A brief overview of storm history in the Mayan área

Abstract

In the rich traditional dance culture of contemporary indigenous people of Guatemala there are a few dance dramas whose musical accompaniment is provided by an ensemble consisting of one or two natural trumpets, a slit drum and eventually a turtle shell. All of these usical instrument types have an evident evident pre-Conquest past. Not quite as evident is at what precise moment in colonial times and under what the changes occurred which distinguish present day trumpets morphologically from their Maya Classic and Postclassic predecessors. In his article, the author discussesa short fragment from a text written in the early 17th century which actually indicatesa place (the so-called "bocacosta" which connects the Guatemalan highlands with the Pacific coast), a moment in time (before the 1620s) and a specific context (the "Tun dances" prohibited by the Catholic church for their idolatrous and sacrificial content) where those changes seem to have taken place.