{"product_id":"heaven-born-merida-and-its-munro-s-edmonson-9780292719378","title":"Heaven Born Merida and Its Destiny: The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel","description":"\u003cp\u003e When the Spaniards conquered the Yucatan Peninsula in the early 1500s, they made a great effort to destroy or Christianize the native cultures flourishing there. That they were in large part unsuccessful is evidenced by the survival of a number of documents written in Maya and preserved and added to by literate Mayas up to the 1830s. \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel\u003c\/i\u003e is such a document, literally the history of Yucatan written by and for Mayas, and it contains much information not available from Spanish sources because it was part of an underground resistance movement of which the Spanish were largely unaware. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Well known to Mayanists, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel\u003c\/i\u003e is presented here in Munro S. Edmonson's English translation, extensively annotated. Edmonson reinterprets the book as literature and as history, placing it in chronological order and translating it as poetry. The ritual nature of Mayan history clearly emerges and casts new light on Mexican and Spanish acculturation of the Yucatecan Maya in the post-Classic and colonial periods. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Centered in the city of Merida, the \u003ci\u003eChumayel\u003c\/i\u003e provides the western (Xiu) perspective on Yucatecan history, as Edmonson's earlier book \u003ci\u003eThe Ancient Future of the Itza: The Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin\u003c\/i\u003e presented the eastern (Itza) viewpoint. Both document the changing calendar of the colonial period and the continuing vitality of pre-Columbian ritual thought down to the nineteenth century. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the survival of the long-count dating system down to the Baktun Ceremonial of 1618 (12.0.0.0.0). But there are others: the use of rebus writing, the survival of the \u003ci\u003etun\u003c\/i\u003e until 1752, graphic if oblique accounts of Mayan ceremonial drama, and the depiction of the Spanish conquest as a long-term inter-Mayan civil war. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Munro S. Edmonson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 029271937X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780292719378\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/1986\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 319\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.23lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.67d","brand":"Munro S. Edmonson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44254716002559,"sku":"9780292719378","price":42.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d39cd893-4b6b-4123-ad1a-a9fae751c943.jpg?v=1694613960","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/heaven-born-merida-and-its-munro-s-edmonson-9780292719378","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}