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.