First Old WomanMan and the Mesoamerican Diphrastic Kenning of Engendering
The royalty of the Classic Maya of Mesoamerica, and later sages of the Maya, used a powerful diphrastic kenning chab akab’, glossed as “generation-darkness” to convey a range of objectives, conjuring foremost among them. Known principally from hieroglyphic written expressions, but also depicted in t...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
MDPI
2024
|
In: |
Religions
Year: 2024, Volume: 15, Issue: 2 |
Further subjects: | B
Maya religion
B theosynthesis B creator deities B Mesoamerican religion |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | The royalty of the Classic Maya of Mesoamerica, and later sages of the Maya, used a powerful diphrastic kenning chab akab’, glossed as “generation-darkness” to convey a range of objectives, conjuring foremost among them. Known principally from hieroglyphic written expressions, but also depicted in the form of sacrificial instruments and offerings, Eleanor Harrison-Buck, following Timothy Knowlton, proposed that the kenning references sexual intercourse. This essay proposes that a black steatite carved figure stylistically dating to the Middle Preclassic period (900–350 CE) depicts this incantation as an old woman giving birth to her maleness in the form of a circumcised penis. A second Middle Preclassic figure of a dancing child, found as an heirloom in a Classic tomb, is compared to show the link between Preclassic and Classic meaning. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel15020153 |