Chilam Balam

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The Chilam Balam (literally Secrets of the Soothsayers) is a collection of books written in the Maya language in the Yucatan and Guatemala in the 17th and 18th centuries. The texts are an important primary source for information about the Maya civilization and contain a great deal of information about Maya religion, history, rituals, folklore, medicine, and astronomy. The books contain some pre-Conquest material, and are believed to be derived from a priest (chilam) from the Balam chibalob (clan). There were once many more books in the Chilam Balam collection, though only a handful - named for the towns in which they were composed - have survived until today.

[edit] Most important among remaining Chilam Balam books

  • Maní
  • Tizimín
  • Chumayel
  • Kaua
  • Ixil
  • Tusik
  • Códice Pérez

[edit] Further Reading

Clendinnen, Inga. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987, 242 pages. Restall, Matthew. Maya Conquistador. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998, 254 pages.

The (Chilam Balam) Book of Chumayel; The Counsel Book of the Yucatec Maya. Translated and Annotated by Richard N Luxton. California: Aegean Park Press 1995. 335 pages

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