Maize, Markets and Books in Yucatán

Que los officios de los indios eran olleros y carpinteros, los quales por hazer los idolos de barro y madera con muchos ayunos y observancias ganavan mucho. Avia tambien cirujanos, o por mejor dezir hechizeros, los quales curavan con yervas y muchas supersticiones, y assi de todos los demas officios.

That the trades of the Indians were potters and carpenters, who, because they made the idols of clay and wood with many fasts and observances, earned much. There were also surgeons, or better said sorcerers, who cured with herbs and many superstitions, and so of all the other trades.

The Indians' trades were pottery and carpentry. Potters and carpenters earned a great deal by making the idols of clay and wood, which they made with many fasts and rituals. There were also surgeons, or rather sorcerers,1 who healed with herbs and many superstitions. And so it was with all the other trades.

1. Landa calls the healers sorcerers because their cures used divination and prayers to the Maya gods of medicine. Elsewhere he says that the doctors and the sorcerers “were all one.”

El officio en que mas inclinados estavan es mercaderia, llevando sal, ropa y esclavos a tierra de Ulua y Tavasco, trocandolo todo por cacao y cuentas de piedra que era su moneda, y con esta solian comprar esclavos o otras cuentas con razon que eran finas y buenas, las quales por joyas trayan sobre si en las fiestas los señores. Y tenian otras hechas de ciertas conchas coloradas por moneda y joyas de sus personas. Y lo traian en sus bolsas de red que tenian y en los mercados tratavan de todas quantas cosas avia en essa tierra. Fiavan, prestavan, y pagavan cortesmente y sin usuras.

The trade to which they were most inclined is commerce, carrying salt, cloth and slaves to the land of Ulua and Tavasco, trading it all for cacao and stone beads, which was their money, and with this they used to buy slaves or other beads [with reason?] that were fine and good, which the lords wore on themselves as jewels at the feasts. And they had others made of certain red shells as money and jewels for their persons. And they carried it in net bags that they had, and in the markets they dealt in all the things there were in that land. They gave credit, lent, and paid courteously and without usury.

The trade they liked best was commerce. They carried salt, cloth, and slaves2 to the lands of Ulua and Tavasco3 and traded it all for cacao and stone beads, which were their money.4 With these they bought slaves, or finer and better beads, which the lords wore as jewels at feasts. They also had money made of certain red shells, which they wore as jewelry too. They carried their money in net bags. In the markets they traded in everything there was in that land. They sold on credit, lent, and paid back honorably and without usury.5

2. The Maya bought and sold enslaved people. Landa says elsewhere that thieves were made slaves, even for small thefts, and that captives were taken in war.
3. Ulua, the lands along the Ulúa River in present-day Honduras, and Tabasco, on the Gulf coast southwest of Yucatán. Maya traders reached them by canoe, along the coast and up the rivers, and on foot.
4. Cacao beans, from which chocolate is made, served as money in Yucatán, along with stone beads, copper bells, and small metal axes.
5. Lending at interest. Church councils of the Middle Ages condemned it as a sin.

Y sobre todo eran los labradores y los que ponen a coger maiz y las demas semillas, lo qual guardan en muy lindos sitios y trojes para vender a sus tiempos. Sus mulas y bueyes son la gente. Suelen de costumbre sembrar para cada casado con su muger medida de cccc pies, lo qual llaman hun-uinic, medida con vara de xx pies, xx en ancho, y xx en largo.

And above all they were the farmers and those who set [themselves] to gather maize and the other seeds, which they keep in very fine places and granaries to sell at their times. Their mules and oxen are the people. They are accustomed to sow for each married man with his wife a measure of 400 feet, which they call hun-uinic, measured with a rod of 20 feet, 20 in width and 20 in length.

Above all, they were farmers, who grew maize and the other seed crops. They store the grain in very good places and granaries, to sell when the time is right. Their mules and oxen are the people themselves. It is their custom to plant, for each married man and his wife, a plot of four hundred feet, which they call hun-uinic.6 It is measured with a rod of twenty feet, twenty rods wide and twenty long.

6. In Yucatec Maya hun means “one” and uinic “man” or “person.” Landa gives the plot as a square, twenty rods of twenty feet on each side.

Que los indios tienen costumbre buena de ayudarse unos a otros en todos sus trabajos. En tiempo de sus sementeras, los que no tienen gente suya para las hazer, juntanse de xx en xx, o mas o menos, y hazen todos juntos por su medida y tasa la labor de todos, y no lo dexan hasta cumplir con todos. Las tierras por aora es de comun, y assi el que primero las ocupa las possee. Siembran en muchas partes, por si una faltare supla la otra.

That the Indians have a good custom of helping one another in all their labors. At the time of their sowings, those who do not have people of their own to do them join together twenty by twenty, or more or less, and do all together by its measure and rate the work of all, and do not leave it until they have done with all. The lands for now are in common, and so he who first occupies them possesses them. They sow in many places, so that if one should fail the other may make up for it.

The Indians have a good custom of helping one another in all their work. At sowing time, those who do not have people of their own to do it join together in groups of twenty, more or less. Working together, they do each one's share of the work, by its measure and amount, and they do not stop until everyone's is done. For now the land is held in common, so whoever first takes up a piece owns it. They plant in many places, so that if one field fails, another will make up for it.

En labrar la tierra, no hazen sino coger la vassura y quemarla para despues sembrarla; y desde medio enero hasta abril labran, y entonces con las lluvias siembran, lo qual hazen, trayendo un taleguillo a cuestas, y con un palo puntiagudo hazen agujero en tierra y ponen alli cinco o seis granos, lo qual con el mesmo palo cubren. En lluviendo, espanto es como nace.

In working the land, they do nothing but gather the rubbish and burn it, in order afterward to sow it; and from mid-January until April they work, and then with the rains they sow, which they do carrying a little bag on their back, and with a pointed stick they make a hole in the ground and put there five or six grains, which with the same stick they cover. When it rains, it is a wonder how it sprouts.

To prepare the land, they simply gather the brush and burn it, and then sow.7 They work the land from the middle of January until April, and then, with the rains, they plant. They carry a small bag on their backs. With a pointed stick they make a hole in the ground, drop in five or six grains, and cover them with the same stick. Once it rains, it is amazing how the maize comes up.

7. This is how the Maya made a milpa, a maize field cleared by cutting and burning the forest. The Maya word for the field, col, also names the work of felling the trees to burn them and sow.

Juntanse tambien para la caça de L en L, mas o menos, y la carne del venado assan en parrillas, porque no se les gaste, y venidos al pueblo, hazen sus presentes al señor, y distribuyen como amigos y el mesmo hazen en la pesca.

They also join together for hunting fifty by fifty, more or less, and the meat of the deer they roast on grills, so that it does not spoil on them, and having come to the town, they make their presents to the lord and distribute [the rest] as friends; and the same they do in fishing.

They also join together to hunt, in groups of fifty, more or less. They roast the deer meat on grills so that it will not spoil. When they come back to the town, they give their gifts to the lord and share out the rest as friends. They do the same with fishing.

Usavan tambien esta gente de ciertos carateres o letras con las quales escrivian en sus libros sus cosas antiguas, y sus sciencias, y con ellas, y figuras, y algunas señales en las figuras entendian sus cosas, y las davan a entender y enseñavan. Hallamosles grande numero de libros destas sus letras, y porque no tenian cosa en que no uviesse supersticion y falsedades del demonio se les quemamos todos, lo qual a maravilla sentian, y les dava pena.

This people also used certain characters or letters with which they wrote in their books their ancient things and their sciences, and with them, and figures, and some signs in the figures, they understood their things, and made them understood, and taught them. We found among them a great number of books of these letters of theirs, and because they had nothing in which there was not superstition and falsehoods of the devil, we burned them all, which they felt to a marvel [greatly], and it gave them grief.

These people also used certain characters, or letters, with which they wrote down in their books their ancient history and their learning. With these letters, and with pictures and certain signs in the pictures, they understood their own affairs, explained them to others, and taught them. We found a great number of books in these letters of theirs. Because there was nothing in them that was free of superstition and the devil's lies,8 we burned them all.9 They grieved over this deeply, and it caused them great pain.

8. Landa calls the Maya gods demons, evil spirits, throughout the account; to him an image of the goddess Ixchel is “an idol of a demon.” The books were made of native paper, painted on both sides and folded like a screen.
9. Only three Maya books from before the conquest were known to scholars in the early 1900s. They are now in Dresden, Madrid, and Paris.