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| MANI: THE LANGUAGE OF BISHOP LANDA One man destroys an entire language |
MANI: THE LANGUAGE OF BISHOP LANDA
Mani is a "convent town". A smallish village dominated by a huge Catholic church, only one of several here on the peninsula.
So, what is different about Mani? Why go to Mani and not Mama?
Aside from a great regional restaurant, Principe Tutul Xiu, located on the street behind the convent, there is another reason
to visit this particular convent village.
As you go through the convent courtyard, notice the actual stones that have been used to build it. Here and there, you will see
carved blocks of stone with very similar designs to those you have just seen at Uxmal, and along the Ruta Puuc. It seems
that whatever edifice was here, erected by the Mayans, was taken down to build this convent. Recycling at perhaps its' worst.
But then you need to know about the Spanish Bishop Landa. Fra Diego Landa, sent to the "new world", to convert whatever
natives he found. What he found he destroyed or burned, including all their written material and religious objects.
Have you ever looked at the written Mayan language of today? Or did you think the language was dead? Rarely spoken?
You would be wrong. A great many people of the Yucatan Peninsula speak Yucatecan Mayan, and for quite a few it is the only
language that they do speak. Santiago's mother was one of those, and his sister Pilar still is. They are not alone in the village.
All my builders speak it. It is only as a courtesy to me that they speak in Spanish at all. While they may understand some
Spanish, they do not all speak it. Just Mayan. But very few people today can write the Mayan language. Wonder why...
Bishop Landa's superiors in Spain were appalled to learn what he had done. Destroyed a language. So he was sent back
here to rewrite everything he could remember and find. But the written language had been symbols; glyphs. So where does one
start? With the only alphabet he knew: the Spanish one.
He could not have made it more complex. Let me give you some examples. The X is pronounced as an SH sound so why
didn't he use those letters? Instead we have Oxkutzcab - Oosh kutz cab. Not too bad. Dzibilchaltun. Dzununcan. Xmatcuil,
Uayalchen. Xtacumbilchunan. Piece of cake right? At least he didn't invent these names, but he did determine how they were
spelled.
Let's look at some sentences:
U TZiKbaLiLo'ob Oxkutzcab ye'etel Mani.
"Conversations between Oxkutzcab and Mani."
Beora dzo'ok a síik ba'al in jaante', k'aat ti' ten je ba' axake', tene' kin dzaik ti'tech.
"You have given me something to eat; ask me for anything and I will give it to you."
Tula'akal Le che' obo' beeta'ano'ob ti' al ka meyajnak ti' wíinik wey yóok' ol kaabe'.
"All the wood (of trees) has been created to be used (or useful) to man, on Earth. (Earth, the planet, is yóok' ol kaabe').
This man, Bishop Landa, actually decided this was the way the language he heard should be written. No wonder the
people didn't learn to write it! And it is still today a largely spoken language.
If for no other reason, you should visit Mani, to see one man's arrogance. He takes down a building to use for his church,
and then reinvents the language...
Kristine,
Flycatcher Inn, Santa Elena,
10 minutes southeast of Uxmal in Yucatan, Mexico
Mani is a "convent town". A smallish village dominated by a huge Catholic church, only one of several here on the peninsula.
So, what is different about Mani? Why go to Mani and not Mama?
Aside from a great regional restaurant, Principe Tutul Xiu, located on the street behind the convent, there is another reason
to visit this particular convent village.
As you go through the convent courtyard, notice the actual stones that have been used to build it. Here and there, you will see
carved blocks of stone with very similar designs to those you have just seen at Uxmal, and along the Ruta Puuc. It seems
that whatever edifice was here, erected by the Mayans, was taken down to build this convent. Recycling at perhaps its' worst.
But then you need to know about the Spanish Bishop Landa. Fra Diego Landa, sent to the "new world", to convert whatever
natives he found. What he found he destroyed or burned, including all their written material and religious objects.
Have you ever looked at the written Mayan language of today? Or did you think the language was dead? Rarely spoken?
You would be wrong. A great many people of the Yucatan Peninsula speak Yucatecan Mayan, and for quite a few it is the only
language that they do speak. Santiago's mother was one of those, and his sister Pilar still is. They are not alone in the village.
All my builders speak it. It is only as a courtesy to me that they speak in Spanish at all. While they may understand some
Spanish, they do not all speak it. Just Mayan. But very few people today can write the Mayan language. Wonder why...
Bishop Landa's superiors in Spain were appalled to learn what he had done. Destroyed a language. So he was sent back
here to rewrite everything he could remember and find. But the written language had been symbols; glyphs. So where does one
start? With the only alphabet he knew: the Spanish one.
He could not have made it more complex. Let me give you some examples. The X is pronounced as an SH sound so why
didn't he use those letters? Instead we have Oxkutzcab - Oosh kutz cab. Not too bad. Dzibilchaltun. Dzununcan. Xmatcuil,
Uayalchen. Xtacumbilchunan. Piece of cake right? At least he didn't invent these names, but he did determine how they were
spelled.
Let's look at some sentences:
U TZiKbaLiLo'ob Oxkutzcab ye'etel Mani.
"Conversations between Oxkutzcab and Mani."
Beora dzo'ok a síik ba'al in jaante', k'aat ti' ten je ba' axake', tene' kin dzaik ti'tech.
"You have given me something to eat; ask me for anything and I will give it to you."
Tula'akal Le che' obo' beeta'ano'ob ti' al ka meyajnak ti' wíinik wey yóok' ol kaabe'.
"All the wood (of trees) has been created to be used (or useful) to man, on Earth. (Earth, the planet, is yóok' ol kaabe').
This man, Bishop Landa, actually decided this was the way the language he heard should be written. No wonder the
people didn't learn to write it! And it is still today a largely spoken language.
If for no other reason, you should visit Mani, to see one man's arrogance. He takes down a building to use for his church,
and then reinvents the language...
Kristine,
Flycatcher Inn, Santa Elena,
10 minutes southeast of Uxmal in Yucatan, Mexico
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