'Mayan Bible' draws experts, immigrants (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

	Posted on Sat, Mar. 04, 2006		

'Mayan Bible' draws experts, immigrants

BY OSCAR AVILA
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/living/14004808.htm  

  CHICAGO -- In a secluded corner of the Newberry Library, archivists slowly
take apart the yellowing book considered the Mayan Bible for its epic narrative
of the Sovereign Plumed Serpent and other gods creating the world. 

  Like other Newberry treasures over the years -- a Shakespeare first folio,
letters from Columbus -- the Popol Vuh attracts scholars. 

  But unlike any other rare text at the library, the Popol Vuh also draws
immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico, descendants of the Mayans who make their
way to the library so they can reverently page through the 188-page book full
of elegant script, in Spanish and the Mayan language of Quiche. 

  As researchers from the Newberry and Brigham Young University transfer the
book's contents to CD-ROM, they also recognize that the world's oldest known
Popol Vuh manuscript remains a sacred document that many visitors will want to
see and hold in the printed form. 

  The restoration of the book, being done at the same time as the CD-ROM
project, will make the Popol Vuh sturdier for visitors such as a Mayan priest
who was so moved after beholding the text that he performed a blessing, a
ritual offered to the four points of the compass. Staffers barred the candles. 

  "People come from all over the world to see this as a sacred object. As
stewards of cultural collections, we don't take the 'warehouse' approach. We
are trying to make this accessible to a broad public," said Melissa McAfee,
Newberry vice president for library services. 

  The story of the Popol Vuh -- "council book" in the Quiche language -- dates
to no later than the mid-1500s, scholars say. 

  It's not clear what form the story may have taken before Europeans came to
the continent. For many Mayans, it may have been communicated orally. Some
scholars believe that parts of the tale were depicted in picture form,
incorporated into the building of Mayan temples. Some theorize that the Mayans,
who mastered phonetic writing, captured it on paper. 

  But the oldest known manuscript, the Newberry's, dates to the early 1700s,
when a Spanish friar named Francisco Ximenez put a Quiche version and Spanish
translation on paper. 

  The book, which combines the Popol Vuh with Ximenez's guide for Spain's
governance of Central America, ended up in Guatemala City before a French
priest brought it to Paris. 

  Edward Ayer, a member of the Newberry's board and book collector, bought the
book from a dealer there and eventually included it in a donation to the
Newberry Library in 1911. 

  There, it has remained one of the centerpieces of scholarship about the Mayan
people, a book so important that officials at BYU's Center for the Preservation
of Ancient Religious Texts considered it a worthy follow-up to other
digitization projects such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

  "It really is a very rich text. I would say this is the single most important
literary work to come out of the New World," said Allen Christenson, a BYU
humanities professor and project director. 

  Although the Mayan empire included parts of Mexico, Quiche speakers are
mainly in Guatemala. Guatemala's president has requested a paper reproduction
of the Popol Vuh after the restoration. 

  Gustavo Lopez, Guatemala's consul general in Chicago, said his nation has
mixed emotions about its national treasure residing in Chicago, even in good
hands. Lopez said the government has never made a formal request to regain the
work, but he wishes Newberry would consider voluntarily returning it. 

  "Guatemala doesn't want to start a conflict with a nonprofit organization,"
Lopez said. "But we would like to have it in Guatemala because it is a vital
part of our national patrimony." 

  Library officials sidestepped the question, saying they would not comment on
the idea because officials have gotten no formal requests from the Guatemalan
government. 

  The restoration will make library officials feel more comfortable about
letting visitors handle the book by rebinding it with a flexible but sturdy
cover. 

  To take apart the book, Giselle Simon, director of conservation services, has
already removed the cover and is using a jelly-like adhesive to loosen the glue
holding together the spine. She must then remove brittle pages, with holes
caused by insects that burrowed in the pages, likely in Guatemala centuries
ago. 

  Brittle or not, the book strikes a deep chord with Jose Oliva, a Chicago man
born in Guatemala with Quiche roots. Oliva, who still performs indigenous
rituals, said the book holds deep significance for all his countrymen, even
those who are Catholic or evangelical Christians. 

  The first time Oliva saw the book, he was speechless and said he felt a deep
connection to his ancestors from centuries ago. Since then, he has taken
Guatemalan visitors to the Newberry a half-dozen times. 

  "It's a chance to see the origins of my people. It is a matter of pride,"
Oliva said. 

  Oliva even theorizes that some Guatemalans were drawn to Chicago because of
the Popol Vuh, a claim impossible to substantiate, but one that speaks to its
role as the country's "national book." 

  While Guatemalans will enjoy a restored hard copy, BYU's new electronic
version should satisfy scholars, who had to page through the manuscript or rely
on a spotty microfilm version produced three decades ago. The book is entirely
text. 

  BYU scholars will take high-resolution photographs of each page and likely
run them through a scanner. The pages will then be placed on CD-ROM, allowing
scholars to search the Popol Vuh by word. The disc also will include photos,
maps, links and even an audio reading of the work in Quiche. BYU will pay for
the project, which will cost "in the upper five figures" and should be finished
next year, Christenson said. 

  The book will likely be unavailable until May. Library officials ask visitors
to contact them to see the book. 

  Robert Karrow, Newberry's curator of special collections, says it makes more
sense to view the CD-ROM. But he fully appreciates that in the case of Popol
Vuh, sentiment often wins out. 

  "There's something to be said in looking at the original," he said.  

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