Maya Religion - Feasting and Dramatic Performance

Feasting and Dramatic Performance

Feasts are usually organized by religious brotherhoods, with the greatest expenses being for the higher charges. Similarly, in the pre-Spanish kingdom of Maní, some religious feasts seem to have been sponsored by wealthy and preeminent men, perhaps reflecting a general practice in Postclassic and earlier kingdoms. Through the feasts, capital could be redistributed in food and drink. The continual and obligatory drinking, negatively commented on by early as well as contemporary outsiders, establishes community, not only among the human participants, but also between these and the deities.

Both in recent times and in the Classic Period, more complex rituals would include music and dance, processions, and theatrical play. Nowadays, the performance of important dances and dance dramas (not always religious ones) often takes place on the feast of the patron saint of the village and on certain set occasions dictated by the Catholic Calendar (such as Corpus Christi and the Day of the Cross). For the late Postclassic period, Landa mentions specific dances executed during either the New Year rituals (e.g., the xibalba okot 'dance of Xibalba') or the monthly feasts (e.g., the holkan okot 'dance of the war chiefs').

The theatrical impersonation of deities and animals (a general Mesoamerican practice), including the wayob (were-animals), was part of pre-Hispanic dramatic performances. Ritual humor (often a vehicle for social criticism) was part of these events, involving such actors as opossums, spider monkeys, and the aged Bacabs, with women sometimes being cast in erotic roles. The god most often shown dancing during the Classic period is the Tonsured Maize God, a patron of feasting.