Theosophical University Press Online Edition Esotericism of the Popol Vuh Raphael Girard Translated from the Spanish with a Foreword by Blair A. Moffett Originally published in Spanish in 1948 as Esoterismo del Popol Vuh by Editorial Stylo, Mexico City, Mexico. First English Edition copyright © 1979 by Theosophical University Press (print version also available). Electronic version ISBN 1-55700-147-2. All rights reserved. This edition may be downloaded for off-line viewing without charge. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial or other use in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Theosophical University Press. Contents Foreword by Blair A. Moffett Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Esotericism of the Popol Vuh Chapter 3. Cosmogony and Creation of the Universe Chapter 4. The First Three Ages of the World Chapter 5. The Marvelous Story of Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué Hunahpú and Ixbalamqú Conquer the Giants The Four Hundred Boys Chapter 6. The Biography and Genealogical Tree of Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué The Life and Trials of Their Parents, the Seven Ahpú Origin and Significance of the Ball Game Chapter 7. The Parthenogenetic Conception of Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué Chapter 8. Infancy of Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué The Third Regent Origin and Significance of the Palo Volador Chapter 9. Youth of Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué The Hunahpú Codex Development of the Social, Economic, and Religious Practices as Explained by the Quiché Document Chapter 10. Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué in Xibalbá Chapter 11. The Deification of Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué Chapter 12. Cosmogonic, Astronomic, and Chronological Meaning Chapter 13. The Fourth and Final Age: Era of Quiché-Maya Culture Chapter14. The History of Maize and of the Quiché-Maya Civilization Chapter 15. The Original Maya, Quiché, and Lenca Tribes Panorama of the Prehistory and Peopling of Honduras Quiché Emigration Chapter16. The Dance of the Giants Appendices A and B Glossary List of Illustrations Frontispiece: The young Maize god. Figure 1: Xochipilli (after Hugo Moedano Koer). Note the seven points which adorn the throne and suggest the numeral god- Seven. Figure 2: End of the First Age, as pictured in the Vatican A Codex. Figure 3. Stele standing at the foot of the western staircase of a temple of the ball court, Copán. Note the solar ray glyph on the wristbands, the ear ornaments, and the headdress: the "elements of splendor" referred to in the Popol Vuh and the Chortí drama. Figure 4. The god of Death on his stone seat (Dresden Codex). Figure 5. The ball court, Copán, expressing the symbolism of the seven Ahpú, the inventors of the game. Figure 6. One of the macaws of the ball game. The ball court, Copán. Figure 7. The god of Heaven at the pinnacle of the cosmic tree, its "grace" falling upon the earth from on high, from the Chumayel manuscript. Figure 8. A Taoajka grandmother, the family head, together with her daughter who will succeed her. Hamlet of Dimikian in the Honduran Mosquitia. Figure 9. The humanity of the Third Age or Katún changed into monkeys, in the Vatican A Codex. Figure 10. The Quichés carry the Flying Pole, as the 400 boys do in the Popol Vuh (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo). Figure 11. The base of the pole is rendered immune to evil spirits by the application of incense (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo). Figure 12. Raising the Flying Pole in Chichicastenango. The "monkey" climbs higher as the pole is raised (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo). Figure 13. Top portion of the Flying Pole in Chichicastenango (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo). Figure 14. The marimba sounds the Hunahpú-coy song, while one of the 'monkeys" dances and gesticulates. Figure 15. Mechanism of the Flying Pole used in Joyabaj, according to a sketch by F. Termer. The dual deity in the center of the highest Heaven is portrayed in the forked cap- piece. The cosmic quadrangle is represented by the four-sided, pyramidal frame suspended from the cap-piece. Figure 16. Tro-Cortes Codex, showing god B with the face of a bat throwing itself from heaven, carrying in its hand the hatchet whose sharp edge will lop off the head of the Maize god. Figure 17. Dresden Codex, showing god B with hatchet raised to cut off the head of the young Maize god. Figure 18. Lunar g1yph in the Borgia Codex, according to Seler. Figure 19. The dance on stilts from the Tro-Cortes Codex. Figure 20. The Tro-Cortes Codex showing god B sowing a forked stick which is immediately destroyed by god A but then restored by the young Maize god. Figure 21. The hieroglyphic of Tamoanchan expressed by the rebus-sign of a bird of prey in the act of drawing blood from a serpent with its talon, taken from the Dresden Codex. Figure 22. Theme of the Bird of Prey and the Serpent in the art of San Agustín, Colombia; statue in the Berlin Museum of Ethnography. Figure 23. The Fourth Creation: the young god (or god of the Flowers) descending from heaven and grasping the braided tresses in which very large flowers are hanging; the Vatican A Codex, plate 7. Figure 24a. In the Dance of the Giants: 1. Glyph on cap of master of ceremonies. 2. Figure on trouser cuffs of Giants. 3. Shaft of Black Giant's headdress. 4. Insignia of Gavite. 5. Captain's sleeve adornment. 6. Shoulder insignia. 7. Collar spangles. Figure 24b. 8. Lunar hieroglyph on Captain's cap. 9-10. Captain's costume, trouser-cuff figures. 11. King's costume, trouser-cuff ornament. 14. Cap with veil. 15. Lunar glyph in the Atl sign, Aztec calendar. 16. Atl glyph in the Cospi Codex. 17. Atl glyph in the Nuttall Codex. 18. Atl element in the Laud Codex. Figure 24c. 12. Points on King's crown. 13. Points on King's shirt. Figure 25a. Diagram of the numbers represented by "solar ray" glyphs. Figure 25b. Diagram of the X-shaped cross represented by the King. Figure 26. Scene of the battle between the Black and the White Giant. Both brandish wooden swords in their right hands and a magic handkerchief in their left. Figure 27. The Gavites bewitch the Giants. Figure 28. The act in which each Gavite (Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué) grip a Giant from behind. One holds the Black Giant while the other rescues the White Giant on orders from the King who, with his Companion, witnesses the action. Figure 29. Scene of the dismemberment. As the Popol Vuh says: they cut him into pieces and tore out his heart and, holding it aloft, showed it to the Lords. In the Chortí drama a handkerchief represents the heart that is displayed to the sun. Another actor cuts off the legs, arms, and so on, in succession. Figure 30. Act in which the Black Giant (Hun Camé) kills the White Giant (Seven Ahpú). Note the King at one side, with his crown, sword, mantle and triangular trimming on his trouser and sleeve cuffs. Figure 31. Scene in which Gavite (Hunahpú) uncovers his face after overcoming the Black Giant (Hun Camé), and delivers the latter's sword to the King. From left to right: the Captain (lunar goddess), Gavite, the White Giant (representing the seven Ahpú), and the Black Giant, conquered and disarmed. Figure 32. The astronomical cross traced in the Dance of the Giants. Foreword This book was first published in the Spanish language in Mexico City in 1948. It has since gone through three editions in French, one Italian, and four Spanish editions. The present translation, from the 1972 Mexico City edition, is the first to appear in English. Esotericism of the Popol Vuh is published by Theosophical University Press as a service to all English-speaking students of the ancient wisdom of humanity. A Swiss-born ethnologist, Raphael Girard came to the New World in 1919 as the director of a six-man French scientific mission to study the native forest peoples of Honduras. He returned in 1924 to live in Guatemala and begin an archaeological and ethnological survey of the country, which resulted in a lifetime of association with and research in Amerindian cultures ranging from Patagonia to Canada. From the eminent anthropologists, Dr. Eugéne Pittard of the University of Geneva, and Dr. Paul Rivet, then director of the Musée de l'homme in Paris, Girard learned the interdisciplinary method of analysis — employing mythology, ethnography, archaeology, and linguistics — which has characterized and enriched his many published works. In his early career the author was active in forming and participating in professional bodies in Switzerland, Honduras, and Guatemala to further the study of native American cultures. Over the years he has represented the Government of Guatemala at a number of international Americanist congresses, on four occasions serving as honorary vice-president of the congress. A distinguished Americanist whose work is well known throughout Europe and the Americas, Professor Girard has received fifteen honors and decorations. The latest of these is the Diploma of Merit awarded him for his more than 50 years of research and publication by the Organization of American States in October, 1978, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. In 1977 he was nominated for the Nobel prize in Literature for his pioneering methods of study of native American cultures and his monumental writings clarifying their prehistory and history. With regard to his analysis of the meaning of the Popol Vuh, the Mayan "Book of the Community," Professor Girard's comments from a recent letter to me are revealing: My first experiences disclosed that the Popol Vuh constitutes a key document for understanding the spirituality, culture, and history of the Quiché-Maya.