Whistleblowers: A Maya Narration on the Participation of the Dead in the Cycle of Life and Death

Authors

Emma Belnap

Keywords

Maya, whistle, burial, mediation, animism

Abstract

There is a common saying in modern American culture inspired by opera and the drudgery with which people view it. As the maxim goes, “It is not over until the fat lady sings.” If the Maya were to have their own variation on that saying, it may perhaps go, “Life is not over until the whistle is in the grave.” At burial sites on Jaina Island, an island near Campeche, Mexico rich with Maya history, hundreds of sculpted whistles have been found in graves, depicting various gods, animals, and humans.1 These objects give invaluable insight into the beliefs and practices of the Maya. There are three foundational tenets of Maya beliefs pertinent to the discussion in this paper. (1) The Maya believed in the concept of mediation, the idea that humans are responsible for the continuing cycles of the universe. (2) Another core precept of Maya belief is the notion of complementary opposites. Complementary opposition dictates that ideas which seem to be in opposition with one another are in fact not; they are both necessary to the continuation of the universe and flow naturally into one another. (3) The Maya also believed in animism, that depictions of objects or people are literally ensouled as that object or person. Whistle with the Maize God emerging from a flower (Fig. 1), an object from Jaina currently located in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, provides a commentary on those beliefs. This object would enable the person buried with it to continue their role as mediator in the universal cycle of life and death.

Recommended Citation

Belnap, Emma (2023) "Whistleblowers: A Maya Narration on the Participation of the Dead in the Cycle of Life and Death," The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 52: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol52/iss1/3