This essay describes language practices in a 16th Century colonial Yucatecan Mayan text to cure smallpox, included in the Ritual de los Bacabes (Bacabes Ritual) by Joan Canul. The textual characterization involves the dialogical nature of the spell, performed in the different roles assumed by the healer or magician priest when interacting with his interlocutors, mainly, the deities and spirits related to the creation and healing of smallpox, and the bacabes, who hold the sky. The analysis includes multiple meanings in symbolic and contextual perspectives. The Mayan ritual exhibits evidence of oral tradition and reading practices from ancient codex texts. Language ritual resources include lexical, semantic, discursive, and stylistic manifestations to achieve certain communicative intentionality. In these ritual documents, it is possible to appreciate the transmission of spoken tradition to the alphabetic written texts in practices involved to cure a variety of physical and emotional illnesses in the colonial Mayan culture.

Keywords: mayan literature, ritual language, dialogical expressions, oral tradition, textuality

In prehispanic and colonial literature, the oral tradition is expressed in various manifestations in the multiplicity of language resources and communicative functions, mainly in traditional ritual medicine. These ancient texts allow us to identify and reconstruct the contents of orality and textual communication, as well as the multiple discursive, lexical, grammatical, rhetorical, ritual and cultural manifestations, in this case, in the 16th Century Yucatan Mayan spell to cure smallpox, included in the Ritual de los Bacabes by Joan Canul in the version of Arzápalo.¹ In this text, we can notice the transmission of cultural and historical content through orality, ancient writing in codex texts, translation, and transcription in alphabetical writing in colonial culture.

In ritual texts to cure physical and emotional illnesses, we can appreciate language practices that fulfill many communicative functions in certain contexts and pragmatic interactions in dialogic language in the roles assumed by the protagonists. The description of the spell to cure smallpoxinvolves intentionality through diverse lexical, discursive and rhetorical manifestations, as well as the multiplicity of symbols and meanings. In this way, the healer interacts asa medicine man, priest, sorcerer, or exorcist that confronts various cultural interlocutors, most of them are spirits and deities who participate in the creation of the disease and its cure. The description of the ritual emphasizes elements that retrieve evidence of information from prehispanic codex texts and oral tradition.

This essay values ​​the daily and literary themes of rituals in Mayan culture. It also contemplates the context, and communicative functions, and textualization of traditional ritual practices. The following sections include information about the spell to cure smallpox in the Ritual de los Bacabes, some conceptual and methodological considerations on the proposed categories for textual description, and the characterization of representative fragments of the colonial text. This paper ends with some reflections on expectations and possibilities in future research on this topic. The objective of this essay is to characterize the ritual language resources in the Yucatecan Mayan colonial text to cure smallpox, included in Joan Canul's Ritual de los Bacabes (Bacabes Ritual). The descriptive characterization involves the dialogical nature, expressed with multiple interlocutors in the roles assumed by the healer or priest, and the discursive, semantic, and rhetorical language resources.

This document is a 16th-Century colonial Mayan text, representative of prehispanic traditions in Yucatan, Mexico. It is a remarkable example of the colonial Mayan language. It includes religious, medical, and magical spells, which recover oral tradition in daily interactions. Arzápalo¹ incorporates the Spanish translation with a complete study on lexical, grammatical, and stylistic resources. The diversity of meanings predominates in a figurative and symbolic language. Its interpretation requires contemplating cultural contexts in prehispanic and 16th century periods. 

The currently preserved text corresponds to a 1779 copy that exhibits the name of Joan Canul. From comparisons with the Chilam Balam of Chumayel,² the Book of Chilam Balam books³ and the Calkiní Codex,⁴ it seems that the original corresponds to a late 16th-Century unknown codex. In the Ritual, we can identify references to writing with glyphs. Therefore, we can consider that the author relied on prehispanic documents. In fact, in the text,we can read that "the glyphs will have to give us the answer" (file 48: 46-47). Unfortunately, the European conquerors destroyed most of the Mayan codex documents. Therefore, in this case, we cannot know the text, painting, or glyph referred to by the healer in this fragment. To exemplify this type of interaction, in the following images, from the Dresden Codex, we can observe deities or persons that interact. They are surrounded by glyphs, which possibly serve as a support to complement oral expression. In image 1, we can appreciate the interaction with an animal representation, and in Image 2, maybe a healer is preparing his requirements for the ritual, mainly herbs, and animals. Both images include morphosyntactic, grammatical, and numerical glyphs. Undoubtedly, the reading of this codex and its possible interpretations implies relevant research for specialists. Ritual language involves linguistic, lexical, semantic, and rhetorical resources, as well as multiple interpretative possibilities that respond to the communicative and contextual functions in oral tradition. In the spells, we can appreciate ritual repetitive phrases, dialogical evidence through questions, answers, and imperative inquires in the interaction between the priest and his interlocutors: the spirit of smallpox and other deities involved. The symbolic language involves the context and polysemy in certain words and translations that correspond to Mayan religion and mythology concepts. We can identify symbolic meanings in the personification of deities and spirits involved.

The spirit of smallpox is represented with multiple attributes through fire and macaws as the symbolic smallpox birds, associated with red, white, and black. The Ritual de los Bacabes contains two parts that make up the spell to cure this illness, perhaps corresponding to the sessions required for the cure. In the "healing of smallpox with fever" procedure, the priest-healer emphatically challenges the disease spirit by saying: Yo seré quien deshaga tu conjuro hermano menor del frenesí, “I will be the one to undo your spell, younger brother of frenzy". In a dialogical interaction, the healer discovers the smallpox attributes, through questions addressed to different deities, spirits, and the patient. The interaction includes repeated emphatic phrases of pain and suffering of the type: ¡ay!, ¡ay, no, no!. 

The priest assumes different contrasting roles. On the one hand, he appears as an experienced doctor explaining symptoms, ailments, attributes, symbols, and healing procedures, and, on the other hand, he behaves as an emphatic exorcist who struggles with the smallpox spirit and other deities and symbolic creatures. Furthermore, he expresses doubt through rhetorical questions and inquires for advice. Finally, he finds solutions and explains the way to overcome smallpox.

The second session corresponds to the text for the "healing of the so-called Ix Chac Anal Kak, viruelas rojo encendido, “Deep red smallpox". The healer-priest explains the origin of the disease, its parents in a mythological setting, and the deities involved. The interaction resembles a dynamic dialogical language with textual representations of interlocutors through questions, answers, and emphatic threats. Kin Chac Ahau, "The Great Sun King", creator of the fire, is associated with the powers of the disease. In a constant change of roles, the priest invokes deities or feminine spirits in repetitive cycles, typical of religious rituals, to which he adds symbolic attributes.

In the Ritual de los Bacabes, by Joan Canul, Arzápalo¹ provides a complete research approach with a facsimile text, transcription, and bilingual version with annotations on language resources in context. It also provides lexical, semantic, and grammatical analysis, as well as quantitative and qualitative elements in textual characterization. This edition enriches linguistics, anthropology, and history. In these perspectives, Barrera Vázquez,⁵ González Torres,⁶ and Álvarez^7,8 provide similar research on the colonial Mayan vocabulary and the structural description of Chilam Balam de Chumayel. These studies are fundamental for understanding the linguistic environment in colonial language and they are obligatory references that support and complement Arzápalo´s research.

The discursive approaches on language resources, in the classic perspective of Foucault⁹ and Bajtín,¹⁰ contributed to the criteria of the diversity in culturally contextualized communicative functions, and the complexity and richness of the textual and discursive genres in constant evolution. These perspectives allowus to emphasize the study of the interrelation between oral and textual genres in the historical and cultural traditions. In this way, Miguel León-Portilla^11,12 enriches research on the transmission of contextual, cultural, and historical content through orality, codex written modalities, translation, and transcription into alphabetical writing in traditional texts. Hernández Rodríguez¹³ provides an example oftextual dialogical characterization related to oral and written tradition in colonial language practices. In the Ritual de los Bacabes, Gubler¹⁴  characterizes the healing interaction, and Lema¹⁵ explores ritual repetition in symbolic phrases and their impact on prayers.

The present study focuses on the characterization of language and textuality in the Ritual de los Bacabes (Bacabes Ritual) in a linguistic and discursive perspective. However, this masterpiece also highlights the possibility of multidisciplinary perspectives on the diversity of themes involved. In this way, we can read the ritual through historical, cultural, artistic, mythological, and anthropological approaches. The ethnographic perspectives help us to contextualize the historical, daily, and current religious and ritual practices in traditional medicine and natural procedures to heal emotional and physical illnesses. For this reason, the analysis of language and textuality will always be complemented and enriched with multidisciplinary approaches. For example, regarding the traditional context of ritual medicine, Sánchez Aroche¹⁶ provides preserved historical evidence in the textual tradition. Chávez Guzmán¹⁷ considers practices in colonial Mayan medicine. Hirose López¹⁸ highlights the permanence and possible extinction of these healing practices and Nájera Coronado¹⁹ addresses the ritual language related to fire as a natural force related to smallpox.

The characterization involved the following categories to analyze representative examples from the text: 1) dialogical practices in the roles that the healer assumes when interacting with interlocutors, 2) language resources: vocabulary, semantics, rhetoric, and ritual style, 3) multiplicity of meanings and symbols in context, and 4) evidence of information from the oral and the codex writing traditions to the text translated in the alphabetical version. Since these categories correspond to textual resources in an integral manifestation, the characterization focusses on the roles assumed, as part of the dialogical interaction. Also, in each case, the description includes the other three categories mentioned above.The analysis highlights the possibility of multiple interpretations, trying to recover the context and the intentionality in the roles, and dialogical interaction. To spread the richness of languages in the spell, the selected examples appear in the original bilingual version, Mayan-Spanish, as presented by Arzápalo.¹ The English translation in this essay tries to retrieve the original intention. Therefore, it respects the phrases corresponding to names and attributes of the gods in the original language. On this occasion, this research focuses only on the descriptive aspects, previously presented, without grammar or lexical characterization.

In its formal characteristics, the spell is a monologue personified by the priest or healer. The main interpretation in this essay is that, as healer and sorcerer, he establishes the dialogical interaction and appears in the roles of narrator, doctor, healer, exorcist, priest, patient, and spirit or deity. As an exorcist, an interpretation is that multiple spirits and deities communicate through his voice. Hernández Rodríguez¹³ and Gubler¹⁴ study similar dialogical interaction in colonial rituals. The following example exhibits the role of the narrator, who introduces the ritual and its purpose and relates the mythological creation of smallpox. The number four constitutes a sacred, magical, and mythological symbol with multiple interpretations, for example, a cosmic center referring to the cardinal points, constantly repeated as an oral tradition resource.

Example 1: (file 106: 1-6).

Spanish /Mayan

La curación del llamado Ix Chac / U pedzil Ix Chac

Anal Kak “Viruelas-rojo-encendido”/ Anal Kak lae

Érase Can Ahau Tii Cab “Cuatro-ahau-de-la-tierra” / Can Ahau tii Cab

Can Ahau Caan “Cuatro-ahau-del-cielo” / Can Ahua Caanal

cuando nació / uchic u sihil

cuando fue creado. / uchic u ch´abtabal

English

The healing of the so-called red essence

Deep red smallpox

Once upon a time there was Four-Ahau-of-the-Earth

Four-king-from-heaven

when he was born,

when it was created.

In the following example, the healer assumeshimself to be an expert physician who explains the remedies for healing.

Example 2: (file 105. 137-142).

Spanish / Mayan

La bebida ha de ser a base de chacah/ Yuklil Chacah

con dos chiles, / Yetel cap´el ic

un poco de miel / yetel cab dzedzec

y el jugo de tabaco; / yetel u kabil kutz

éste ha de ser en poca cantidad / dzedzec bin

y, naturalmente, ha de ser del jugo / yetel u kabil lae

English

The drink must be based onchacah plant

with two chilies,

a little honey

and tobacco juice;

this has to be in small quantity

and, naturally, it must be from the juice

The healer associates this disease to fire and fever, due to the red color of smallpox. Nájera Coronado¹⁹ considers the relationship with fire in this type of rituals. The reiterations of the adverbsahí, "there" and y que ahí, "and that there" are evidence of the spatial reference corresponding to the reading of a codex and oral tradition.

Example 3: (file 113: 193-204).

Spanish / Mayan

Y que ahí ardió la fuente / Tii el bin sayabi

y que ahí ardió el pus / tii el bin puhi

y que ahí le ardió la sanguaza / tii el bin nab

y se dice que ahí ardió / ti el bin halal

y comenzaron a calmársele las hinchazones; / uchic bin u haual buth

ahí se le pudrieron /  tiix  tuhaal

al surgir la hoguera / u chic u toc

al surgir ese dolor de las viruelas; / uchic u kinam kak

se desvanecía el intenso fuego / kax u ninil kak

que estaba denso, / chac nicen        

al rojo vivo, / chac tip´en

cuando nació. / cat sihi

English

And that there the source burned

and that there burned the pus

and that the blood burned there

and the it burned there

and the swelling began to relieve; 

there they rotted

when the bonfire arises

when that pain arises from smallpox;

the intense fire was fading

that was dense,

as the red hot,

when he was born.

And finally, the doctor highlights fever as a "red hot" manifestation and that the disease will be cured with fire to dispel virulent manifestations. The interjection ¡ay!, “ouch” is an expression of pain from the patient. Chávez Guzmán¹⁷ highlights these ritual procedures that incorporate natural remedies in traditional Mayan medicine practices.

Example 4: (file 102: 34-40)

Spanish / Mayan

¡Hoguera al rojo vivo, / Chac molonche

asadlas! / kakhex

¡ay, fueron tres montones de viruta / Ox nicib susbe chee

Los que se introdujeron en las piedras, ay! / oc tu tunilob chee

¿Qué tal con lo que ha de decirse / Cux u habalobe

para que se desvanezcan / hex u binelbe

hasta las cavernas de fuego?, ¡ay!  / tii holom kakilbe chee

English

Red hot bonfire,

roast them!

Ouch, it was three piles of burrs

Those who entered the stones, ouch!

How about what has to be said

so they fade away

to the fire caves?

In contrast, in the following example, the medicine man doubts about the cure and seems to be an apprentice. By rhetorical questions, he inquires about the remedy in the reiteration of the expression cuál será…?, “which will be…?”.

Example 5: (file 104: 92-95)

Spanish / Mayan

¡Ay! ¿cómo habrán de cortarse? / xotom bacin chee

¿Cuál será la planta / Max u che

y cuál será la yerba / max yaban

que corresponde a la viruela? ¡Ay!” / kak be chee

English

Ouch! How are they to be cut?

Which will be the plant

and which will be the herb

which corresponds to smallpox? Ouch!"

Likewise, the healer inquires, with rhetorical questions, about the magical phrases needed to fulfill the spell and which the results will be. The expression of pain ¡ay!, “ouch”may be attributed to the patient, or the healer himself, due to his doubts and possible errors. The passage closes with repetitive phrases to give strength to a possible response: los dobleces del inframundo que las van consumiendo, "the folds of the underworld that are consuming them." In this perspective, Lema¹⁵ highlights the impact and ritual effectiveness produced by this type of reiteration in colonial Mayan prayers.

Example 6: (file 102: 38-53)

Spanish / Mayan

¿Qué tal con lo que ha de decirse / Cux u habalobe

para que se desvanezcan / hex u binelbe

hasta las cavernas de fuego? / tii holom kakilbe chee

¿Qué sucede con los huesos / Cux u bacelobe

que han de dirigirse / hex u binelbe

hasta la hoguera? / tiix bakakilbe

¡Ay de sus huesos! / Ubocelabache

¿Qué sucede con la sangre / Cux u Kike be

que ha de dirigirse / hex u binelbe

hasta la gigantesca perforación / tiix chac hulub

que conduce a la hoguera? ¡ay! / tii kakil be chee

¡Ay!, serán seis los dobleces / Uac uudz hiix tee

del cielo, / caan chee

seis los dobleces del inframundo, Uac uudz hiix metnal

que las van consumiendo, / xanan xupic

que las van lanzando, ¡ay! / ch´intabale che

English

How about what has to be said

so they fade away

to the fire caves?

What happens to the bones

that have to go

up to the bonfire?

Oh! About his bones!

What happens to the blood

that has to go

down to the gigantic cavity

which leads to the bonfire? Ouch!

Oh, there will be six folds of heaven,

six the folds of the underworld,

that are consuming them,

they are launching them, ouch!

It seems that the healer loses confidence when he realizes that he does not recognize the characteristics of the disease and addresses questions to the spirits, about smallpox parents. We can interpret that the spirit of smallpox confirms that the sun is his parent, or that the healer hears that voice, and he explains it to his interlocutors. Then, the healer determines that the disease goes further. Therefore, he considers that, in any previous moment, the spirit of smallpox seized the soul of the patient.

Example 7: (file 106: 7-15)

Spanish / Mayan

¿Quíén fue tu engendrador? / Max tah ch´abi

¿Quíen fue el que te dio la vida? / max tah akabi

El progenitor fue su padre / U ch´ab u yum

Kin Chac Ahau “El-gran-rey-sol” / tii Kin Chac Ahau

Kolop U Uich Kin  “El-sol-del-rostro-desollado” / Kolop U Uich Kin

Y fue poseído por el fuego de la viruela / U ch´ab kan bin

la maldición de las viruelas de fuego, / kak tamaye

el rabo del fuego, / kak ne

el artefacto encarnado, siete rabos / chac pat uuc ne

English

Who was your father?

Who was it that gave life to you?

The progenitor was his father

The-great-sun-king

The-sun-of-the-skinned-face

And he was possessed by smallpox fire

the curse of the fire pox,

the tail of the fire,

the incarnated artifact, seven tails

The adverbial repetition acaso, "perhaps" strengthens the feeling of doubt and the search for an answer about the identity of the smallpox deity. In this way, the spirit responds and identifies itself as smallpox on the red hill.

Example 8 (folio 101: 4-10)

Spanish / Mayan

Yo seré quien deshaga tu conjuro / Ten c lub a ch´ue

hermano menor del frenesí / tech yidzin tancase

Son seres humanos / Macobe

¿Acaso son viruelas? / Kako bacin

¿Acaso serán cortadas? / Xotom bacin

¡Ah! ¿Quién eres? / maxech chee

Las Chac Mul Ah Kakob “viruelas del cerro rojo” / Chac Mul Ah kakob

English

I'll be the one to undo your spell

younger brother of the frenzy

They are human beings

Are they smallpox?

Will they be cut?

Oh! Who are you?

The Smallpox of the red hill

In the following passage, the patient explains the disease process. León-Portilla^11,12 considers the intentional power of the adverbial repetition in oral tradition, as evidence of references to images from a codex, such as the phrases ahí, "there", ahí hirvió, "it boiled there", and hasta ahí, "until there".

Example 9: (file 112: 165-176)

Spanish / Mayan

Ahí se me quemó / Tii el bin

la bolsa roja, ahí mismo / chacal tem tei

Ahí hirvió / Tii el bin

la mar roja y brava / chacal tuntún haai

Ahí hirvió / Tii el bin

la mar roja y tranquila / chacal musem haai

hasta ahí se lanzó / tii tah ch´intabi

se dice que fue detrás del Acantún “Piedra parlante” / tii pach bin Acantun

surgieron las llamas / uchic u toc

surgió el dolor de las viruelas / uchic u kinam kaki

se desvanecía el fuego / kax u tunil kak

(aunque) estaba tupido el fuego / chac nicen kak

English

There it burned me

the red bag right there

There it boiled

the red and rough sea

There it boiled

the calm red sea

up there launched

it is said that it was behind the talking stone

flames arose

the pain of smallpox arose

the fire was fading

(although) the fire was thick

The patient emphasizes the experience of the disease and relates it to the mythological birth of smallpox, the fight against fever in the fire, and his fall into the burning sea. Therefore, the text involves the creation of smallpox at its resemblance to the symptoms experienced by the patient.

Example 10: (file 112: 177-192)

Spanish / Mayan

estaba vivo el fuego /chac top´en kak

cuando nació / ca sihi

iba caminando, / ximbal u caah

iba dando vueltas / sut u caah

(alrededor de) las varillas rojas, / chacal hilib

de las fogatas rojas / chacal nuchop

Fue abofeteado, / U tahlahtabal bin

Cuatro veces se puso de pie, / ti canil nal

cuatro veces se arrodilló. / ti canil xol

Y que cayó en el oriente / U lubul bin lakin

en el mar. / kaknabil

Y que ahí le ardió la boca / Tii ek bin u chii

y se le desolló / susi

que ahí le ardió la boca / tii ek bin u chii

en el mar. / kaknabil

Y que ahí ardió el río. / Tii el bin yoc haal

English

the fire was alive

when it was born

it was walking,

it was going around

(around) the red rods,

of the red bonfires

He was slapped

Four times he stood up,

four times he knelt down.

And it fell in the east

at sea.

And that his mouth burned there

and skinned him

that his mouth burned there

at sea.

And that the river burned there.

There is a constant confrontation between the healer and the spirits. In the following excerpt, it seems that the spirit of smallpox identifies and confirms its feverish nature from fire.

Example 11: (file 101: 9-14)

Spanish / Mayan

¡Ah! ¿Quién eres? /maxech chee

Las Chac Mul Ah Kakob “Viruelas del cerro rojo” / Chac Mul Ah Kakob

Ocom Kakob “Viruelas penetrantes” / Ocom Kakob

Chacuil Kakob “Viruelas perforadoras” / Chacuil Kakob

Chacuil Kakob “Viruelas febriles”, / Chacuil Kakob

le corresponden / u cuch.

English

Oh! Who are you?

The Smallpox of the red hill

Penetrating Smallpox

Drilling pox"

Fever pox, that correspond to him

Another evidence of dialogical interaction appears when the healer-priest asks directly to the deity about his creation. The spirit of smallpox answers that the sun and fire gave life to the disease.

Example 12: (file 108: 60-72)

Spanish / Mayan

A ti me dirijo, sangre, / Cech kike

a ti, sangre coagulada / cech olome

a vosotros benditos, se les apuñaló / cex cich lome

¿A quién creaste? / Mac tah ch´abi.

Lo creado fue / U ch´ab

el padre de / u yum tii

Kin Chac Ahau, “El-gran-rey-sol” / Kin Chac Ahau

Kolop U Uich Kin  “El-sol-del-rostro-desollado”. / Kolop U Uich Kin.

Lo creado fue su fuego; / U ch´ab in kak

llegó el fuego / tii ulac kak

hasta la maldición / tu tamaye

del rabo de fuego, /  kak ne

habrá de decirse. / u yal bin

English

It is you to whom I speak, blood,

to you, clotted blood

you blessed, you were stabbed

Who did you create?

What was created was

the father of

The-great-sun-king

The-sun-of-the-skinned-face.

What was created was his fire;

the fire came

up to the curse

from the tail of fire,

it will have to be said.

The following fragment fosters the association of macaws as symbolic birds of smallpox in its many representative colors. The repetition of phrases creates an atmosphere of hypnotism and exorcism in the ritual: la perversidad, "perversity", the interjection Ay, “Ouch” and the identities of the colorful macaws. The adverbial expressions, such as aquí son captados, "here they are caught”,emphasize the search of symbolic creatures in the sky.

Example 13: (file103: 64-78)

Spanish / Mayan

La perversidad del parto, /U cool al

la perversidad de la creación. / u cool cha´abe

¿Qué fue lo que sacaron de ello? / Max tah ch´abobi

¡Ay lo que se entendió / U ch´abob

fue lo de los padres! / citbil be chee

¡Ay, no son malvados precisamente! / Maai cobe chee

¡Ay, viruelas llagadas! / Bobote kakob be chee

¿Cuáles son los simbólicos pájaros, / Max u chi´ich´il

los símbolos / u mutil

de la viruela? ¡Ay! / kakobe chee

¡Ay! Aquí son captados / Hex u ch´abtabal be chee

por sus plantas: / tu menel chee

Chac Tan Mo “Guacamaya-roja” / Chac Tan Mo

Sac Tan Mo “Guacamaya-blanca” / Sac Tan Mo

Ek Tan Mo “Guacamaya-negra” / Ek Tan Mo

English

The perversity of childbirth,

the wickedness of creation.

What did they get out of it?

Oh, what was understood

it was that about the parents!

Oh, they are not exactly evil!

Ouch, sore pox!

What are the symbolic birds,

the symbols

smallpox? Oh!

Oh! Here they are caught

for its plants:

Red Macaw

White macaw

Black Macaw

The intentionality manifested in the ritual involves the possibility of interpretations about the meanings that the author tried to express, through symbolic multiplicity, as well as the interpretative creativity of the reader. In this perspective, Beuchot²⁰ considers that a text:

“supposes an author, as well as a reader or interpreter, who will interpret it. There is, on the one hand, an intention of the author, which is what he wanted to express in his text; and there is another intention, that of the reader, which does not always interpret what the author wanted it to be understood, but adds new meanings” (p. 129). Therefore, this colonial Mayan ritual to cure smallpox is a representative example of meaning creation when trying to make sense of reading. The intentionality of the author and the reader enrich the vitality of the text through the multiplicity of interpretations, as well as in various daily practices to cure different diseases.²¹

Figure 1 Source: World Digital Library (2017), Dresde Codex: United Nations for Education, Science and Culture Retrieved from https://www.wdl.org/es/item/11621/

Figure 2 Source: World Digital Library (2017), Dresde Codex: United Nations for Education, Science and Culture Retrieved from https://www.wdl.org/es/item/11621/

The characterization of the ritual language in the spell to cure smallpox, from the Ritual de los Bacabes, allows us to appreciate the integral manifestation of dialogical intentionality, which includes the healer-priest, the patient, the spirits and the deities associated. Furthermore, it is possible to identify the diversity of language resources, multiple symbolic interpretations, and manifestations of the oral tradition and references to writing through images or glyphs in codex texts. Besides, the spell, written in the 16th Century, recovers prehispanic mythological contents, related to healing practices through traditional medicinal remedies, religion, magic, and exorcisms in the Mayan cultural colonial setting. The intentionality of the author and the interpretations of the reader enrich creative symbolic meanings. Also, the healing theme is essential in everyday life. We can notice the inheritance of daily practices in the interpretation of traditional remedies, in healing approaches, and the magical beliefs involved. Also, it is possible to read the ritual with multidisciplinary perspectives, which will always enrich language, discursive, and textual characterization. The textual description method incorporates comprehensive criteria and categories to study communicative intentionality in the spell. The decision to describe dialogical interaction and the roles assumed by the healer-priest, were useful to integrate the diversity of lexical, discursive, semantic and rhetorical resources, as well as the textual evidence of orality and reference to the ancient writing. In this perspective, this essay provides methodological criteria and categories for classification and analysis, that may be useful in future research about ritual texts.

None.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

None.

1. Arzápalo Ramón. Canul Joan. The Ritual of the Bacabes. Text by Joan Canul, facsimile, bilingual, annotated, rhythmic edition by Ramón Arrápalo (1987). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 1987.
2. Médiz Bolio Antonio. Chilam Balam de Chumayel. version of Médiz Bolio. Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico; 1941.
3. Barrera Vázquez Alfredo, Rendón Silvia. The Book of Chilam Balam Books. Translation and reconstruction of Barrera Vázquez y Rendón. Mexico: Economic Culture Fund; 2002.
4. Barrera Vázquez Alfredo. Calkiní Codex. Translation and editing by Barrera Vázquez. Campeche: Edition of the State of Campeche and the Calkiní City Council. 1984.
5. Barrera Vázquez Alfredo. Mayan dictionary Cordemex Mayan‒Spanish, Spanish‒Mayan. Mérida, México: Cordemex; 1980.
6. González Torres Yólot. Dictionary of mythology and religion of Mesoamerica. México: Larousse; 1995.
7. Álvarez Cristina. Ethnolinguistic dictionary of the colonial Yucatec Mayan language. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 1997.
8. Álvarez Cristina. Structural description of the Maya of the Chilam Balam of Chumayel. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 1998.
9. Foucault Michel. La arqueología del saber. Siglo XXI. México. 1991. 1970.
10. Bajtín M Mijail. Verbal creation aesthetics. Siglo XXI. México. 1979.
11. León‒Portilla Miguel. Codices: The ancient books of the new world. México: Aguilar; 2003.
12. León‒Portilla Miguel. The destiny of the word: from orality and Mesoamerican codices to alphabetic writing. The National College and Economic Culture Fund. 1997.
13. Hernández Rodríguez Ernesto. Tradición oral y textual en los acertijos del Chilam Balam: El lenguaje de Zuyúa. Revista Justo Sierra. 2004;4:18‒21.
14. Gubler Ruth.  Terapeutas mayas: Desde el Ritual de los Bacabes hasta el presente. Península. 2007;2(1):47‒83.
15. Lema Rose. Bone repetitions. Its effectiveness and fuguration in a 16th century Mayan prayer. Humanities Yearbook Signs. 1993;7(2):81‒99.
16. Sánchez Aroche, Daniela. Con el diablo adentro. The medicinal and ritual consumption of the balche 'among the Mayans of Yucatan seen from an ethnohistorical perspective. Historia 2.0 Conocimiento histórico en clave digital. 2015;5(10):41‒54.
17. Chávez Guzmán Mónica. Médicos y medicinas en el mundo peninsular maya colonial y decimonónico. Península. 2011;6(2):71‒102.
18. Hirose López. Javier. La medicina tradicional maya: Un saber en extinción?. Trace. 2018;74.
19. Nájera Coronado, Martha Ilia. El lenguaje ritual del fuego en los mayas del periodo clásico: un acercamiento. Estudios de Cultura Maya. 2019;54:91‒127.
20. Beuchot Mauricio. Elementos esenciales de una hermenéutica analógica. Diánoia. 2015;60(74):127‒145.
21. World Digital Library. D resden Codex: United Nations for Education, Science and Culture; 2017.