Essay On The Ritual Of The Bacabs
The Ritual of the Bacabs is the name given to a manuscript from the Yucatán which contains shamanistic incantations that were written in the Yucatec Mayan language. The manuscript was given its name by Mayanist, William E. Gates, due to the frequent mentioning of the Maya deities known as the 'Bacabs.'
A printed indulgence on the last pages dates it to 1779 AD, which dates it at the end of the 18th Century AD, though this is not completely certain. The style of writing in the manuscript suggests that much of the information included was copied from older works. The work itself also references many figures in Maya mythology who are for the most part unknown from other works.
The manuscript was discovered in the winter of 1914 AD - 1915 AD …show more content…
It would later join Garrett's other contributions to the Princeton University Library in 1949 AD, where it remains to this day.
The text was first described by Alfred M. Tozzer in a publication in 1921 AD. The first, and so far only, translation of the work was completed by Ralph L. Roys in 1965 AD. Roys made his translation using photocopies provided by a employee of the Newberry Library of Chicago.
The Ritual of the Bacabs includes some forty-two main incantations with fragmentary supplements throughout. Most of the manuscript is written in the same hand. In his translation, Ralph L. Roys referred to this main writer as the "Bacabs hand."[191]
There are intrusive passages written in a different hand on pages 20, 21, 62, 63. Page 70 includes a medical prescription in a different hand. Of the last twenty-four pages, eighteen discuss medicine and plant lore (pages 215–227, 229-230, and 236-237). Three pages include fragmentary incantations (pages 231, 233 and 235), and three pages are blank (pages 228, 232 and 234). These final parts of the text and the first three pages have never been
A printed indulgence on the last pages dates it to 1779 AD, which dates it at the end of the 18th Century AD, though this is not completely certain. The style of writing in the manuscript suggests that much of the information included was copied from older works. The work itself also references many figures in Maya mythology who are for the most part unknown from other works.
The manuscript was discovered in the winter of 1914 AD - 1915 AD …show more content…
It would later join Garrett's other contributions to the Princeton University Library in 1949 AD, where it remains to this day.
The text was first described by Alfred M. Tozzer in a publication in 1921 AD. The first, and so far only, translation of the work was completed by Ralph L. Roys in 1965 AD. Roys made his translation using photocopies provided by a employee of the Newberry Library of Chicago.
The Ritual of the Bacabs includes some forty-two main incantations with fragmentary supplements throughout. Most of the manuscript is written in the same hand. In his translation, Ralph L. Roys referred to this main writer as the "Bacabs hand."[191]
There are intrusive passages written in a different hand on pages 20, 21, 62, 63. Page 70 includes a medical prescription in a different hand. Of the last twenty-four pages, eighteen discuss medicine and plant lore (pages 215–227, 229-230, and 236-237). Three pages include fragmentary incantations (pages 231, 233 and 235), and three pages are blank (pages 228, 232 and 234). These final parts of the text and the first three pages have never been