iche’ names of deities.

73. Ximénez, Arte de las tres, escolios, MS 1515, p. 4r.

74. Fr. de Vico’s “syncretic” idea was not unanimously embraced by the sixteenth-century religiovis community. The concern was that such an approach would further encourage idolatry since the natives were not able to discriminate between the two systems.

75. Acuña, René “La Theología Indorum de Fray Domingo de Vico,” Tlalocán: Revista de fuentes para el conocimiento de las culturas indígenas de México 10 (1985), pp. 281–305.Google Scholar

76. Ximénez, , Arte de las tres, escolios, MS 1515, p. 4r.Google Scholar

77. As recounted in the Maya myth, Jun Junajpu (One Hunahpu) and his brother Wuqub Junajpu (Seven Hunahpu) were sacrificed by the lords of the underworld in Xib’alb’a. Jun Junajpu’s head was then placed in a calabash tree, to which the maiden Xkik was attracted by its sweet fruit. She became impregnated when she received Jun Junajpu’s spit on her hand. Later she was accused of fornication and escaped into the human world where she gave birth to the hero twins.

78. las Casas, Bartolomé de, Apologética historia sumaria [1550], in Obras completas, eds. Castellò, Vidal Abril; Barreda, Jesús A.;Google Scholar Queija, Berta Ares, and Abril Stoffels, Miguel J. (Madrid: Editorial Alianza, 1992), p. 882.Google Scholar

79. Ximénez, , Arte de las tres, escolios, MS 1515, p. 4r.Google Scholar

80. Carmack, , The K’iche’Mayas of’Utatlán,” p. 62.Google Scholar

81. Ximénez, , Historia, p. 71.Google Scholar

82. Ibid.

83. It is worth noting that during the early stages of evangelization, a group of Dominican missionary friars had come to identify these Christian tenants closely with the essentials of Maya religious concepts, a concept that proved to be short-lived.

84. Personal communication via e-mail with Giselle Simon of the Newberry Library staff.