Trickster Jesus and corn spirits (Following folktales around the world 45. - Guatemala)

Today I continue the blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

According to our ancestors
Folk texts from Guatemala and Honduras
Mary Shaw
Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of Oklahoma, 1971.

This volume contains stories from Mayan storytellers (and lorekeepers), mixed in with a few Carib and Jicaque texts. All were collected by linguists working with various groups in Guatemala (crossing over to Honduras and Belize). The book contains a total of 103 stories in the original language and English translation, as well as a long and detailed introduction, and copious footnotes and references. Stories (of which most are folktales, with the occasional myth, historical legend, and folk belief) are grouped by language, divided by illustrations. It is a detailed and informative collection, with a lot of good stories.

Highlights

I was struck by the legend of the Food of the Holy Earth. It told that when people first began to cultivate the land, the earth cried out and complained, and trees and plants that were cut down screamed in pain. They went to God to complain about the people torturing them, and God made them a deal: They would feed His children, but in exchange the earth can eat them when they are dead. The teller claimed that diseases and disasters happen because people put their dead in coffins and mausoleums, instead of giving them back to the earth as agreed.
I also found  the story of the Man and the Buzzard interesting; in it, a lazy farmer switched places (bodies) with a buzzard, because he thought it would be easier to be a bird. He was wrong.
The true highlights of the volume, however, were the local Biblical legends. In one, Jesus Christ's name got tagged onto a local trickster; the story told about how he repeatedly outwitted the Jews that persecuted him (once by throwing chili into their eyes and running away). In the origin story of the copal, two men visited Jesus' pregnant sister (!) and brought incense; the smoke colored the face of one of them black (a picture of the Three Wise Men?). Also Biblical was the legend of Adam (sic) and the Flood, in which not only rain fell from the sky, but also resin, and it trapped hiding people underground - a story explaining urn burials unearthed by people in the mountains. The origin of domesticated animals was explained with Jesus planting the bones of animals his brothers (!) had eaten, and reviving them after three days. Some escaped the farm, however, and those became the wild animals....

Connections

Obviously, there was a race between animals (Frog and Deer this time), and multiple Magic Flights (with objects thrown over the shoulder, and a princess born from a grapefruit). There were also common tale types such as Open, sesame!, and the Contest between magicians.

Quetzal, Guatemala's
national symbol

Last week in Salvador there was a myth about God hiding the corn from people, and the leafcutter ants finding it; that story was included in this volume too. The Guatemalan version also noted that since corn is the most important food source, and it has a soul, hiding it meant all other food ceased to exist as well. Similar to Honduras, Guatemala had its vengeful female demons too - a girl that made men disappear if they treated their wives badly, and a woman with horse legs and horse eyes who lured men into the river if they beat their wives. I was reminded of North American myths by The serpent and the angels of lightning, in which angels shot (with guns) at a snake that caused rivers to overflow (in the North, they are Thunderbirds). In the legend, a mortal hunter joined them too, to take part in defending the world.

Illustration from the book

I was reminded of Loki by the legend where the three goddesses of corn chained the giant Sipac under a mountain. He had been moving mountains around, and selling land to the whites, so they tricked him into captivity - whenever he tugs on his chains, he causes earthquakes. And talking about earth: After Thailand, I once again encountered a mythical person who could swim in the soil as if it was water. This time, it was Yew Achi, the evil, cannibal king of the Quiche.
Among the tricksters, Pedro Urdemalas made an appearance (here called Pedro Tecomate, Pedro Gourd), as well as Rabbit, who once again fell for the usual tar baby trick (but eventually pawned it off on Coyote). Rabbit was the protagonist of various trickster classics such as "Trickster seeks endowments", and "Trickster rides his enemy like a horse." The suffering party was usually Cougar, Tiger, or Lion.

Where to next?
Belize!