Chilam Balamとは 意味・読み方・使い方

The Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 18th-century Mayan miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Mayan and early Spanish traditions have coalesced. Written in the Yucatec Maya language and using the Latin alphabet, the manuscripts are attributed to a legendary author called Chilam Balam, a chilam being a priest who gives prophecies and balam a common surname meaning 'jaguar'. Some of the texts actually contain prophecies about the coming of the Spaniards to Yucatan while mentioning a chilam Balam as their first author.