The Visionary Mayan Queen: Yohl Ik'Nal of Palenque (16 page)

Baktun 9, Katun 7, Tun 0, Uinal 0, Kin 0 – 7 Ahau 3 Kank’in

(December 3, 573 CE)

It was time for Kan Bahlam, K’uhul B’aakal Ahau, to do the K’altun or stone binding ceremony to mark the end of the 20
^th
katun. In Maya sacred numerology, katuns with the count of 5, 13 and 20 from the previous 20
^th
katun required special ceremonies. This 20-count katun with its K’altun ceremony was of utmost importance; by properly enacting it the ruler maintained his polity’s relationship with the gods and kept the portal of communication open. In the ceremony, god-bundles would be given as offerings to the Triad Deities; these gifts must be intuitively selected to be pleasing and to satisfy the gods’ desires. For the first time, Yohl Ik’nal would play a key role in the rites.

The K’altun ceremony was not a public ritual. It was conducted in the most sacred shrine of Lakam Ha, a secluded underground sanctuary constructed below the floor of a modest temple to Ix Chel, located within a residential complex not far from the palace. The underground rectangular structure was accessed through subterranean passageways that connected to a small private ceremonial room inside the ruler’s chambers. Concealed by a panel carved in low relief that was pivoted aside, the doorway opened to steep, narrow stairs descending into the passageway. Near the entrances at each end of the tunnel were stucco sculptures of the Celestial Caiman,
Tz’ihb’al Paat
Ayin
, the primordial monster whose immense body could be seen crossing the night sky as the Milky Way.

Called the
Sak Nuk Nah
or White Skin House, the walls of the underground structure were painted white with rows of flowers and jeweled medallions of blue and orange. Along the ceiling was a band of geometric designs in the same colors linked by small circles. An altar throne with fish motifs sat in the center of the floor, signifying the watery underworld and bearing the symbols of the B’aakal Triad Gods. The floor and altar throne were painted the same pure white as the walls, creating the ambiance of endless cloud-borne dimensions.

The passageways of the Sak Nuk Nah connected the Underworld and Middleworld. Here the watery realm of death and the cloud-filled realm of spirit were united. After death, the spirits of ahaulel, Maya rulers, entered into the Celestial Caiman’s body and the new ruler sat upon a throne carved with this crocodile motif. The link between deceased and living ahaulel, and their ability to access ancestral guidance, was portrayed in this symbolism.

Only the highest ranks of elite ahauob could enter the Sak Nuk Nah. A certain level of spiritual initiation and occult knowledge was necessary. The group gathering for the K’altun ceremony was therefore small and select. Although the other ahauob were not present, they kept vigil and maintained ritual consciousness during this auspicious day. The common people also offered simple prayers of support and kept silence as much as possible. Their future was at stake; the K’altun ceremony in the Sak Nuk Nah would set the destiny of the coming 20 years, determining whether the katun ahead would be one of peace or strife, prosperity or hardship.

How well the K’uhul B’aakal Ahau and his daughter accomplished the rituals was key to their people’s future.

The high initiate ahauob, priests and priestesses gathered in the Sak Nuk Nah, including rulers and high priesthood of several B’aakal subsidiary cities. Within the small structure this group of fifty people found places to sit upon reed mats, waiting in silence. All had completed purification rituals and donned simple ceremonial clothing, primarily white garments with blue, black, or green trim. Drafts of cool air flowed into the room through the tunnels, chilling the stone walls and floor already cool from the winter earth. Torches mounted on wall brackets cast flickering light into the darkness of the underground structure.

The distant sound of rattles signaled the approach of Kan Bahlam and Yohl Ik’nal. As the royal pair approached through the passageway from their chambers, the smell of copal incense drifted into the room. Soon they entered, making a circle around the altar throne once in each direction, then the ruler sat upon the throne with his daughter standing at his right side. Kan Bahlam wore a short skirt with mat designs and a headdress displaying symbols of K’awiil – patron of rulers and Yum K’ax – maize god, while Yohl Ik’nal was attired as Ix Azal Uoh, a form of Ix Chel as mother earth goddess who wove the fabric forming the lives of her creatures. Attendants waited in the doorways until summoned, carrying small bundles wrapped in white cloth, ceremonial headdresses and bloodletting implements.

On momentous occasions such as K’altun endings, the ultimate sacrificial offering of royal blood was required. Blood was the most concentrated source of
itz
, sacred life-force energy. As the gods gave life to humans, so humans offered back the blood that coursed through veins carrying that life force, the sustenance of their existence in the physical world. Droplets of blood were collected on bark paper in ceramic cups and burned to release their essence as smoke that coiled and morphed into Vision Serpents. These metaphysical entities opened the channels of inter-dimensional communication; from their gaping jaws would emerge divine or ancestral beings who delivered messages to the vision-seeker.

The messages sought during this ceremony focused on the coming katun, the next 20 years for the people of B’aakal. The nature of the messages, their beneficent or malefic intent, depended upon how the gods received the gifts prepared for them.

First came the offering of god-bundles. Following lengthy chanting, during which Yohl Ik’nal fanned incense smoke upon all gathered, the ruler summoned attendants to bring forth the bundles. There were three bundles that Yohl Ik’nal had prepared for the Lords of the First Sky. Kan Bahlam had prepared three headdresses for the B’aakal Triad.

An attendant knelt, presenting three bundles on a silver tray as Yohl Ik’nal spoke:

“Lords of the First Sky, Lords of the Jeweled Tree born of earth and celestial vault, the shining tree of precious gems reaching from the Middleworld of people to the Upperworld of spirits, it is I your earthly daughter, Yohl Ik’nal, who offers to you each your
ak’tu’
gift-thing. These gift-things have I created with my own hands and work and effort, breathing upon them love and devotion and gratitude. You are the Jewels of the First Sky, you radiate brilliance and beauty beyond compare. You are perfect, yet you may have enjoyment of such beauties of the earth realm. Beauty to beauty goes, precious resplendence finds its matching radiance. These are my offerings.”

She lifted the first god-bundle, holding it upward then moving it in the symbolic gesture of the Maya cross. Slowly she unwrapped the bundle to reveal a necklace of deep red coral beads interspersed with spirals carved from spondylus shell, rose-hued with hints of opalescence. These treasures had been obtained with great effort and considerable risk from off-shore reefs in the great eastern sea, where vigorous waves threatened to dash divers against sharp ridges and big-toothed fish called
xoc
– shark awaited distracted swimmers. A set of large earspools of red coral, carved with the sun glyph, complemented the necklace to perfection.

“To you, 6 Chan Yoch’ok’in, I offer this gift-thing. May it bring you pleasure.”

The gathered elite immediately appreciated the perfection of this gift. The god’s name meant “sky you possess/enter the sun” whose center was red fire.

Setting the bundle on the edge of the altar throne, she lifted the next god-bundle and performed the same gestures. Upon opening, the gold necklace and earspools inside this bundle caught the dancing torch flames and burst into blazing rays, dazzling the eyes with brilliance. This golden metal came from the central mountains, where it was mined with immense effort by vassals of Teotihuacan, most powerful city of this northern region whose influence penetrated the Maya lands. Gold was much valued there, and the cost to obtain such a collection was substantial. The large necklace with 16 rows of beads gradually increasing in size, and flower shaped earspools were unusual and impressive.

“To you, 16 Ch’ok’in, I offer this gift-thing. May it bring you pleasure.”

Golden light was a fine representation of the meaning of this god’s name, “emergent young sun.” It invoked the first shafts of golden brightness slipping over the horizon at sunrise. Its costliness was in keeping with the crucial role of the sun in Maya life.

This bundle placed upon the altar throne, she lifted the final one, performed gestures as before and opened it. Here were necklace and earspools of jade, smoky veined and mysterious, so dark as to be nearly black. Yet the veins in the jade provoked a curious fascination, thin networks of pearly gray contrasting with hidden forest depths, a mesmerizing pattern. Acquiring such a large and fine collection with exact coloration and patterning must have cost dearly.

“To you, 9 Tz’ak Ahau, I offer this gift-thing. May it bring you pleasure.”

This god’s name meant “conjuring lord” and indeed the gift was deeply shamanic, with its shape-shifting qualities plumbing the depths of mystery. The assembled ahauob breathed an inner sigh of relief and appreciation as she placed the final bundle on the altar. The novice ceremonialist had divined to perfection the qualities for gift-things that merged with the essences of the gods.

Kan Bahlam rose and bowed to his daughter, arms across chest in the gesture of supreme honoring. His eyes twinkled as they met hers, for he was well pleased. She bowed in return and sat, as he began the offerings to the B’aakal Triad.

By long tradition, these gods received hats or headdresses as their gift-things. The art was in creating imaginative and symbolic headdresses that included all the important elements for each god. Kan Bahlam had reflected long upon this, acquired the finest materials and directed artisans personally in selecting styles and colors. After chanting the obligatory ritual prayers, in exactly the tone and cadence as had generations of rulers before him, he signaled for attendants to bring forth the gifts. Each headdress was held in turn by Kan Bahlam while circling the altar three times, showing details to everyone in the group.

The first born of the B’aakal Triad Gods, Hun Ahau was given the sacrificial bowl hat created from exquisite ceramic bowl pieces painted by the most talented Lakam Ha artists. Attached were implements used for bloodletting such as the perforator bone from a stingray spine, obsidian needles, tendrils of bark paper and clear red beads in dangling rows suggesting a stream of blood droplets. Red macaw feathers continued the theme of spurting blood and ahau face glyphs framed the head border.

The second born, Mah Kinah Ahau was given the white paper hat. It was the custom of B’aakal rulers to tie on a white headband when they assumed rulership. The underworld sun-jaguar, whose celestial body was the full moon, acted as the uay of this god. With white paper streamers and arching white feathery plumes, jaguar skin bands around the base and ahau face glyphs, the headdress incorporated these themes and added blue quetzal feathers for the watery qualities of the underworld.

The third born, Unen K’awill was given the fire sky-god hat with red as the prominent color. This serpent-footed deity depicted as an infant represented the royal bloodline of B’aakal. With infant glyphs around the headband, shining mirrors of pyrite representing the lightning force of K’awill, serpents coiling and twining atop and flaming red macaw feathers mixed with black-tipped white egret feathers, the headdress brought the qualities of the god into full expression.

After presenting each headdress to the group, Kan Bahlam placed it on the altar throne and performed hand signs that invoked the deities to merge with the hat. His powerful form commanded attention from unseen forces as well as human. All eyes were riveted upon the ruler and everyone sensed the uncanny chill of other-worldly presences. Many people there, Yohl Ik’nal included, experienced a tingling sensation up the spine and felt gooseflesh form on arms. No one doubted that the B’aakal Triad gods had entered the chamber to claim their headdresses.

Drummers beat a solemn cadence as Kan Bahlam and Yohl Ik’nal prepared for bloodletting. The ruler sat on the altar throne flanked by the Triad God headdresses. Attendants brought needle-sharp stingray spines and bark paper inside a ceramic bowl that they placed on a mat between his feet. The blood offering of male rulers was traditionally from the penis, symbol of generative powers bringing fertility to all creatures and abundant growth to crops, especially maize. Attendants kept an incenser of hot coals ready to light sticks which would set the blood-soaked paper on fire.

Yohl Ik’nal sat on a mat and placed the three god-bundles around her. For royal women, blood offerings were from the tongue or earlobes. Attendants brought spiny needles and ceramic bowl with bark paper, placing them before her. This was a moment she both anticipated and dreaded, her first sacrificial bloodletting. Psychologically prepared by fasting, purification and prayer, she had also imbibed a brew of pain-numbing herbs along with a mild hallucinogen. These brews were prepared from secret formulas by the High Priest and Priestess; few among the commoners knew they were used for the bloodletting rituals.

Even so, there would be pain. Her father warned her of this, and taught techniques to use for separating her awareness from the pain. It was required that this act be one of self-sacrifice, carried out by the sacrificer. Only by such volition, such strong acts of willingness and commitment, would the gods be pleased and the offering be pure. But it was hard not to recoil against trauma inflicted upon such vulnerable organs. She worried that she might not be able to withstand the pain without flinching. How important it was to show no reaction she knew well; all those observing would be alert to the slightest hesitation or shudder.

Kan Bahlam went first, grasping penis in one hand the spiny needle in the other. Gazing into the distance, he projected all his concentration into the starry realm of the gods and began breathing in deep and measured rhythm. Deliberately he withdrew awareness from the body. When he felt deep inner calm, a stillness that was at once emptiness and infinite expansion, he raised his hand and quickly plunged the needle several times into the penile shaft. No expression marred his restful features, no twitch shook his straight body. Blood flowed in small rivulets onto the bark paper, staining their whiteness with crimson splashes.