MUNÁ.- For those who are not from First and go to a funeralafter passing the deceased through the rest of the municipal cemetery, you will not fail to be surprised by the presence in one of the corners of a log. It doesn’t go unnoticed.
That trunk is not just another objectno one left it forgotten in that place to use as firewood later; Although immobile and lifeless, he is another character in the community. Essing Essential oakwitness of the painful farewells of the mourners to those who left for eternal rest, to the new guests of the pantheon.
Offerings of cigarettes and alcohol for Muna’s koojon’che
To this day, in many funerals there is a person, bereaved or not, who is in charge of performing, during the last minutes of the deceased on the face of the earth, the well-known tribute to koojon’ che: offering him cigars and a bottle of liquor.
Of the cigars, there are versions that say that you should be invited to 9 or 13, although some, in order not to find out if the trunk will later go for the rest, leave the entire pack.
The cigarettes are fixed in slots or holes in the wood and lity alcohol is poured on him. If there is any content left, the bottles are left at your feet. Nothing is taken.
Legends of Yucatán: the koojon’che, ancestral trunk that receives the dead
Among the things that the author of this writing heard from the stories of doña Toyathe only grandmother he knew, on his paternal side, that the trunk went out at night to walk the streets of the town.
According to some versions He was looking for new dead, and it was not a good omen if someone heard him passing by..
His step was heard but not seen.. And if curiosity was more powerful than fear, Chichí Toya mentioned that there was a way to force him to make himself visible: take a handful of pebbles and throw them in the direction where you could hear the trunk passing by.
And what was then done with the koojon’ che if it materialized?
It is a mystery because time has done its work on memory. The logical thing would be for it to be taken back to the cemetery… or for someone to do so because whoever achieved its materialization would surely lose their life or sanity. But of course, they were just stories.
According to information obtained, The trunk was the one used to flatten, to tamp the earth of the graves when the burials were carried out on bare earth..
This was before the pits began to be built with walls covered in blocks or concrete.
In fact, the practice would take its name from that practice. koojon’ that:
- brothertamp, hit, beat
- That‘, tree, wood, stick.
This was done to make the ground firm and prevent or make it difficult for scavengers to dig up the corpse and eat it. And through that practice, stories sprinkled with mystery emerged.
On the wood, the archaeologist Fátima Santos Pachecooriginally from that town, indicates that the location it occupies in the koojon’che at the cemetery landing says something interesting.
“It’s in the southwest, how they bury people”.
Regarding the conservation of traditions, the professional says that Nowadays, not all families of the deceased comply with leaving cigarettes or alcohol as offerings..
Mayan tradition, still present in today’s Yucatan
In a story published online by Ely Alonzowho identifies herself as “a fan of reading and writing, especially legend topics,” it is indicated that “the koojon’ che in a utensil close to death.
At the termination of 19th century Still under the colonial regime, burials were carried out in the pantheons located in the atriums of the temples or inside the churches, of the people who could pay because the fee was high.
According to the publication, the Muna cemetery began to be built at that time, when most of the cemeteries did not have good hygiene and safety conditions, and there was the possibility that animals would remove the remains.
“In Muna, the trunk of a tree was used to compact the earth”.
Ely Alonzo mentions that legend has it that, with the use of the log when the burial was carried out, the practice of putting liquor, beer or cigarettes in it began “so that the koojon’ che – which is also said to be a spirit – does not come out at night to take someone.”
“Whoever dared to steal the liquor, the spirit could take it, so everyone respected the offerings. When at night the sharp knocking of the door was heard in a house, it was said that the soul was there.”.
It is said, he says, that when offerings were not made by the relatives of the deceased to the koojon’ che they heard the sound as if they were hitting the ground.
“This tradition is unique in Muna. And it persists in our days”, concludes the publication.
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