La función ritual de los incensarios compuestos del Grupo de las Cruces de Palenque

Abstract

Este artículo trata algunos aspectos relacionados con el uso ritual de los incensarios compuestos de Palenque. Además de señalar su función específica y su imporrancia dentro de las ceremonias religiosas, propone nuevas interprecaciones sobre las connotaciones simbólicas de los incensarios compuestos como imágenes de la ceiba cósmica y por lo tanto como ejes de comunicación con los dioses y los antepasados.

Gulf Coast Influence at Moxviquil, Chiapas, Mexico

“…The two lids are highly similar in size and style; both depict human faces emerging from a band of swirling elements (likely smoke or clouds). At the bottom of the band, emitting the scrolls from its mouth, is a stylized Imix monster, as has been observed on the Palenque incense burners (Cuevas García 2007, 168). One of the anthropomorphic faces emerges from the mouth of a hybridized animal (Figs.…”

“…The theme of the face emerging from the mouth of a serpent is well known in Maya art, perhaps most famously in the Yaxchilan lintels in northeast Chiapas (Schele & Freidel 1990). The features and proportions of the faces have some similarity to those of human figures depicted on cylindrical censer stands at Palenque and its region (Cuevas García 2007, 59), and also some Jaina Island figurines (McVicker 2012, figs 5a & 7b). This suggests that the incense-burner lids from Moxviquil may have had stylistic influence from the eastern Gulf Coast or Middle Usumacinta, as represented in Palenque or Yaxchilan, which is also consistent with the presence of a Balancán Fine Orange bowl in the same tomb (see below).…”

Souls of the Ancestors: Postclassic Maya Architecture, Incensarios, and Mana

“…The relationship of JGU and the sanctity of the king can be seen at Palenque as many of the JGU incensarios, and other incensarios, were found broken and buried in the Temple of the Cross and the Temple of the Foliated Cross. Cuevas García and Bernal Romero (2002:20–24) suggest that the location of the incensarios and their associated offerings (blood and incense) final interment indicates that the two temples were places where deities and men (the supernatural and the natural) passed between death and resurrection on a daily basis thus allowing communication between the two realms. Ferree (1972:147–149) examined Late Classic to Terminal Classic censers from Tikal and compared them to those from Palenque, and determined that volcanic ash was used as a tempering agent in effigy incensarios (representing deities) such as those that represented JGU.…”

“…It is possible that the incorporation of this grog in and of itself was an act of imbuing the Postclassic vessels with the spirit and power of past ancestors because the grog had mana as a result of previous ritual actions. Cuevas García and Bernal Romero (2002:24) suggest that during the final stage of incensario manufacture (firing), the fire united the clay object with the mana/power/ ch'ulel of the deity represented on the front of the vessel, thus making it come alive and able to function in the natural and supernatural worlds. If the grog came from a JGU effigy incensario, it may carry the spirit/power of JGU and/or the dynastic cult or past ruler who had mana and/or used the vessel and gave it mana.…”

“…The destruction of the idols associated with Wayeb’, New Year, and K'atun rituals released any residue of ritual power that may have remained after the ceremonies (Chase 1985:118–120). At Palenque, the ending of a K'atun cycle is indicated by broken incensario pedestal bases that were smashed and buried “en la mismo espacio arquitectónico que los había visto nacer” (Cuevas García and Bernal Romero 2002:30). Similarly, the Northern Lacandon of Chiapas placed terminated censers into caves and considered these objects to be “the bones of our Lords” (McGee 1998:45).…”