“When Your Heart Goes to Greenness and Yellowness There in the Heavens”: Exploring the Theologia Indorum

^{The first page of the Theologia Indorum by Domingo de Vico, Mss.497.4.Ua13, at the American Philosophical Society.}

This May, I had the pleasure of being a short-term fellow at the American Philosophical Society. Spring was in full swing in Philadelphia, and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States set a lively background for research at the Society. During my time at the APS, I had the chance to consult many collections, including the Ruben E. Reina Papers, the Mayan Language Texts, 1553–1727, and the Victoria R. Bricker Papers. Though all the materials were fascinating, my personal favorite was the Theologia Indorum (1553) by Spanish friar Domingo de Vico, accompanied by Garry Sparks’s analysis of the work, The Americas’ First Theologies: Early Sources of Post-Contact Indigenous Religion.

The Theologia Indorum—which translates to “Theology of/for the Indians”—is the oldest Indigenous language manuscript at the APS. Written in K’iche’, a Mayan language, the work is an explanation of Christian concepts intended for a literate Maya audience. The copy at the APS contains 185 leaves and marginalia throughout, as well as a marca de fuego (fire brand) stamped on the foredge. The marca de fuego appears similar to the intertwined T, E, S, C, O design of the Convento de San Antonio, however, it is slightly different from the example provided by the Catálogo Colectivo de Marcas de Fuego. There is an additional brand along the top which looks like a capital “F” or an “E” missing the bottom line within a circle, similar to the monogram of the Convento de los Ángeles—however, this brand, too, is slightly different.

Though originally meant to assist Spanish clerics in the conversion of the Maya, the author of the Theologia Indorum actually absorbs Maya beliefs, traditions, and writings in order to reply to them. Rather than being an attempt to simply translate Catholic doctrine into K’iche’, the Theologia Indorum is an exercise in applying Maya “cosmogonic narratives” to Christian frameworks. The manuscript is an exceptional item because it demonstrates the active exchange and adaptation of knowledge between the Spanish and the Maya, highlighting the agency the Maya maintained throughout colonization.

For example, throughout the Theologia Indorum, and as explored extensively in Garry Sparks’s translation and analysis, Domingo de Vico employs the Maya concept of “yellowness and greenness.” Sparks translates a passage that states:

This now here is the “yellowness and greenness” of God, the great lord that I speak about, that I sow as its telling to you all. May it color the noon sky, the “greenness and yellowness” of God,  the great lord, for it is not only mud brick, only water its existence, it is not like the ages and periods of time of human existence, it is larger than all that exists, it is not like the large estates here on the face of the earth where people exist…

According to Sparks, the “Yellowness and greenness” mentioned throughout the Theologia Indorum (and other texts) was used by Dominican authors to refer to “earthly paradise,” God’s glory, and the bienaventuranzas. However, the concept of “yellowness and greenness,” q’anal raxal, was used widely across Maya languages in pre-Columbian contexts, and represented fertility as well as the “wealth and abundance” associated with maize harvest. Domingo de Vico’s choice to use “yellowness and greenness” therefore carried on K’iche’, not Spanish, constructs of divinity and glory.

An additional term Domingo de Vico uses is Xib’alb’a as a representation of Christian hell. Sparks translates a section which states:

If you will not begin, if you will not go with God, if you then will not believe in God, you should respect your mother, your father Framer and Former as spoken of, whose name is God, the great lord, or you go to Xib’alb’a; if then you would believe in God, you would respect the law of heaven.

Throughout the Theologia, the failure to convert and heed God’s words means suffering in Xib’alb’a, which is the Mayan underworld known as “the place of fear.” Interestingly, however, Xib’alb’a is also a place of life: the “watery base” where the roots of the Maya world tree begin. In both of the aforementioned examples, the Mayan terms used by Domingo de Vico are not exact translations for Christian concepts, leaving room for Maya interpretation and revision. 

The Theologia Indorum represents the active participation the Indigenous Maya had in the exchange of knowledge with the Spanish. More broadly, the Theologia Indorum challenges characterizations of Indigenous Americans as passive receptors of colonization. This item was truly the highlight of my fellowship, and I recommend all future fellows explore the manuscript!