La Importancia del Bautismo: Don Juan de Rojas y Don Juan Cortés

Don Juan de Rojas and Don Juan Cortés are the first Spanish names in the lineage of K’iche’ lords, signaling the influence of the Spanish and Catholicism after the Spanish conquest. Christenson (2007: 297n862) states that, “early evangelization efforts focused on survivors of the old highland Maya nobility in the hope that they would set an example for the rest of the people. Baptism was also a necessary step for any Maya of noble birth who aspired to a place in the new political order, since without it the Spanish authorities would not recognize their legitimacy or territorial claims. That this is the case here is evident by the title ‘Don.’ This was given to those Maya noblemen who professed faith in Christ as well as those who would prove their legitimacy in court. Many of the documents composed by the Maya in the sixteenth century were ‘titles’ written for the purpose of establishing the legal legitimacy of former ruling lords and their descendants in an effort to recover hereditary honors."

It is also important to note that the perception of such Spanish influence shifted among the K’iche’ over time. Sparks (2017: 25) analyzes the Popol Wuj alongside the Title of Totonicapán and the Theologia Indorum, “the lengthy theological treatise written by the Spanish Dominican friar Domingo de Vico sometime during the late 1540s and early 1550s. It is arguably the first original, explicit Christian theology to have been elaborated in the Americas—​ in either North or South—​ and remains the longest single text written in any indigenous American language.” Later in the book, he notes that both the Popol Wuj and the Title of Totonicapán were written after the Theologia Indorum, yet while the, “Title of Totonicapán heavily borrows from and builds on the Theologia Indorum (in addition to some of the same source material found in the Popol Wuj) the author-​ redactors of the Popol Wuj seem to have read Vico’s theology but used it for very different purposes. Whereas, Vico appears to have had access to some of the same indigenous source material as did the Maya writers of these two late contemporaneous texts, which he appropriated and adapted along with ceremonial Maya language for his own purposes, the Popol Wuj seems to use the first volume of the Theologia Indorum as a foil against which to reassert a distinctively pre-​ Hispanic Maya worldview” (Sparks 2017: 209). Thus, the K’iche’ authors of the Popol Wuj attempted to combat the increasing influence of Catholicism. Yet, as time passed, and specifically by the 14^th generation, the K’iche’ elites began to view Catholicism as a way to harness their power. Sparks (2017: 251-252) notes that, “In 1640 later K’iche’ elites, possibly at the behest of residents of the village of Santa Clara La Laguna, made a copy of the 1583 document and submitted it to the colonial courts as evidence regarding litigation between Santa Clara La Laguna and the neighboring Tz’utujil Maya village of San Juan Atitlán. Presumably the tensions between the K’iche’ and Tz’utujil since 1425—​ or as the text states over the past one hundred or two hundred years—​ had continued, but Maya elites now viewed the colonial system as a possible means of redress and protection of their pre-​ Hispanic status, property, and privileges, such as indicated by the continued use of pre-​contact titles like popol winaq (council member) together with Spanish honorifics like don (“sir,” “mister,” or “lord”).” This shift from a resistance to Catholicism to a strategic attempt to utilize it to ensure the continued power of the K’iche’ elites provides key evidence regarding the changes in names seen during the 14^th generation.