Ritual of the Bacabs facts for kids

Ritual of the Bacabs is the name of an old book from the Yucatán. It contains special chants or spells, called incantations, written in the Yucatec Maya language. A scholar named William E. Gates gave the book its name. He chose this name because the book often talks about ancient Maya gods known as the Bacabs. A note printed at the end of the book suggests it was made around 1779.

What is the Ritual of the Bacabs?

This special book is thought to have been written in the late 1700s. However, we are not completely sure about the exact date. The way it is written suggests that much of the information was copied from even older writings. The book mentions many figures from Maya stories, but most of these are not known from other ancient texts.

How was the book found?

The book was discovered between 1914 and 1915 by Frederic J. Smith. How he found it is not fully known. William Gates bought it soon after and gave it the name we use today. Later, in 1930, a famous athlete named Robert Garrett bought the book from Gates.

In 1942, Garrett gave the book to Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study. It then became part of the Princeton University Library in 1949, where it is still kept today.

Who studied the book?

The book was first described by Alfred M. Tozzer in a report from 1921. The first and only full translation of the book was done by Ralph L. Roys in 1965. Roys used copies of the pages to do his translation.

What is inside the Ritual of the Bacabs?

The Ritual of the Bacabs contains about 42 main incantations, which are like chants or spells. There are also some smaller, incomplete parts throughout the book. Most of the book was written by the same person. Ralph L. Roys, who translated the book, called this main writer the "Bacabs hand."

Different parts and writers

Some parts of the book were written by different people. These sections can be found on pages 20, 21, 62, and 63. Page 70 also has a medical recipe written by someone else.

The last 24 pages of the book are a mix of different things. Eighteen of these pages talk about medicine and plants. Three pages have small, incomplete incantations. The other three pages are blank. These final pages and the first three pages of the book have never been translated. It is not known if these last pages were written by the main writer or by someone else.

Mysterious names and symbols

The incantations in the book mention "Can Ahau" several times. This might be a specific day in the Maya calendar or another way of saying "Sky Lord." Other names in the book might actually be titles instead of names.

For example, the name "Hun-pic-ti-ku" appears in one incantation. It means "Eight-Thousand Gods." This name might come from other Maya gods or it could be a general term for all Maya gods.

The book also describes diseases and sick people as if they were living beings. In one incantation, a stomach problem is called the child of "Lady Unique Pulsating Sky."

Christian influences

There are a few signs of Christianity in the book. Almost every incantation ends with the word "Amen." Also, one incantation uses the phrase "Jesus Mary" as an exclamation.

The Ritual of the Bacabs is full of old symbols that are hard to understand today. J. Eric S. Thompson, a scholar, wrote that the book is very difficult to understand, even after translation. He said it is like a puzzle with many plants, birds, and insects that all have hidden meanings from old Maya stories.

Literature

• Roys, Ralph L., Ritual of the Bacabs, University of Oklahoma Press
• Thompson, J. Eric S., Maya History and Religion, University of Oklahoma Press