Four days ago, on 5 Cib 14 Zoltz, a new ruler, Double-Braid, had been inaugurated. He is the heir of the Sky dynasty, still revered even though its power has waned sadly since the death of his venerated ancestor, Stormy Sky. Through auspicious fortune, Double-Braid has been able to arrange the date of his accession to the rule of Cobá precisely 13 katuns - 93,600 days — after the inauguration of the great Stormy Sky. The priests had deeply appreciated the coincidence of time. Double-Braid’s accession would be reinforced by the celebration of the half-katun end and its good auguries.

As Lord Sun approaches the highest level of the sky, preparations for the ceremony are complete. The wives, children and retainers of the Cobá elite stand in the shade of one of the shelters. Some of the women are in long white gowns, others in elegant wraps of many colors. Visiting emissaries and out-of-town cousins of the Sky family crowd together in another choice viewing stand. The ruler of Chichien Itza, the nearest Maya capital, wears a brilliant cape of yellow feathers in honor of his city and its mythical association with the sea. People from Tulúm are present as well. Rumor has it that one of the Sky women has been promised in marriage to the Tulúm throne. She will, the gossips say, leave Cobá in about a hundred days.

The god impersonators, sweating profusely in their grotesque trappings, form a line on one of the stairs at the foot of the large acropolis. The four among them, who wear different colored paper-maché opossum masks, represent the world's four quarters - red for east, white for north, black for west and yellow for south. Another has taken the role of the number Ten. The wooden skull in his headdress glistens white in the sun.

All the men ache. This morning, in the innermost chamber of the central temple of the acropolis, they purified themselves by piercing various parts of their bodies with stingray spines and other holy implements, and let their blood splatter onto strips of paper arranged in pottery plates. The impersonator of the Death God wears his blood soaked paper behind his headdress.

Where the crowd has left an open lane at the west side of the plaza, an attendant raises his hands as he sights Double-Braid’s procession. Assembled in a corner of the plaza, the orchestra takes it cue. Three of the group blow into long wooden trumpets tied with black ribbon; one trumpeter has a conch hell, the incised glyphs made vivid by red cinnabar. The drummers pound out their rhythmic beat, using deer antlers as beaters on drums of various sizes, while other men use turtle shell rattles. Four musicians evoke a melody on pottery flutes.

In the lead come four men with giant parasols made of basketry and bedecked with rare plumage. Others follow with tall banners of blue, red and yellow cloth. Three subrulers, clad in the jaguar pelt of nobility, bear wooden carvings of the long-nosed god with the serpent foot - insignia of the Sky lineage. Behind them, carefully in step, come the litter bearers. They carry the heavy polished wooden sedan chair roofed with green plumage and holding the young ruler. A long procession follows – minor nobles, warriors and others who enjoy honor at Cobá.

All proceed slowly as music plays. The head of the procession stops before the north acropolis stairway, before the Red Temple that hides the tombs of Stormy Sky and his predecessor. The new ruler is assisted from his sedan chair by two courtiers. The head priest has moved forward to stand near the portable throne draped with jaguar pelts. He places his left palm on the young King’s shoulder in formal greeting to the brilliant entourage.

Double-Braid’s muscled body is heavily weighted with jade jewelry and the intricate beadwork in his chest ornament, and he pauses to assure his balance before climbing the five steps to the throne. Another attendant awaits him there with the towering headdress of quetzal feathers and the painted countenance of Lord Sun. With practiced dignity Double-Braid eases himself onto the throne and accepts the headdress. An actor, selected for his unusual height and garbed in the spotted skin and mask of the Giant Jaguar, quietly takes his place behind the throne.

The silence is broken only by bird sounds, coughs and the rustle of costumes, as thirteen dancers move from their stations near the old red monuments and assemble in the space vacated by the sedan chair bearers. They stand ready to impersonate the divine regents of all the katun intervals elapsed since the inaugural rites of Stormy Sky.

The old priest, drawing his cues from a scroll, directs the chant of litanies to the holy thirteen, then to the Death God and Yum K’aax, the young maize deity, as patrons of this day. The dancers begin their shuffling movements, perspiring heavily, for now the real heat of the day is at hand and the rattling of the dry seed pods tied to their legs paces the beat for the orchestra.

As the accession ceremony approaches its climax, forty men assemble for an important task. With ropes and long skids, they haul the great broken stela depicting Stormy Sky — the monument carved 236 years before — up the staircase and into the rear chamber of the Red Temple. Now, as the incense smoke pours into view, the crowd knows that the completion of the stela ceremony has confirmed Double-Braid’s accession to power.

Prayers, dancing, music — all continue until Lord Sun approaches the jaws of the Underworld. The old priest sprinkles copal into a clay brazier dedicated to the next half-katun. The young king rises; he also makes an offering to the future. This ends the formal rites, and the crowd begins to disperse as night descends.

The priest will find a group to supervise the cleanup tomorrow. He watches the departure of Double-Braid. Maybe now, thought the old priest, the times of trouble will be over. Perhaps, the sculptors can begin carving a new stela. It had been over a century since the last monument had been erected.

About the image:
The Maya vision serpent symbolizes the passage of ancestral spirits and the gods of Xibalba (the Maya underworld) into our world. In states of ecstasy and usually following penis or tongue bloodletting, particularly as graphically depicted at Yaxchilan, Maya mobility invoke the vision serpent. During special ceremonies, bloody papers were burnt in a sacred bowl and from it, this great undulating serpent rises and from its mouth emerges an ancestor or, occasionally, a deity. The serpent itself is probably what one sees in the clouds of smoke rising from the burning sacrifice. The cloud symbols may flank the vision serpent's body. The vision serpent can be the vehicle by which ancestors or deities manifest themselves to humanity. This sculpture depicts a version with a single head and personified blood scrolls attached to its tail.

Sources:
The Ancient Maya
Ancient MesoAmerica
Maya Mythology
The Mysterious Maya, George E. Stuart and Gene S. Stuart, National Geographic Society Publication Division
Map of MesoAmerica