Bride of Thunder (58 page)

But it was not until 1901, during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz, that General Bravo conquered Chan Santa Cruz. However, the Cruzob region became the Territory of Quintana Roo, separate from Yucatán.

Actual People

Jacinto Canek—descendant of the Itzá who led revolt at Quisteil

Marcos Canul—leader of the Icaiche Mayas who raided into Belize. A
pro forma
official of Campeche, he was supposed to fight the Cruzob

Carlota—empress of Mexico during French intervention; went insane; died in her native Belgium fifty years after her husband was executed

Cecilio Chi—Mayan
batab,
one of original starters of the War of the Castes; favored killing all whites

José Ilarregui—imperial commissioner in Yucatán 1864–67; allowed to leave Mérida by Peraza after city fell

Benito Juárez—President of Mexico at time of intervention; insisted on Maximilian's execution in spite of foreign pleas for mercy; he and Lincoln greatly esteemed each other; probably Mexico's most revered leader

Maximilian—Austrian archduke, brother of Franz Joseph, who was Emperor of Austria and head of the Hapsburgs; shot at the Hill of Bells between two of his loyal Mexican generals

Manuel Nahuat—probably threw his voice to make the Talking Cross speak; killed in 1851

Bonifacio Novelo—“The assassin of Valladolid,” one of the original conspirators, a mestizo;
tatich
at the time of this novel

Jacinto Pat—an original conspirator who wished to replace
ladino
government but was willing to allow whites to remain in the country; negotiations with
ladinos
angered rival chiefs and he was murdered in 1849

Crescencio Poot—general of the plaza at time of this novel; a man of blood and massacres

Cepeda Peraza—an idealist who fought repeatedly for liberal values and Yucatecan independence; took Mérida from imperialists and was governor of Yucatán till his death in 1870

Daniel Traconis—commander of the fifty-day holdout of Tihosuco against the Mayas in 1866, and in charge of Imperial forces in Mérida during the fifty-five-day siege of that city by Peraza in 1867.

Glossary

administrador
—manager of hacienda. Wealthy Yucatecans seldom lived on their plantations, preferring the cities.

aguada
—water hole

aguardiente
—strong drink, most often rum

Balamob
(Mayan)—Mayan deities who guard cornfields and village crosses

balam na
(Mayan)—God's House, particularly the one built at Chan Santa Cruz

batab
(Mayan)—chief

cacique
—chief

camino real
—main or royal road (which wasn't saying much)

cargador
—member of a religious brotherhood who was in charge of putting on a patron saint's fiesta

ceiba
—sacred tree of the Mayas, the kapok

cenote
—a cave well or hole in limestone, northern Yucatán's main source of water

chaac
(Mayan)—rain god. There were also lesser
chaacs
.

chan
(Mayan)—small

Chan Kiuic
—valley where Talking Cross first appeared, slightly west of Chan Santa Cruz

Chan Santa Cruz
—Little Holy Cross; shrine and center of Cruzob empire; now known as Felipe Carrillo Puerto, after Yucatán president who translated constitution into Mayan

Chilam Balam
(Mayan)—Prophet of God; alleged author of holy books

choza
—thatched hut, basically the same now as in classical Mayan times

copal
—tree whose resin was used for incense, also to treat asthma

Cruzob
(Mayan)—rebel Mayas united by the Talking Cross

cuatro narices
or
barba amarillo
—fer-de-lance, poisonous snake

degüello
—bugle call for “no quarter,” known as the “throat-cutting,” and played, among other places, at the Alamo, in Texas

dzul
(Mayan)—white man, foreigner

epazote
—wormweed, used as a purgative

garrapatas
—chiggers; small larval mites that suck blood and cause irritation

hacendado
—owner of a hacienda or large plantation

henequén
—type of agave from which rope and twine were made

H-men
(Mayan)—sort of priest herb doctor who retained some bits of ancient Mayan knowledge and advised when to plant, etc.

huipil
(Mayan)—woman's garment, often embroidered

Huits
(Mayan)—“Those who wear loincloths”; Mayas who hadn't been brought under Spanish influence at time of War of the Castes

Itzá
—strong group of Mayas and last to be conquered. Tradition said one of them would successfully vanquish the whites.

Ixchel
(Mayan)—goddess of healing, the moon, and childbirth

Kisin
(Mayan)—earthquake god (equivalent of the devil)

Kuilob Kaaxob
(Mayan)—guardians of the wild forests

ladino
—Yucatecan of white or mixed descent who owed allegiance to white culture rather than Mayan. Some mestizos or mixed bloods were
ladinos,
while some of the most important Cruzob leaders were mestizo

maestro cantor
—lay leader of religious rites, often filling in for priests. One great strength of the Cruzob was in creating their own religious hierarchy and being independent of
ladino
priests.

mayordomo
—overseer;
mayordomo secundo
—overseer of second rank

Mazehual
(Mayan)—ordinary Maya

mestizo
—of Spanish and Indian descent

milpa
—cornfield

nohoch
(Mayan)—great;
tata nohoch
or
tatich
—Great Father;
tata nohoch zul
—Great Father Spy

Pacal
—priest-king during heyday of Maya. His tomb, at Palenque, is very splendid.

pibil
(Mayan)—way of roasting meat, highly spiced, wrapped in leaves and buried in pit.
Cochinita pibil
(little pig
pibil
) was and is a popular dish, but other meat was also cooked thus.

plaza
—square at the center of town. Larger towns might have several, and then the main one was the Plaza Mayor. It was a place for markets, celebrations, and executions.

pozole
—corn gruel and beans

ramon
—breadfruit tree. People ate its fruit, and its leaves were valued for grazing by horses and cattle.

La Santísima
—Most Holy, the Talking Cross

sapodilla
—chicle tree

tamen
(Mayan)—harmony between man and heaven

tata polin
(Mayan)—interpreter of the Talking Cross

tata chikiuc
(Mayan)—general of the plaza, supreme military commander of Cruzob, though he was under command of the
tatich

toloache
—jimsonweed; a narcotic pain-killer

tunkul
(Mayan)—long wooden drum used by Mayas

yuntzilob
(Mayan)—spirit protecting fields

yoyotli
—plant whose powder was tossed in face of sacrificial victims to narcotize them

yoloxochitl
—Mexican magnolia, used for heart ailments

zic
(Mayan)—cold pit-roasted meat dish

Acknowledgments

Very grateful thanks go to Señora Barbara de Montes, of Mérida and Cancén, for so enthusiastically introducing me to Yucatán and so generously sharing her knowledge on everything from birds to architecture—especially for pointing out private places and knowing it was important for me to sometimes do some solitary brooding. Thanks, also, to David Uicab, who showed me many beautiful things about his country; to Merle Greene Robertson, who revealed fascinating information about Mayan ruins; to Señor Moises Morales for sharing his conclusions about the Mayan decline; and to Señor Alberto Montes Laviada, who smoothed a journey and made it possible to visit his family's henequen hacienda. And I thank the winds that spoke at the cenote of X-toloc and the black vulture that witnessed my intention.

About the Author

Born on the High Plains near the tracks of the Santa Fe Trail, Jeanne Williams's first memories are of dust storms, tumbleweeds, and cowboy songs. Her debut novel,
Tame the Wild Stallion
, was published in 1957. Since then, Williams has published sixty-eight more books, most with the theme of losing one's home and identity and beginning again with nothing but courage and hope, as in the Spur Award–winning
The Valiant Women
(1980). She was recently inducted into the Western Writers Hall of Fame, and has won four Western Writers of America Spur Awards and the Levi Strauss Saddleman Award. For over thirty years, Williams has lived in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1978 by Jeanne Williams

Cover design by Connie Gabbert

ISBN: 978-1-5040-3634-4

This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

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