Baptism is not found anywhere
in the Indies save here in Yucatan, and even with a word meaning to be born
anew or a second time, the same as the Latin renascer. Thus in the language of Yucatan sihil means ‘t be born anew,’
or a second time, but only however in composition; thus caput-sihil
means to be reborn. Its origin we have been unable to learn, but it is
something they have always used and for which they have had such devotion that
no one fails to receive it; they had such reverence for it that those guilty of
sins, or who knew they were about to sin, were obliged to confess to the
priest, in order to receive it; and they had such faith in it that in no manner
did they ever take it a second time. They believed that in receiving it they
acquired a predisposition to good conduct and habits, protection against being
harmed by the devils in their earthly affairs, and that through it and living a
good life they would attain a beatitude hereafter which, like that of Mahomet,
consisted in eating and drinking.
Their custom of
preparing for baptism was as follows: the Indian women raised the children to
age of three, placing for the boys a small white plaquet, fastened to the head
in the hair of the tonsure; the girls wore a thin cord tied very low about the
waist, to which was attached a small shell over the private parts; to remove
these two things was regarded among them as a sin and disgraceful, until the
time of the baptism, which was given between the ages of three and twelve;
until this ceremony was received they did not marry.
Whenever one desired
to have this child baptised, he went to the priest and made his wish known to
him, who then published this in the town, with the day chosen, which tye took
care should be of good omen. This being done, the solicitant, being thus
charged with giving the fiesta, selected at his discretion some leading man of
the town to assist him in the matter. Afterwards, they chose four other old and
honored men to assist the priest on the day of the ceremony, these being chosen
with the priest’s cooperation. In these elections the fathers of all the
eligible children took part, for the fiesta was a concern for all; those so
chosen were called Chacs. For the three days before the ceremony the
parents of the children, as well as the officials, fasted and abstained from
their wives.
On the day, all assembled
at the house of the one giving the fiesta, and brought all the children who
were to be baptized, and placed them in the patio or court of the house, all
clean and scattered with fresh leaves; the boys together in a line, and the
girls the same, with an aged woman as matron for the girls, and a man in charge
of the boys.
When this was done
the priest proceeded to the purification of the house, expelling the demon. To
do this they placed four benches in the four corners of the patio, on which the
four chacs seated themselves, with a long cord tied from one to the
other, in such fashion as that the children were corralled in the
middle, after which those parents who had fasted stepped over the cord, into
the circuit. Afterwards, or previously, they placed in the middle another bench
on which the priest seated himself, with a brazier and a little ground mazine
and incense. Then the boys and girls came to him in order, and he put a little
of the ground maize and incense into the hand of each, and they threw it into
the brazier. When all had done this, they took up the brazier and the cord held
by the chacs; they also threw a little wine in a vase and then gave it all to
an Indian to carry away from the village, enjoining him not to drink the wine
or to look behind him on his return; and in this manner they sai that the demon
had been exorcised.
After this swept the
patio and took away the leaves that were scattered at the beginning, which were
of a tree called sihom, and scattered others of a tree called copó,
laying down mats while the priest changed his vestures. He next entered wearing
a tunic of red feathers, worked with other varicolored feathers, and with other
long feathers pendant from the ends; on his head he wore a sort of miter of the
same feathers, while beneath the tunic there hung to the ground strips of cotton
like tails. He carried a hyssop made of a short, finely decorated stick, and
the tails of certain serpents like rattlesnakes; all this was neither more nor
less gravity than that of a pope crowning an emperor, and a serenity that was a
marvel to behold. The chacs then went to the children and placed on the heads
of all white cloths which their mothers had brought for the purpose. They asked
of the largest ones whether they had done any bad thing, or obscene conduct,
and if any had done so, they confessed them and separated them from the others.
When this was done
the priest called on all to be silent and seated, and began to bless the
children, with tong prayers, and to sanctify them with the hyssop, all with
great serenity. After this benediction he seated himself, and the one elected
by the parents as director of the fiesta took a bone given him by the priest,
went to the children and menaced each one with the bones on the forehead, nine
times. After this he wet the bone in a jar of water he carried, and with it
anointed them on the forehead, the face, and between the fingers of their hands
and the bones of their feet, without saying a word. This liquor was confected
out of certain flowers and ground cacao, dissolved in virgin water, and they
call it, taken from the hollows of trees or of rocks in the forest.
After this unction
the priest rose, removed the white cloths from their heads, as well as others
they wore suspended from the shoulders containing a few feathers of very
beautiful birds and some grains of cacao, all of which were collected by one of
the chacs. Then with a stone knife the priest cut away the small bead or
counter each had worn fastened to his head. After this the other assistants of
the priest brought a bunch of flowers and a pipe such as the Indians smoked;
with these they menaced each child nine times, and then gave him the bouquet to
smell and the pipe to smoke. After this they gathered the presents brought by
the mothers, which were things to cat, and gave these to each child to eat
there. Then they brought a fine chalice of wine and quickly offered it to the
gods, invoking them with devout prayers to receive this small gift from the
children; this chalice they then gave to another officiant called cayom,
that they might empty it at a single draught; for him to stop to take breath in
this was regarded as something sinful.
When this was over
the girls took their leave first, their mothers removing the cord and shell
they had worn about the girdle in sign of their chastity; this gave license for
them to be married, when such might seem best to their parents. Then the boys
took their leave, and the fathers came bearing the heap of mantles they had
brought, and gave them with their own hands to the assistants and the
officiants. The fiesta then ended with long eating and drinking; and this
fiesta was called em-ku, which means ‘the descent of the god.’ The one
then who had instituted and borne the cost of the ceremony, in addition to his
three previous days of abstinence and fast, was obliged to continue this for
yet other nine days; this they did inviolably. (Friar Diego de Landa, Yucatan
Before and After the Conquest [trans. William Gates; Baltimore, Md.: The
Maya Society, 1937, 2011], 58-60)
