Bridging Cosmologies: Gaspar Antonio Chi and Maya Cultural Continuity in Colonial Yucatán

This paper is an examination of how the Maya were able to preserve their indigenous cultural and religious traditions after the conquest despite intensive efforts by the Spanish Franciscan authorities to eradicate them and replace them with Catholic European values. A close examination of the life of the famous Maya interpreter Gaspar Antonio Chi is used as a case study to show how a high-profile Maya elite was able to secretly act as a religious authority to his people in order to preserve Maya religion and culture after the conquest.