Data from colonial archives are utilized to produce a documentary ethnography of selected aspects of Jacaltec-Maya culture between 1524 and 1821. Six Spanish-introduced institutions, prevalent during the colonial phase of Jacaltenagno's past, are the focus of the study. These institutions--the encomienda (grant of Indians), the corregimiento (regional political jurisdiction), the Catholic mission, the caja de comunidad (community treasury), the cofrad(')ia (religious sodality), and the cabildo (town council)--are described and analyzed with the aim of determining their influence on the socio-economic, political, and religious life of the colonial Jacaltecs. Through this institutional analysis, the study seeks to explore the colonial origins of the corporate structure of politico-religious organization characteristic of twentieth century Jacaltenango Encomienda, corregimiento, and mission were the primary colonial institutions through which the dominant Spanish sector acquired the products of Jacaltec labor, directed local government and agriculture, and undertook to create and maintain a Jacaltec society based on European religious, political, and moral principles. In Jacaltenango itself, the Spaniards employed the institutions of caja, cabildo, and cofrad(')ia as a framework for the reorganization of Indian society. But, although these community-level institutions were supervised by Spanish civil and ecclesiastical authorities, their everday operation was in the charge of Jacaltecs. This important circumstance made these Ibero-Indian institutions susceptible both to local modifications of their forms and to local reinterpretations of their functions Within this framework for change to the expectations of the dominant culture, Jacaltecs made adaptations which fostered the development of religious and political patterns alien to the superordinate group's intentions. These successful adaptations were accomplished by exploiting functional possibilities of the Ibero-Indian community-level institutions unrecognized by their Spanish sponsors. Thus, the colonial cabildo's functions were expanded to include the performance of communitywide religious ceremonies, directed by native priests whose activites the cabildo also camouflaged. The caja was transformed from a secular institution to one imbued with supernatural powers and surrounded by taboos. Both institutions, as well as other organizational features of colonial society, have survived into the twentieth century in modified form. The organizational features and group values embodied in the restructured cabildo and the transformed caja (now known as the alcaldes rezadores and the caja real, respectively) reflect traditional native values, and from the basis for the tightly knit corporate structure of community life which characterizes twentieth century Jacaltenango