The ook of the''Songs of Dzitbalché'' ( es, l libro delos cantares de Dzitbalché), originally titled ''The Book of the Dances of the Ancients'', is the source of almost all the ancient

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

n lyric

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

that have survived, and is closely connected to the ''Books of

Chilam Balam The Books of Chilam Balam () are handwritten, chiefly 17th and 18th-centuries Maya miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Maya and early ...

'', sacred books of the colonial Yucatec Maya. The sole surviving copy of the ''Songs of Dzitbalché'' was written in alphabetic

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

in the 18th century. The author identifies himself as Ah Bam, an elder of the town of Dzitbalché. He appears to say that the book was originally written in 1440.

Manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...

of this era were often copies of copies of copies, so scholars have to look at internal evidence for clues to the original date of composition. Many of the poems appear to be much older than the manuscript, and contain ancient ceremonial and ritual material. Other poems are songs of

love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

, and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape ...

. Many of them appear to have had a musical accompaniment. ''The Book of the Dances of the Ancients'', its original name, was changed to the current title by its first

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

Publication

The first full Spanish translation was crafted by Barrera Vásquez in 1965. In 1982, Edmunson produced an English version, followed by Curl's on-line publication in 2005 of selected pieces from the codex. Bowles, in 2013, composed English-verse translations of all of the songs in his ''Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry''.

References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Songs Of Dzitbalche Mayan literature Yucatec Maya language

Publication

See also

References