Listening an Armadillo/Wech Song, Some Notes about Armadillo’s Maya Yucatec Symbolism

Commentry Two versions of this popular yucatec song were collected by two yucatec writers: Jose Tec Poot and Gerardo Can Pat [1]. I will begin by giving the version of Gerardo Can Pat, who has not been published and is the more extent, with notes about the variations of Jose Tec Poot’s text. After that I will make some comments about the relation between the ts’ul and the armadillo and give some details about a cooking recipe and a play. Let just say in introduction for the non Yucatec speaking people that the ts’ul is, at the time of the conquest, the Spanish people, but he is also a « padre-padrone » and a mythical ancestor. In contemporary time, he may design North American people. U k’ayil chan weech Song of the little armadillo Collected and transcribed by Gerardo Can Pat (this song is sung in melancholic and monotonous tone but, unfortunately, the music has not been transcribed) Chichan weche le a chan polo U yo’och oon yum ts’ul (bis) Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ [2] Little armadillo, here is your little head The avocado-pear food of father ts’ul Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ [3] Chichan weche le a chan soolo’ U platon yum ts’ul (bis) Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ Little armadillo, here is your little shell The plate of father ts’ul [4] Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ Refrain Amara k’ankab amara bu’tun Tii kalap k’ankab Ku man chichan wech Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ By the plains and the hills In the rutted tracks You go, little armadillo Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ Chichan weche le a chan neho’ U xolte’ yum ts’ul (bis) Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ Little armadillo, here is your tail The stick of father ts’ul Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’ Chichan weche le a chan mo’olo U trinchante ts’ul (bis) Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’, Dzum-Dzi’

Two versions of this popular yucatec song were collected by two yucatec writers: Jose Tec Poot and Gerardo Can Pat [1]. I will begin by giving the version of Gerardo Can Pat, who has not been published and is the more extent, with notes about the variations of Jose Tec Poot's text. After that I will make some comments about the relation between the ts'ul and the armadillo and give some details about a cooking recipe and a play. Let just say in introduction for the non Yucatec speaking people that the ts'ul is, at the time of the conquest, the Spanish people, but he is also a « padre-padrone » and a mythical ancestor. In contemporary time, he may design North American people.

U k'ayil chan weech
Song of the little armadillo Collected and transcribed by Gerardo Can Pat (this song is sung in melancholic and monotonous tone but, unfortunately, the music has not been transcribed)

Refrain
Every part of the armadillo's body is detailed and refer to a ts'ul 's feature. It could be a body part but also a peace of clothes, a tool, and, in case of the ts'ul 's lady, a jewellery… Why this symbolism? Was the armadillo a royal animal? We know that the Spanish, and English, name was composed because the Spanish compare the armadillo's shell to an armor. And as the Spanish soldiers wore armors, so armadillo and Spanish fit together. But this song seems more ancient that the Spanish conquest and we find symbolism of the armadillo or wech in the preconquest documents. In the Madrid codex, we found several figures of the armadillo, and some of them are in dual context, referring to the subterran and celestial nature of the animal [5].
The wech is still an appreciated even if its' better to tell after finishing what was the meat that your guest eats. As if the armadillo's nature was masked, in the order of the invisible and the mythical. But probably also the armadillo has to be interpreted in relation with the ts'ul's nature: apparently handsome and perfumed, he is inside and stinking and ugly. José Tec has a more univocal interpretation: the song's form is "constituted in a grotesque an buffoon meaning, it is very possible that to choose the wech as a joke's object in relation with the strangers (i.e the Spanish) is because this animal has a strong nauseating flavor". But Jose doesn't consider that, prepared in a proper way, the animal test very good and can be confused with the pig.

Global Journal of Archaeology & Anthropology
Your next submission with Juniper Publishers will reach you the below assets This dialectic can be found in the origin's myth of another lady: the X-tabay, in which the good lady, uts kolel, when she dies, began to stick horribly as her counterpart, the sinner, x-keban, has an odor of sanctity. Some decades ago, an armadillo's game was played in the village of Tabi [6], in which I have a house, since 40 years. This game consist in burying the animal and let just his tail appear. And everybody try to take out the animal by the tail. It is not so easy but you can do it if you know the secret: ask to a young lady to piss around the tail! We found in this little mischievous game.
a. The relation of the armadillo with the excrement and the sticky, b. His double nature: very strong and easy to beat if you know how to do… As the ts'ul.