God Impersonation

An Impersonator before a representation

God Impersonation (Mutli: ఖొ, K'oh) is a ritual form of worship practiced inside the White Path, especially in the Mutul. God Impersonation consist in several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs that have influenced one another until it became an heterogenous set of highly codified theatrical representations of the divine. It blends dance, theatre, music, satire, facial and body painting, masking, all in an highly religious and ritualistic context. It is thought that God Impersonation find its origin in the concept of Wayob and archaic shamanistic rituals associated to it, were practicioners would either summon or transform into their totemic animal through the use of music, dance, and mind-altering drugs. Today, it is fully separated from the concept of Way, only sharing superficial similarities with the dances and rituals practiced by Shamans or "sorcerers".

Impersonation has a special status in White Path countries, where it is both a form of worship but also a vector of social criticisim and satire unaffected by censorship or other form of political control even in authoritarian countries like the Mutul. While Impersonation is traditionally a ritual practiced mainly by the Mutulese aristocracy, it has now become a common form of both artistic expression and religious devotion among commoners, with temples and other religious institutions always scouting for talented dancers to play central roles during ceremonies.

impersonation is viewed by White Pilgrims as an act of literal transformation, an event of supernatural significance in itself. By adorning the attributes of a Divine and ritually replaying a significant feat or performing a dramatic rendition of one of said Divine's myths, the Impersonator truly become this Divinity and the events depicted during the dance become a reality. Thus, Pilgrims often seek blessing from the Impersonators.

Etymology

In Mutli, the word "K'oh" is commonly used to refer to both the mask, the Impersonator, and the act of Impersonation itself. In it's broadest usage, it can also mean representative, substitute, an image or figure that stands in for something else. In other Macro-Chan languages, words sharing the same etymology as "K'oh" also have similar meaning. For example in K'atzijob'al, the word Q'oh can be found incorporated in words like Q'ohlem, meaning "Traditions, Customs".

Controversy

Use in State Propaganda

Chak Impersonator

Since classical times, The Mutuleses elites have engaged in multiple forms of God Impersonation. A long-lasting tie revealed for example by figures like the mythical first K'uhul Ajaw whose name is "K'oh". the Impersonations practiced by the Divine Kingdom's Aristocracy is, maybe more than other types, social and political in nature. In the Yajawil of Yokok'ab for example, during a certain festival, Batabs and Halak Winik present themselves in public bounded and dressed as war prisoners before performing autosacrifices.

The attributes of the Divine Monarchy are deeply tied to the codes and practices of God Impersonation. The coronation ceremony, for example, is one long act of Impersonation in which the new K'uhul Ajaw adorn the attributes of the god Chak, attributes that would remain heavily present in the royal regalia and official attires, turning his rule into a permanent act of Impersonation, solidifying his role as the mortal aspect of Chak. The tradition of God Impersonation also ties heavily into the nature of the Manikin Scepter-axe, which itself become a god (Chan K'awiil) when held by the K'uhul Ajaw.

Another classic act of impersonation by the K'uhul Ajaw is performed during K'atun rituals. There, he wear the attires of a different aspect of Chak: Hunal Ye, god of the seas and oceans and the form the deceased Chak take before his resurection. During these rituals, the K'uhul Ajaw can be seen carrying complex headdresses bearing the faces or masks of the different aspects of the sun while carrying in his arms two infants impersonating K'awiil and the Night Sun in a symbolic reconstitution of the world's creation as according to the White Path mythology.

But beyond the character of the Divine Lord, Impersonation is everywhere in the Mutul's rhethoric. Even the names of its state ministers tie back to divine impersonation: the four Bakabs are the cardinal pillar-gods holding the world, while the B'olon Tz'akab, "Nine/countless generations", is a common synonym used to talk about K'awiil multitude of aspects.

Since impersonation allows humans to assume the attributes and sacred powers of the gods, it finds a natural place in a society such as the Mutul where political power rests on the divine nature of the leaders. It provides a strategy for supporting claims of divinity and wielding supernatural powers-claims that cannot be substanti-ated through mundane logic and discourse. By its concrete nature of being sensible to sight, Impersonation gives an illusion of empirical reality to beliefs and is particularly useful in manufacturing the sacred context in which Mutuleses political leaders want to place themselves.