Scribal Syncretism in Colonial Yucatan, Reconsidered

Abstract

Scholars have proposed that for decades after the conquest of Yucatan Maya scribes wielded competence in both the old hieroglyphic and the new Latin-based alphabetic scripts. During that time some scribes apparently worked furtively to transfer parts of their pre-conquest traditions, encoded in hieroglyphic codices, into new forms of alphabetic-based writing such as the Books of Chilam Balam and other forbidden works. Various types of evidence –historical and philological– have been offered to substantiate claims concerning the lingering effects of hieroglyphic writing practices upon Maya use of the alphabetic script in early colonial times. In the light of new evidence from twentieth-century Maya scribal practice, this paper demonstrates that previously published arguments, especially those developed in an influential series of papers by distinguished Mayanist Victoria Bricker, can no longer be considered valid.