Department of Anthropology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Las figurillas y la materialidad del humor entre los Mayas del pasado
Identificar el humor en el registro arqueológico es enormemente difícil, si no imposible, ya que la risa, la ironía y la diversión dependen en gran medida de las circunstancias contextuales. No obstante, es importante reconocer que el humor formó parte del pasado tanto como del presente. Este artículo examina el humor de los antiguos mayas a través de la perspectiva de las figurillas de cerámica. Se sostiene que la materialidad de las figurillas del Clásico Tardío y Terminal (ca. 600-1000 EC) propiciaba la alegría, y permitía relativizar los asuntos graves y burlarse de los demás. Al igual que los dibujos y grabados de otros períodos, las figurillas encarnaban una forma de arte visual que era, en términos relativos, temporalmente fugaz, ampliamente disponible, informal y de pequeña escala. La materialidad de estas figurillas fue singular en este momento de la historia maya, ya que el tema, las cantidades y las formas de las figurillas cambiaron durante el período Posclásico (ca. 1000-1521 EC).
Palabras claves: figurillas, maya, Clásico Tardío, Clásico Terminal, Posclásico, materialidad, humor, comedia, payaso ritual, narrativa oral, cultura popular.
I wish to thank Juliette Testard and Brigitte Faugère for their kind invitation to be a part of this special section of papers on Mesoamerican figurines and for their patience during a year of global turmoil. In times of angst and great uncertainty, humor is often needed more than ever. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the conference “Past Laughter: Humor in Ancient America” at the Library of Congress in Washington (DC), and I would like to thank its organizer, Stephen Houston, for inviting me and providing a fun and stimulating space for thinking about ancient humor. I thank Prudence Rice and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments.
Figurine characters and benign violations of the social norm
Although it is impossible to know for sure when artistic works were benign violations of the social norm, certain themes emerge as probable candidates (Critchley 2002). Among these are animal-human reversals, in which animals take on human-like characteristics or humans take on animal-like characteristics that allow for social commentary and highlight the playfulness of crossing boundaries. Monkeys, in particular, play this role nicely as they are so closely human without being human. In sacred Maya lore, such as the Popol Vuh, they are the ultimate tricksters and social deviants who are said to look “funny” with their bulging bellies (Tedlock 1996). In Classic period imagery, they appear as performers, sometimes hold musical instruments, wear cloth ear pendants characteristic of liminal figures, expose their male genitals, and cavort about (Figure 1) (Benson 1994; Halperin 2014: 127-130; Taube 1989). On the five festival days at the end of the year (uayeb), the Tzotzil Maya impersonate monkeys in public dance-dramas and street theatre. As Victoria Bricker (1973: 9) notes, these monkey performers “ignore the normative code in an orgy of drinking and obscene behavior. It is against this background that performances of ritual humor occur.” They make noises, taunt the audience with their jeers, and joke that they will carry the girls off to their tree branches, to the response of giggles and laughter from the audience (ibid: 94-95). Other animals in both contemporary and Classic periods play similar roles, such as the coati, the opossum, and dogs (Taube 1989; Taube and Taube 2009). Like monkeys, these animals are inherently playful, and lend themselves to ritual clowning and buffoonery.






Ritual clowns
In addition to oral narratives, Mesoamerican peoples, alongside their neighbors in the US Southwest, have a long tradition of humorous performance genres in which ritual clowns play a central role (Babcock 1984; Bricker 1973; Brightman 1999; Tedlock 1975). From his visit to the Mexica royal court, Bernal Díaz del Castillo noted that Montezuma’s entourage included humpbacked dwarves who entertained the royal court at his meals. As he remarked, “These were his jesters. There were other Indians who told him jokes and must have been his clowns, and others who sang and danced” (Díaz del Castillo 1963: 227). Similarly, Ah Bam from the Colonial Yucatecan Cantares de Dzitbalché also notes that performers at Maya Uayeb ceremonies consisted of musicians, comedians, dancers, contortionists, jumpers, and hunchbacks, who gathered together in the main square to entertain spectators (Barrera Vásquez 1965: 71). Contemporary Maya dance-dramas, carnivals, and festivals indicate that spectators and more informal participants may also participate in the ritual clowning and antics of public festivities. For example, contemporary Maya carnival festivities in Chamula in Chiapas, Mexico, include the participation of “dependent” monkeys who possess formal performative roles alongside other stock characters, such as the Spanish Lady, the Ritual Advisor’s Wife, and the Passions. More informal “independent” monkeys, however, are also present and can be played by anyone who wants to dress up and engage in festive antics (including children). They mock authority figures and cause general disruption (Bricker 1973: 93-98, fig. 13). These more informal performers add to the more chaotic, spontaneous, and humorous aspect of the festivities (see also Hutcheson 2009). In turn, some indigenous dances, such as the masked dances of the convites of Momostenago, Guatemala, are highly receptive to change and improvisation. Rather than conforming to a fixed narrative and plot, they incorporate the very latest sources of social reflection and commentary, with dancers wearing masks of current world leaders and the latest horror movie characters alongside more traditional masked figures of monkeys and those inverting social roles (i.e. men portraying drunk women), to create comedic effects within an indigenous Maya cultural logic of performance (Taube 2009). Late and Terminal Classic figurines also underscore the public performative nature of many of the figurine characters, indicating that these animal-like and supernatural beings were not just characters in oral traditions, but also came to life during ancient festivities, ceremonies, and dance-dramas (Halperin 2014: 94-142; Houston 2006; Inomata 2006; Looper 2009: 215-219). Figurines often depict characters holding dance fans (Figures 4, 6c), playing musical instruments, and positioned in dance poses (Figure 6b). Likewise, a suite of Late and Terminal Classic figurines have been shown with masks or represented as masked performers. While many ancient masked dances and dance-dramas were likely sacred and highly serious, the fact that some of the masked figurines also include monkeys, Fat Men, and other grotesque and trickster-like figures suggests that some ancient performances may have had a lighter side as well (Figure 8). In one unprovenanced Late Classic figurine from the Princeton University Art Museum (Halperin 2014, fig. 4: 10), a dwarf is depicted in dance pose with a mask of a dwarf—an unusual twist in which the ritual clown appears to be imitating himself! Indeed, trickster figures in Native North American folktales, such as Coyote, are known to make themselves the butt of their own jokes (Erdoes and Ortiz 1984: 335-386).
Materiality of humor
Certain types of media lend themselves more freely to a smile or a chuckle. Media that are temporally fleeting, widely available, informal, and small in scale are particularly conducive to laughter and social introspection. It is no coincidence that a 2018 exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington (DC) entitled “Sense of Humor” and featuring comical and satirical visual art from the Renaissance to the 20th century showcased not sculptures or paintings but prints and drawings. They included the works of William Hogarth, James Gillray, and the Guerrilla Girls, among various other artists.[1] As the curators professed: try to think of a painting that is funny—you can’t, they hardly exist. Leonardo da Vinci, who was known for some of the Renaissance’s most famous and austere paintings, for example, also created caricature drawings that distorted human features for humorous effect—the playful antithesis of his mathematical search for ideal beauty (Clayton 2018). Likewise, Miguel Covarrubias, who is one of the most renowned contemporary Mexican painters, was also a skilled caricaturist, making fun of politicians, socialites, and even himself with his exaggerated and simplistic drawings (Figure 9) (Cox and Jones Anderson 1985). Many of his drawings were featured in Vanity Fair and the New Yorker during the 1920s and 1930s, underscoring their role in popular print media.



Postclassic figurines
Maya figurine traditions continued into the Postclassic period, but the imagery depicted, their frequencies, and their meanings shifted. Dwarves and Fat Men disappeared as subjects of figurine imagery (Figures 13, 14). Molded female figurines, often with elaborate accoutrements and clothing denoting their high status, were especially prominent during the Postclassic period (Figures 13a, F14b, c) (Graham 1991; Halperin 2017; Ichon et al. 1980: 203-205; Masson and Peraza Lope 2011; Rands 1965). Male figurines were also present in smaller quantities, although such relative frequencies vary by region (Figure 13b). For example, modeled male figurines (warriors, penis blood-letting figures, musicians, etc.) and modeled zoomorphic figurines dominate the Postclassic assemblage at Santa Rita Corozal, Belize. These figurines were largely recovered from in situ cache contexts and represent offerings of some kind (Chase 1985, 1991; Chase and Chase 2008). Monkey figurines continued in the Postclassic period, although they are relatively rare in comparison to serpents, reptiles, different types of birds, and aquatic animals (Chase and Chase 2008: 86; Masson and Peraza Lope 2011: 130-131).

Conclusion
Relatively rare Late and Terminal Classic figurines from burials and in situ archaeological deposits provide stunning and enchanting figurines for contemporary audiences and scholars to contemplate their subject matters and to assess their depositional histories. Despite the significance of these finds, thousands if not millions of fragmentary Late and Terminal Classic figurines from midden deposits and construction fill contexts are, nonetheless, testimony to their temporally fleeting, widely available, and informal nature during ancient times. Such relative attributes do not signify that Late and Terminal ceramic figurines were always humorous—in fact, most figurines likely were not. Nonetheless, the materiality of these figurines during this particular period—combined with a subject matter that inverted social norms, exaggerated human and animal features, portrayed ulterior trickster figures, and referenced mimetic performances—forged a popular culture that had the potential to crack a smile or even be downright funny. In this sense, humor is not inherently produced from a specific material form or representation. Rather, it emerges at the intersection between these material affordances and oral narratives, cultural knowledge, the social context, and the historical specificity of the moment.Referências
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Notas
[1] https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2018/sense-of-humor.html, accessed on 30/06/21.
[2] Some regions of the Maya area, however, did not produce or consume figurines prolifically. For example, during the Late Classic period, figurine traditions were not strong in the northeastern Maya Lowlands or in certain parts of Belize.

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