Saturday, April 13, 2024

Título C’oyoi (16th century Quichean Text) Recording the Decapitation of a Horse by a Macuahuitl

In the Título C’oyoi, a Quiché text produced during the Spanish conquest, recorded how a macuahuitl (macana) severed a horse’s head during a battle some time between 1523 and 1527:

 

Adelantado, Captain Don Pedro Alvarado the conquistador was taken off; the head of the horse was taken off by captain Tecum, the lord of the banners of staffs; . . . (Título C'oyoi, page 39, in Robert M. Carmack, Quichean Civilization [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973], 303)