ACTS OF FAITH

Evidence emerges of the day in 1562 when an infamous Spanish cleric tried to destroy Maya religion

- By DANIEL WEISS

This ceramic incensario, or incense burner (center), is of a type dating to the Late Postclassic period (1300-1450) that the Maya people of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula used to burn offerings. Archaeologists excavated thousands of ceramic fragments in the city of Maní, some of which are shown here. They believe the fragments are evidence of a 1562 ritual led by Franciscan missionary Diego de Landa during which thousands of such incensarios were smashed.

IN MAY 1562, Diego de Landa, the highest-ranking Catholic authority in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, received word that a large number of idols, along with human bones and deer meat, had been discovered in a cave near the town of Maní. Landa had spent the previous 13 years as a Franciscan missionary fervently converting the region's Indigenous Maya people to Christianity and attempting to stamp out pagan worship. Yet here was clear evidence that idolatrous practices persisted—possibly including human sacrifice. Landa commissioned the friars in Maní to investigate this outbreak of heretical behavior among Maya who had already been baptized. People living near the cave confessed that they had appealed to the idols in an attempt to increase rainfall and to obtain assistance in hunting deer. Landa's fellow Franciscans and a network of Maya informants fanned out across the peninsula, confiscating a massive collection of idols. By July, according to Spanish legal records, they had investigated 6,300 Maya, subjecting many to harsh questioning under torture. They had also meted out punishments including ritual humiliation, public flogging, and forced servitude to more than 4,500 people. At least 157 individuals had died as a result, 32 had been permanently maimed, and dozens had been driven to suicide.