Mary Elmendorf's Footage of the Chan Kom Maya, Yucatan, Mexico
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: HSFA 1990.8.1
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Elmendorf, Mary L. (Mary Lindsay)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Mary Elmendorf collection
physdesc: label: Extent
content: Film reels (1 hour 45 minutes, color silent; 3,794 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1970-1971 and 1976
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Footage documenting significant features of ritual and daily life in the settlement of Chan Kom, the Maya village first studied by anthropologist Robert Redfield. Included are scenes of a "hand washing" ceremony known in Mayan as tzicil in which parents welcome and ritually express their gratitude to the godparents of a young child; a chac-chaac ceremony which is held at some distance from the village to bring rain; offerings of balche to the gods; and gremios, akin to trade union fraternities, in which different families are entitled to carry specially decorated candles in ceremonial processions.