as promised...ancient Mayan enema scenes on pottery

[xiknal]

research.famsi.org/cgi-bi...rch&_seed= (http://research.famsi.org/cgi-bin/webdata_pro.pl?_escapeval_mayavase.site=&_escapeval__allSearch=enema&_escapeval_hold_search=&_escapeval_cgifunction=search&_escapeval_mayavase.vase_number=&_escapeval_x=34&_escapeval_keyval=&_escapeval_mayavase.date_added=&_escapeval_mayavase.ms_number=&_escapeval_y=9&_tableName=&_layout=mayavase&_orderby=&_cgifunction=Next+Page&keyval=&_pageNum=0&_returnFunction=Search&_seed=)

These are rollout photos.There are 36 examples.

I recommend: 1550, 1890, 1897, 5067 for graphic depictions of the act of enema-taking. The other vases show all the paraphernalia, but are cagey about the actual act. Some show the vomiting, however. 5067 is especially nice for depictions of the enema syringe (a skin bladder and a bone tube affair) and the various jars the tobacco infusion was kept in and transferred to.

There is way more to this than you ever wanted to know...I hope...:lol

[WillFlyToDisney2]

Okay THANKS, Barb, but my question is WHAT TYPE of bowl would these scenes be depicted on. I mean I dont think I want to eat my daily meal out of a bowl with pictures of men getting enemas on it.

Kelley

[xiknal]

They are often cylindrical vases, sometimes round-sided bowls, and they are labeled (with hieroglyphs) stating that they are to be used for drinking ritual chocolate drinks. I don't think they are the same exact bowls and jars, etc. being used for the enema scenes.

No daily meals from these...:shocked

[noflyingfan]

Chocolate drinks? I hope you're kidding, because that just makes it worse!

:blech

[xiknal]

NOT kidding...chocolate drinks! It's up-my-alley stuff, actually; I'll be giving a workshop on the hieroglyphs that discuss it--in Philly in April. Y'all are welcome!

BTW the word 'cocoa' came from someone's (someone British) reinterpretation of 'cacao', and that word cacao originated in proto-Mixe-Zoquean (what the Olmecs spoke) and was borrowed into proto-Mayan a couple thousand years ago. The word is spelled as syllabic ka-ka-wa in the hieroglyphic inscriptions on Mayan 'chocolate pots'. The whole text (an example) translates as 'here was dedicated and painted his vase for chocolate...(name of royal person)'.

That same word was borrowed into proto-Uto-Aztecan and made its way from Nahuatl into Spanish as the word for 'peanut' (cacahuate, from kakawatl).

More than anyone ever wanted to know, I'm sure! :lol

They did not hesitate to paint all sorts of disturbing things (bloody and far more unappetizing than barfing and enemas) on these vases...I s'pose it's like we have to do with flying...they just practiced and got used to it! :nod

[spiffyone]

SPanish is cool....there are words that got borrowed from the Moors (like alfombra, I think) and the ones that got borrowed from the Mayans and Aztecs and stuff (like cacahuate) - right? Barb, I used to know things like this back when I was partaking of a liberal arts education...before the doctors got me.

Oh - very interesting - my most fun college paper was on smallpox and Cortes' "conquest" of Mexico...

[beaugest]

Barb, all I could think was @#%$, I'd hate to be a shrink in that society. What were the those folks thinking about??? Very interesting stuff. Where's your workshop at in Philly?

[WillFlyToDisney2]

Yes I was going to ask the same thing - details on the workshop, please! We havent finalized the tour schedule yet for April but if we are close I would love to attend!!!

Kelley

[xiknal]

It's esoteric but way cool stuff! :thumbsup

The entire event takes place April 8-10 at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology in downtown Philadelphia. There will be lots of talks and workshops. Lots of food and booze :drunken and live mariachi and salsa music as well :band --they go all out. It's an annual event at the museum.

I can find out what the fees are for attendance at only part (but anyone who's really interested might just want to attend the whole thing). I don't know yet when my specific workshop will be fit into this schedule.

For any interested, I'll track down a link for the basic info.

The whole weekend will be dedicated to art and hieroglyphs on Maya vases; my part will be to bring people up to date on the content and grammar of the dedicatory text (I wrote my dissertation on this, believe it or not :shocked ).

Barb

[beaugest]

Barb, I don't even remember the title of my dissertation. Weird when I think that for a few years I couldn't read a book not related to substance abuse without feeling guilty...
Anyway, keep us posted. Sounds like an interesting event. Just think in the future when folks study us they are going to be discussing this...:booty :fart :barf Monica

[xiknal]

yep!

and this :type and this:security and maybe even this:banana

I still recall the title of my dis but it was only 14 years ago. I tried hard to keep up with every nuance for a while, but now have to catch up in quick dashes. I am still the Queen of Mayan Grammar, though. :lol

BTW Spiff, your observation about alfombra in Spanish was spot-on. A whole lot of words came into Spanish from Arabic during the Moors' dominion, and many of them begin with 'al' which is the Arabic equivalent to 'the' in English, as well we know post 9-11. Many other words came into Spanish from New World languages--jicama, cacao, huracan (hurricane), chocolate and many more.

English has borrowed quite a bit from Spanish, too--for example 'alligator' (from el lagarto). And lots of cowboy vocabulary, of course, like 'buckaroo' (from vaquero)...and then, margaritas and burritos.

I have always been fascinated by languages--how they develop and change and interact.

[LesliePHX]

Is that where we got the slang word "ca-ca" for poo?

[xiknal]

This may shed a bit of light on caca as well as chocolate:

www.takeourword.com/Issue016.html (http://www.takeourword.com/Issue016.html)

:rotflmao

[LesliePHX]

Hm. Maybe "ca-ca" has nothing to do with that cocoa stuff. Merriam Webster's 11th edition doesn't have a "ca-ca" entry, but it says "cac-" or "caco-" (prefix combination forms) come from Greek "kakos," meaning "bad." Sorry, I probably was making a wild guess before.

Les
Cacophony!
:band

Who's playing the cacophone? :)