Wahil Kol. A Yucatec Maya Agricultural Ceremony

Abstract

In April, 1978, a Maya agricultural ceremony known as Wahil Kol was performed in Becanchen, a town in the State of Yucatan, Mexico. This paper presents a detailed description of that ceremony, and then addresses certain questions. How does this ceremony compare with descriptions of similar ceremonies recorded by various ethnographers during the last 100 years? What are the main elements of the ceremony? Which parts of the ceremony have changed over the last 100 years and which parts have remained unchanged? And finally, how could ethnographers improve on the way these ceremonies have been recorded in the past so as to facilitate better comparative analysis in the future?