Page:A Study of the Manuscript Troano.djvu/291

Rh One of the things that these wretched people regarded as the most difficult and arduous was the fabrication of their idols of wood, which they called making the gods. They had for this a particular time, which was this month of Mol, or any other if the priest judged it proper to change it. Those who wished to have it done consulted first the priest, and after his advice went to seek the artists who occupied themselves with this profession; but, to whatever they said, these artists always excused themselves, because they were persuaded that one or another of their house might die, or that it would suddenly bring upon them some disease of the heart. When they had accepted, the Chacs whom they chose for this purpose, also the priest and the artist, commenced to fast. In the mean time those who had ordered the idols went in person or sent a trusty person into the wood to cut down the tree of which they must be sculptured, and which was always cedar. When the wood was obtained they built a cabin of stubble well closed, where they put the wood, with a large urn for inclosing the idols during the time that they worked on them. They offered incense to four gods, called Acantun, the images of which they placed at the four cardinal points; they took also that which they used for scarifying their ears and drawing blood from them, and also the instruments which they needed for sculpturing their black divinities. Prepared in this manner, the priest, the Chacs, and the artist shut themselves up in the hut and commenced the sacred work, frequently cutting themselves, and smearing the idols with their blood, and burning incense before them. They continued thus until the work was finished, the members of their families carrying food to them with wheteverwhatever [sic] was necessary to them; but they could not during this time approach their wives, and no one was admitted into the place where they were incarcerated.

I.—Month Chen. According to what they said, they worked in great fear while sculpturing the gods. As soon as the idols were completed and perfected, those who owned them gave to those who had made them the most valuable presents possible, of birds, of venison, and of money, in order to pay them for their work. They took the idols from the cabin where they had been made and carried them into another cabin made of leaves, erected