Brief Description
The Chilam Balam is a scripture of the Mayan people dated to after the time of the Spanish conquest. The scripture used ancient Mayan scripture and hieroglyphics and wrote about the time, history, religion, language, ritual, calendar and astronomy of the Mayans of the time. The Chilam Balam also shows the integration of the Spanish and Mayan cultures as the earlier parts of the book was written in hieroglyphics whereas the later parts showed scripture.
What it Tells us About Society
The Chilam Balam tells us a lot about society at the time as it shows us the Mayan knowledge and understanding of the world at the time. It also shows us the influence of the Spanish as it evolves from hieroglyphics to scripture as time progressed. It tells us that because of the Spanish, many people learnt language and the common way to communicate with eachother changed from pictures to words.
Reliability and Usefulness
The reliability of this text is high as the scripture has been deciphered and tells us about the things that Mayans practiced and believed at the time. The usefulness of the Chilam Balam is also high as it tells us many things about how Mayans lived and what they used such as their calendar and religious beliefs.