Lost my ID, To interpret the movements of the sun in
this manner is to model it on Venus as morning star, which both
rises and sets in the east.
*(393) Tohil, Auilix, and Hacauitz were turned to stone, along
with the idols of the puma, jaguar, rattlesnake, yellowbite, which the
White Sparkstriker took with him into the trees: The "idols" here
are ucabauilal [u4abauilal], "its-god-own," 4abauil being translated
elsewhere as "god." The White Sparkstriker is named immediately
after the yellowbite and could be included in the list of beings who
are turned to stone, but in terms of what is known about him (or
her) today (B. Tedlock, "El C'oxol: un simbolo de la resistencia
quiche") it makes much more sense to treat the name as the subject
of the sentence that follows it, xa xuchap chi uca [u4ah] rib pa che
[chee], "just he/she took that to-accompany him/herself into trees."
Today the White Sparkstriker is the keeper of volcanic concretions and
ancient artifacts that resemble animals; these objects, which are said
to have been petrified when the sun first rose, are called mebil
(the same as the name of the shrine in which they are kept) in
Momostenango and 4amauil in the eastern Quiche area.
Andres Xiloj commented on the passage at hand as follows: "When
all the birds, animals were converted into stone, they remained as
mebil. When the moment comes and one is able to acquire one of
these, this is the mebil. Birds, rabbits, in sum, all the different
kinds of stones. Now the 4oxol [Sparkstriker], this one, yes, he has
money, 'tis said. When one has luck, the 4oxol presents himself. If he
takes off his shoe and leaves it thrown away, then there is the money;
or his little bag- because he has a little bag, and if he leaves it
thrown away, there is the money. This is the mebil of a person; it
is the luck." Lucas Pacheco said that the 4oxol lost his/her shoe when
the sun first rose; the 4oxol escaped petrifaction by running into the
trees, but the shoe did not.
*(394) Perhaps we would have no relief from the voracious animals
today- the puma, jaguar, rattlesnake, yellowbite-... if the original
animals hadn't been turned to stone: "Voracious animals" is tionel
chicop, "biting (or meat-eating) animals." The MS. erroneously adds
the White Sparkstriker to the list of animals in this sentence;
apparently Ximenez (or a copyist) interpreted the previous naming of
the White Sparkstriker (see above) as part of a list of animals and
then assumed that the name must be missing from the present list.
Andres Xiloj commented: "The 4oxol [Sparkstriker] has to take care