DOCSLIB.ORG

The Maya Vase Book

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Maya Vase Book THE MAYA VASE BOOK THE HERO lWINS : MYfH AND IMAGE MICHAEL D. COE BACKGROUND heroes are inextricablywoven with those over his shoulders. After he had been ofgods, but also the charters for the elite duly baptized, and a Christian mass sung, I have been long puzzled by the curious groups which ruled these andent socie­ the K'ekchf drama began, to the sound of absence of any but the most cursory ties. Even today, throughout the Hindu­ shell trumpets, turtle carapaces, and other references to the Popol Yuh, the sacred Buddhist world of South and Southeast instruments. This was the Dance of bookoftheQuiche Maya, inEricThompson's Asia, the dynastic struggles of the Ma­ Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the Hero Twins, greatand encyclopedic Introduction to the habharata and the royal adventures of and theirdefeatofthe Lordsofthe Under­ Study oJ the Maya Hieroglyphs U950 and the Ramayana come alive in numberless world, Xibalba. latereditions). Surelyhemusthave noted shadow-puppet plays and ballets per­ the striking fact that in both Quiche and formed in both villages and royal courts. The performance opened with the ap­ Ixil, thenamefor the dayAhau, last ofthe Indeed, the actions ofKing Rama and his pearnnce oftwo youths in the plaza, wearing twentynamed days in the 260-daycount, monkey army in winning back his queen tight-fitting garments and great black is Hunahpu -- first-born ofthe Hero Twins. are as alive to Balinese children as events masks with horns. They proceeded to a Thompson was in many respects the ofmodern Indonesian political history. platform covered with clean mats and greatest Mayanist of all, with a deep adorned with artlfidal trees; a small knowledge of mythology and ethnohis­ Similar dramatic performances almost brushpile covered a hidden exit. After tory, and was an outstanding iconogra­ surely took place in the great cities ofthe conversingwith two na1w.ales named Xul pher, but he completely missed the over­ Classic Maya, and persisted in the high­ Ul and Pacan (the names of two diviners whelmingsignificanceofthe PopolYuh in lands following the Spanish conquest. in the Popol Yuh; see Tedlock 1985;377), solving many problems of Classic Maya One such display is documented for the they came into the presence of other iconography and epigraphy. K'ekchf Maya, (Estrada Monroy 1979:168­ masked beings--the dread Lords ofXibalba. 74) and was tied into an assertion ofsu­ TheXibalbans tried tokilltheHeroTwins, In my view, the first three parts of the zerainty by a local Maya dynast, a "ca­ buttheyevadedthedangersand emerged Popol Yuh (using Dennis Tedlock's 1985 Cique ofan caciques"namedAj Pop'o Batz unscathed to the discomfiture of their divisions of the text) constitute a mythic (Lord Howler-monkey). This was held under enemies. cycle on a par with the Ramayana and the auspices of the Dominican friars of Mahabharata of Hindu literature, the Il­ Verapaz on Sunday, 24 June 1543, to The youths then began to dance before iad and Odyssey of Homer, the Cycles of celebrate and affirm the foundation of a the UndelWorld lords, the dance becom­ the Kings ofearly Ireland, and the Norse new town, San Juan Chamelco, and to ing progressively more violent and fren­ sagas. Onemightalsocomparethemwith consolidate the power ofthe native ruler. zied; little by little the lords became fasci­ the Arthurian cycle of pre-Anglo-Saxon Lord Howler-monkey was seated upon a nated, until theyalsowere caughtupinit. Britain. In all ofthese one finds not only dais covered with monkey skin, while two Hunahpu and Xbalanque appeared to fly earlier eras in which the doings of great warriors draped a quetzal-feather cape above bonfires set around the periphery 1989 The Hero Twins: Myth and Image. In The Maya Vase Book: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases, Volume 1. New York: Kerr Associates. 161 THE MAYA VASE BOOK of the dance ground. Suddenly, unsus­ The Twins' victory over Xibalba was proba­ The Popal Yuh and the dawn oj Maya pected by the Xibalbans, they lit a multi­ bly widely celebrated in the Maya low­ civilization tude of incensarios. and in the midst of lands as well as the highlands, for Landa The archaeological record as we now dense smoke they set fIre to the grove of tells us that there was a dance called understand it makes it reasonably cer­ trees and to the mats. Everything turned Xibalba okot held dUring the New Year tain that Maya civilization took form dur­ into a great conflagration. Facing one ceremonies preceding Cauac years. in ingtheLatePre-Classic period. some time another. with extended arms. Hunahpu late pre-Conquest Yucatan. This was after 300 BC. bywhich time Olmec civili­ and Xbalanque hurled themselves into performed on the western road or sacbe zation had either disappeared or been the fire. which consumed the trapped leading to a statue of Uac Mitun Ahau. transformed beyond recognition. It was Xibalbans as well. The smoke from the "Lord ofthe Sixth Hell". at the entrance to this period that saw the flowering ofIzapan copal obscured all that was taking place the town (Tozzer 1941;147). And there is culture on the Pacific coastal plain of in the bonfIre. and even those "in the some evidence that a dance-drama fea­ Chiapas and Guatemala. of early Kami­ know" were frightened by the cries ofthe tUring the shooting of the arrogant bird­ naljuyU. and ofsuch great lowland cities dying lords. When the smoke cleared. monster. Vucub Caquix (see below). by as El Mirador. Tikal. and Lamanai. with only ashes remained. Hunahpu and Xbalanque was still en­ their prodigious architectural complexes acted in colonial times intheGuatemalan and burgeoning populations. It is in this Then, on the ground. a compartment highlands. context that the Hero Twins cycle of the opened up. from which issued an emis­ PopolYuh first appears inMesoamerican sary cloaked in a feather cape; in one In fact, the Spanish friars were qUick to art and religion. Much ofthe evidence for hand he carried an incensario. whilewith grasp the utility ofthe "HarrowingofHell" it concerns the Vucub Caquix episode. the otherhe indicated the open chamber. aspectoftheTwins' triumph and divertit As drums. shell trumpets, and the like towards the Christian theme ofthe death It appears that for the Maya. each previ­ sounded, the Hero Twins appeared from and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Curi­ ous world in the sequence of creations the compartment. covered with beautiful ously. in this piOUS transformation must have had its own "Sun", ifinforma­ feather capes, wearing on their brows Hunahpu becomes an avatar ofthe Mes­ tionon central Mexican creationmyths is ornaments appropriate to great lords. Their siah. and Xbalanque a kind of devil or pertinent here. In the Popol Yuh. the former masks had been replaced with pagan god ruling over the Underworld. presiding god of the era preceding ours thoseoftwo handsomeyouths.TheTwins Needless to say. the dynastic function of was Vucub Caquix. "Seven Macaw", who proudly greeted the populace. which the Popol Yuh cycle was steadily dissi­ Vaingloriously usurped the role of"Sun". acclaimed them for their victory over the pated throughout the colonial period, as butwas not really a true sun. He "magni­ fearsome Xibalbans. native princes, their lineages. and their fied himself'. and boasted ofthe light he courts lost power and eventually disap­ gave off: peared from the pages of history. 162 THE MAYA VASE BOOK I am great. My place is now higher inhuntingbirdswith theirblowguns. The There is completely convincing iconogra­ than that ofthe human work, the 1\vins knewthateach day. the bird-monster phic evidence equating Vucub Caquix human design. I am their sun and I came to a nancetree to eatits fruit. There, with the Principal Bird Deity first defined am their light. and I am also their Hunahpu shot him in the jaw with his by Lawrence Bardawil (1976). This major months. (Tedlock 1985 : 86) blowgun, and broke his shining teeth. figure makes its debut in the artistic This creature was a gigantic bird-mon­ Angered, Vucub Caquix seized Hunahpu's repertoire ofMesoamerica during the Late ster ofmagnificent appearance. The eyes arm and tore it off, hanging this grim Pre-Classic. particularly at lzapa and in ofVucub Caquixwere of metal, his teeth trophy in his house. However, his teeth lzapan-related cultures. To confmn the glittered with jewels and turquoise (read and eyes caused him intolerable pain, identification, three researchers (Taube ']ade" for Classic times). his nose shone and the Twins -- tricksters as well as 1980, Cortez n.d., and Lowe 1982) have white like thesun (note theanthropomor­ heroes -- cameto "cure" him.Afterreplac­ independentlyrecognized thatStela25 at phism here), and his nest, like his eyes, ing Vucub Caquix's aching teeth with lzapa depicts not onlyVucub Caquixand was ofshining metal. In a universe with­ white maiZe and tearing out his metallic his nancetree. butalsoHunahpuwithhis out a real sun. moon. or stars. the over­ eyes, the arrogant "Sun" ofthe last crea­ arm torn off (Figure 1). At the same site, proud bird puffed himselfup on his perch, tion perished. the bird-monster descends to the nance, bragged, and gave off light for a race of whichisflanked by the Twins (Figure 2). wooden manikins that was to perish in the flood that destroyed this penultimate era. It is in the waning days of this crea­ tion that the Hero Twins myth is laid. To vanqUish Vucub Caquix -- antithesis ofallbehaviorandvalues held dearbythe Maya -- the gods sentthe HeroTwins. The theme recalls native North American my" thology, particularly in the Southwest. in which a pair ofdivine twins is created for the express purpose of armihilating monsters left over from previous, imper­ fect creations so that the people of our world may be left in peace. Hunahpu and Xbalanque were handsome Figure 1 Stela 25, Izapa ( AfterSmith Figure 2 Stela 2, Izapa (After Smith young lords.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Metaphors of Relative Elevation, Position and Ranking in Popol Vuh
    METAPHORS OF RELATIVE ELEVATION, POSITION AND RANKING IN POPOL VUH Nathaniel TARN and Martin PRECHTEL Rutgers University This paper is an account of work very much in progress on the textual analysis of Popol V uh, and is one study among others (since this theme is attracting a number of students today) of inter-con­ nections and mutual illuminations between Popol Vuh and the con­ temporary ethnographic record in Highland Guatemala and Chiapas. For some considerable time now Popol Vuh has been considered as the major extant text of the Mesoamerican literary traditions, and as one of the most remarkable of all human creation stories, both for its beauty and for the complexity of its cosmological and mythical messages. While it may or may not have had a hieroglyphic original, the present alphabetic version of Po pol V uh wars written down some­ where between 1545 and 1558 by an anonymous member of the Cavek lineage of the Quiche Maya of Guatemala. This lineage had been a ruling house until it fell to the Spaniards in 1524. The manu­ script was copied by Francisco de Ximenez, a Spanish priest, some 150 years later. While there are references to Christianity in the text, these are few and it is generally regarded as one of the purest extant accounts of prehispanic Maya world-view. At the end of the hook, what we call mythical history shades into the historical history of the Quiche, so that the hook can serve as an illustration of the extent to which these two kinds of history are not held a,part by Maya generally.
    [Show full text]
  • Barbara and Dennis Tedlock
    BREAKING THE MAYA CODE Transcript of filmed interview Complete interview transcripts at www.nightfirefilms.org BARBARA AND DENNIS TEDLOCK Interviewed February 11-12 2005 in the weaving workshop of Angel Xiloj, Momostenango, Guatemala BARBARA TEDLOCK is an anthropologist and ethnographer whose work has focused on the Zuni of the American Southwest and the Maya of Highland Guatemala. She is the author of The Beautiful and the Dangerous: Encounters with the Zuni Indians, Time and the Highland Maya, and The Woman in the Shaman’s Body. DENNIS TEDLOCK has devoted his career as a poet, translator and anthropologist to the understanding and dissemination of native American literature. He is the author of the Finding the Center: the Art of the Zuni Storyteller, Breath on the Mirror: Mythic Voices and Visions of the Living Maya and numerous other books, and is translator and editor of Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life. The Tedlocks teach at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where Barbara is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Dennis is the McNulty Professor of English and Research Professor of Anthropology. In this interview, the Tedlocks discuss: The creation and preservation of texts in the Maya region after the Spanish Conquest The Popol Vuh The Rabinal Achi dance drama The 260 day Tzolkin calendar The role of the daykeeper in a Highland Maya community The religious and political structure of the town of Momostenango The ceremonial day Wajxaqib Batz The importance of books for the modern Maya The role
    [Show full text]
  • Panthéon Maya
    Liste des divinités et des démons de la mythologie des mayas. Les noms sont tirés du Popol Vuh des Mayas Quichés, des livres de Chilam Balam et de Diego de Landa ainsi que des divers codex. Divinité Dieu Déesse Démon Monstre Animal Humain AB KIN XOC Dieu de poésie. ACAN Dieu des boissons fermentées et de l'ivresse. ACANTUN Quatre démons associés à une couleur et à un point cardinal. Ils sont présents lors du nouvel an maya et lors des cérémonies de sculpture des statues. ACAT Dieu des tatouages. AH CHICUM EK Autre nom de Xamen Ek. AH CHUY KAKA Dieu de la guerre connu sous le nom du "destructeur de feu". AH CUN CAN Dieu de la guerre connu comme le "charmeur de serpents". AH KINCHIL Dieu solaire (voir Kinich Ahau). AHAU CHAMAHEZ Un des deux dieux de la médecine. AHMAKIQ Dieu de l'agriculture qui enferma le vent quand il menaçait de détruire les récoltes. AH MUNCEN CAB Dieu du miel et des abeilles sans dard; il est patron des apiculteurs. AH MUN Dieu du maïs et de la végétation. AH PEKU Dieu du Tonnerre. AH PUCH ou AH CIMI ou AH CIZIN Dieu de la Mort qui régnait sur le Metnal, le neuvième niveau de l'inframonde. AH RAXA LAC DMieu de lYa Terre.THOLOGICA.FR AH RAXA TZEL Dieu du ciel AH TABAI Dieu de la Chasse. AH UUC TICAB Dieu de la Terre. 1 AHAU CHAMAHEZ Dieu de la Médecine et de la Guérison. AHAU KIN voir Kinich Ahau. AHOACATI Dieu de la Fertilité AHTOLTECAT Dieu des orfèvres.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mayan Gods: an Explanation from the Structures of Thought
    Journal of Historical Archaeology & Anthropological Sciences Review Article Open Access The Mayan gods: an explanation from the structures of thought Abstract Volume 3 Issue 1 - 2018 This article explains the existence of the Classic and Post-classic Mayan gods through Laura Ibarra García the cognitive structure through which the Maya perceived and interpreted their world. Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico This structure is none other than that built by every member of the human species during its early ontogenesis to interact with the outer world: the structure of action. Correspondence: Laura Ibarra García, Centro Universitario When this scheme is applied to the world’s interpretation, the phenomena in it and de Ciencias Sociales, Mexico, Tel 523336404456, the world as a whole appears as manifestations of a force that lies behind or within Email [email protected] all of them and which are perceived similarly to human subjects. This scheme, which finds application in the Mayan worldview, helps to understand the personality and Received: August 30, 2017 | Published: February 09, 2018 character of figures such as the solar god, the rain god, the sky god, the jaguar god and the gods of Venus. The application of the cognitive schema as driving logic also helps to understand the Maya established relationships between some animals, such as the jaguar and the rattlesnake and the highest deities. The study is part of the pioneering work that seeks to integrate the study of cognition development throughout history to the understanding of the historical and cultural manifestations of our country, especially of the Pre-Hispanic cultures.
    [Show full text]
  • Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya People
    Mesoweb Publications POPOL VUH Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya People Translation and Commentary by Allen J. Christenson 2007 Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya People. Electronic version of original 2003 publication. Mesoweb: www.mesoweb.com/publications/Christenson/PopolVuh.pdf. 1 To my wife, Janet Xa at nu saqil, at nu k'aslemal Chib'e q'ij saq ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This volume is the culmination of nearly twenty-five years of collaboration with friends and colleagues who have been more than generous with their time, expertise, encouragement, and at times, sympathy. It has become a somewhat clichéd and expected thing to claim that a work would not be possible without such support. It is nonetheless true, at least from my experience, and I am indebted to all those who helped move the process along. First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my Maya teachers, colleagues, and friends who have selflessly devoted their time and knowledge to help carry out this project. Without their efforts, none of it would have ever gotten off the ground. I would like to particularly recognize in this regard don Vicente de León Abac, who, with patience and kindness, guided me through the complexity and poetry of K'iche' theology and ceremonialism. Without his wisdom, I would have missed much of the beauty of ancestral vision that is woven into the very fabric of the Popol Vuh. I dearly miss him. I would also like to acknowledge the profound influence that Antonio Ajtujal Vásquez had on this work. It was his kind and gentle voice that I often heard when I struggled at times to understand the ancient words of this text.
    [Show full text]
  • Una Interpretación Semiológica De Xibalbá En El Libro Sagrado De Los Quichés El Popol Vuh”
    UNIVERSIDAD DE SAN CARLOS DE GUATEMALA ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS DE LA COMUNICACIÓN “UNA INTERPRETACIÓN SEMIOLÓGICA DE XIBALBÁ EN EL LIBRO SAGRADO DE LOS QUICHÉS EL POPOL VUH” Tesis Presentada al consejo directivo por: EDUARDO COT AJÚ CUI: 2640 18303 0407 Carné: 200020167 Previo a optar el título de: LICENCIADO EN CIENCIAS DE LA COMUNICACIÓN Asesor: Lic. Jorge Ignacio Paz Ramírez. Guatemala, junio de 2018. UNIVERSIDAD DE SAN CARLOS DE GUATEMALA ESCUELA DE CIENCIAS DE LA COMUNICACIÓN CONSEJO DIRECTIVO Director M. Sc. Sergio Vinicio Morataya García Representantes Docentes Lic. Mario Enrique Campos Trijilio M.A. Gustavo Adolfo Morán Portillo Representantes Estudiantiles Pub. Mario Barrientos Pub. Anité Machuca Representante de Egresados Lic. Johnny Michael González Molina Tribunal Examinador M.A. Jorge Ignacio Paz Ramírez – Presidente Licda. María Imelda González Esquite – Revisora M.A. Elpidio Guillén de León – Revisor Licda. Miriam Isabel Yucuté Morales – Examinadora Lic. Luis Arturo Pedroza Gaitán – Examinador M.A. Ruth Betsabé Ovando Hernández – Suplente Dedicatoria A mi esposa: Carmelina Estrada Xil A mis hijos: Erick Estuardo Cot Estrada y Lesly Adriana Cot Estrada. A mis padres: Tomás Cot Cuy y Gregoria Ajú Cuy. A mis hermanos Cot Ajú: Estefana, Abelino (✝), Rosa María, Efraín, Tomás, Josefina, Francisca, Manuel, Gregorio y Maudilio. A mis maestros: Chong Ging Lee Duarte. Julio Gálvez (✝). PARA EFECTOS LEGALES ÚNICAMENTE EL AUTOR ES RESPONSABLE DEL CONTENIDO DE ESTA TESIS. Contenido Resumen ...............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • El Popol Wuj Una Interpretación Para El Día De Hoy
    El Popol Wuj una interpretación para el día de hoy por Ricardo Falla sj Una publicación de la Asociación para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales en Guatemala –AVANCSO– Directora: Clara Arenas Edición al cuidado de Helvi Mendizabal Saravia Fotografía y diseño de portada: Victoriano Castillo sj, en taller con el grupo de jóvenes Qajb’al Q’ij Presentación Fotografías e ilustraciones interiores: El Popol Wuj ha sido objeto de estudio y motivo de reflexión en la Justin Kerr, Newberry Library, John Powell, Robert Carmack, Nivio trayectoria de Ricardo Falla desde los inicios de su formación. Constituyó López Vigil, Carlos Sánchez Fernández y Ricardo Falla. el tema de su tesis al concluir sus estudios de teología en la tercera década Se reproducen con fina autorización de sus autores. de su vida y ha permanecido siendo un hilo conductor en casi todo su trabajo antropológico. Desde Wucub’ Kaquix hasta el Jabalí de pelo blanco, los personajes del Popol Wuj pueblan los escritos de Falla y sus historias iluminan no pocos de sus estudios sobre los procesos del pueblo maya en Guatemala, agosto de 2013. Guatemala. Primera impresión: 1,500 ejemplares Impreso y diagramado en los talleres de Editorial Artgrafic Internacional El libro de Falla que ahora presentamos, El Popol Wuj, una interpretación Se autoriza la reproducción del contenido de esta publicación, siempre para el día de hoy, no es un trabajo más sobre este libro sagrado de los que se cite adecuadamente la fuente. k’ichés. Es una invitación a encontrar en él algo útil para la vida en el siglo ISBN 978-9929-8095-9-8 XXI, desde la certeza de que el Popol Wuj está vivo.
    [Show full text]
  • Popol Vuh: the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life
    www.TaleBooks.com POPOL VUH: THE MAYAN BOOK OF THE DAWN OF LIFE translated by Dennis Tedlock with commentary based on the ancient knowledge of the modern Quiche Maya PREFACE Are 4u ua nuta4alibal, nupresenta chiquiuach ri nantat, comon chuchkajauib mu4hulic uleu, mu4hulic poklaj, mu4hulic bak. PREFACE You cannot erase time. -ANDRES XILOJ THE TRANSLATOR of the Popol Vuh, as if possessed by the story the Popol Vuh tells, must wander in darkness and search long for the clear light. The task is not a matter of deciphering Maya hieroglyphs, since the only surviving version of the Popol Vuh is a transcription into alphabetic writing, but the manuscript nevertheless abounds with ambiguities and obscurities. My work took me not only into dark corners of libraries but into the forests and tall cornfields and smoky houses of highland Guatemala, where the people who speak and walk and work in the pages of the Popol Vuh, the Quiche Maya, have hundreds of thousands of descendants. Among them are diviners called "daykeepers," who know how to interpret illnesses, omens, dreams, messages given by sensations internal to their own bodies, and the multiple rhythms of time. It is their business to bring what is dark into "white clarity," just as the gods of the Popol Vuh first brought the world itself to light. The Quiche people speak a Mayan language, say prayers to Mayan mountains and Mayan ancestors, and keep time according to the Mayan calendar. They are also interested citizens of the larger contemporary world, but they find themselves surrounded and attacked by those who have yet to realize they have something to teach the rest of us.
    [Show full text]
  • Breaking the Maya Code : Michael D. Coe Interview (Night Fire Films)
    BREAKING THE MAYA CODE Transcript of filmed interview Complete interview transcripts at www.nightfirefilms.org MICHAEL D. COE Interviewed April 6 and 7, 2005 at his home in New Haven, Connecticut In the 1950s archaeologist Michael Coe was one of the pioneering investigators of the Olmec Civilization. He later made major contributions to Maya epigraphy and iconography. In more recent years he has studied the Khmer civilization of Cambodia. He is the Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus at Yale University, and Curator Emeritus of the Anthropology collection of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. He is the author of Breaking the Maya Code and numerous other books including The Maya Scribe and His World, The Maya and Angkor and the Khmer Civilization. In this interview he discusses: The nature of writing systems The origin of Maya writing The role of writing and scribes in Maya culture The status of Maya writing at the time of the Spanish conquest The impact for good and ill of Bishop Landa The persistence of scribal activity in the books of Chilam Balam and the Caste War Letters Early exploration in the Maya region and early publication of Maya texts The work of Constantine Rafinesque, Stephens and Catherwood, de Bourbourg, Ernst Förstemann, and Alfred Maudslay The Maya Corpus Project Cyrus Thomas Sylvanus Morley and the Carnegie Projects Eric Thompson Hermann Beyer Yuri Knorosov Tania Proskouriakoff His own early involvement with study of the Maya and the Olmec His personal relationship with Yuri
    [Show full text]
  • Gendering the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh Susan D. Gillespie
    Gendering the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh Susan D. Gillespie Introduction The Popol Vuh, an epic historical narrative authored by K’iche’ Maya peoples in highland Guatemala, has been widely judged as the “most distinguished example” of surviving native American literature (Morley in Recinos, 1950:ix). It was written in European script in the K’iche’ language, most likely between 1554-1558, three decades after the Spanish invasion and consequent destruction of the principal K’iche’ capital, Utatlan. That original document is now presumed lost, but it was copied by a Dominican friar, Francisco Ximénez (Estrada, 1973), at the beginning of the eighteenth century (Carmack, 1973:25; Recinos, 1950:23). Narrated in third person, the story opens with cosmic creation: the lifting of the earth out of the sea, followed by several attempts by primordial gods to create humans to populate the earth’s surface. Early in the story creation is threatened by three monstrous, disorderly beings who introduce chaos and must be destroyed. The nefarious trio is defeated by two youthful demiurges, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, tricksters now often referred to as the Hero Twins and comparable to similar characters in North and South American folklore. The “myth” section of the narrative ostensibly ends when the Hero Twins defeat the Death Lords of the Underworld (Xibalba) and rise up as the sun and moon, after which true humans are created and “history” begins. Within Maya scholarship the Popol Vuh is treated as the authoritative reference on ancient religion and cosmology. It has been called “the single most important document of Maya mythology” (Schele and Miller, 1986:31), a veritable “New World Bible” (Edmonson, 1985:107; Freidel et al., 1993:43).
    [Show full text]
  • Quetzalcoatl, the Maya Maize God, and Jesus Christ
    Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Volume 11 Number 1 Article 3 7-31-2002 Quetzalcoatl, the Maya Maize God, and Jesus Christ Diane E. Wirth Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Wirth, Diane E. (2002) "Quetzalcoatl, the Maya Maize God, and Jesus Christ," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 11 : No. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol11/iss1/3 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title Quetzalcoatl, the Maya Maize God, and Jesus Christ Author(s) Diane E. Wirth Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 11/1 (2002): 4–15, 107. ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online) Abstract Many scholars suggest that Quetzalcoatl of Mesoamerica (also known as the Feathered Serpent), the Maya Maize God, and Jesus Christ could all be the same being. By looking at ancient Mayan writings such as the Popol Vuh, this theory is further explored and developed. These ancient writings include several stories that coincide with the stories of Jesus Christ in the Bible, such as the creation and the resurrec- tion. The role that both Quetzalcoatl and the Maize God played in bringing maize to humankind is com- parable to Christ’s role in bringing the bread of life to humankind. Furthermore, Quetzalcoatl is said to have descended to the Underworld to perform a sacrifice strikingly similar to the atonement of Jesus Christ.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tonsured Maize God and Chicome-Xochitl As Maize Bringers and Culture Heroes: a Gulf Coast Perspective
    f No. 32, 2009 WAYEB NOTES ISSN 1379-8286 THE TONSURED MAIZE GOD AND CHICOME-XOCHITL AS MAIZE BRINGERS AND CULTURE HEROES: A GULF COAST PERSPECTIVE H.E.M. Braakhuis Utrecht University “He [the Maize Hero] spoke words like water being scattered” (Alcorn et al. 2006: 601) It is now slightly more than twenty-five years ago that Taube identified the ‘Tonsured Maize God’, a youthful deity whose emergence from a turtle shell has since become an icon of Classic Maya culture. The presence of the Twin heroes of the Popol Vuh, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, at the maize deity’s emergence contributed much to this status. Taube’s conclusion that the episode represents the bringing back to life of the Twins’ father, who had died in the Underworld, has been widely accepted.1 M. D. Coe (1989: 167) was one of the first to adopt this interpretation, and it has slowly become the orthodox view. It has also become common practice to refer to the Twins’ father, Hun-Hunahpu, as ‘the Maize God’, notwithstanding the fact that a maize god is not mentioned in the Popol Vuh. Schele and Freidel (1993: 59-116, 272-286), in particular, have helped to popularize Taube’s viewpoint. They developed it into an astral maize mythology of their own, a critical evaluation of which, though much needed, lies beyond the scope of this essay. When, fourteen years after Taube’s initial study, Quenon and Le Fort (1997) presented an overview of the then available iconographic material, in which they distinguish five broad ‘episodes’, their focus remained on the interaction of the Twins with Hun-Hunahpu.
    [Show full text]