It must be remembered that we are dealing with Kiché and not with
Mayan mythology. Although the two had much in common, it would be most
unsafe in the present state of knowledge to attempt to identify Kiché
with Mayan deities; such an attempt would, indeed, assume the bulk of
a formidable treatise. Scholarship at the present time hesitates to
designate the representations of Mayan gods on the walls of "buried"
cities otherwise than by a letter of the alphabet, and it is therefore
wise to thoroughly ignore the question of Mayan affinities in dealing
with myths purely Kiché. This does not apply to the Kiché-Mexican
affinities. Mexican and Kiché deities are mostly known quantities,
but this cannot be said of their Mayan congenors. The reason for
this is that until Mayan myth is reconciled with the evidence of
the Mayan monuments no certitude can be arrived at. This cannot
well be achieved until the Mayan hieroglyphs give up their secret,
a contingency of which there is no immediate likelihood. Bearing
this in mind, we may proceed to a brief consideration of the Kiché
pantheon and its probable Mexican affinities.
Almost at the beginning we encounter a pair of masculine-feminine
beings of a type nearly hermaphroditic, named Xpiyacoc and Xmucane,
who are credited with a considerable share of the creation of organic
life in the Kiché cosmogony. These, we will remember, appeared in
the myth of Vukub-Cakix and elsewhere. The first appears to apply
to the paternal function, whilst the name Xmucane is derived from
words signifying "feminine vigour." The Mexican equivalents of these
gods were probably Cipactonatl and Oxomoco, the "father and mother
gods." [10]
Deities who early arrest our attention are Tepeu, Gucumatz and
Hurakan. The name of the first signifies "king." According to Brinton
this in Kiché applies to rulership chiefly, inasmuch as the conjugal
prowess often ascribed to monarchs by savage people is concerned. A
creative faculty is obviously indicated in the name, but Brinton
assumes that this Kiché generic name for king can also be rendered
"syphilitic," especially as the name of the Mexican sun-god Nanahuatl
has a similar significance.
That Tepeu was a generative force, a creative deity, there can be no
doubt, but strangely enough in certain passages of the "Popol Vuh"
we find him praying to and rendering homage to Hurakan, the "Heart
of Heaven." We also find the latter along with Xpiyacoc, Xmucane
and Tepeu jointly and severally responsible for the creation of the
mannikins, if not for the whole cosmological scheme. This, of course,
bears out the assumption of a composite origin of the creation-myth in
the "Popol Vuh," but it is nevertheless strange to find Hurakan, whom
we must reckon an alien deity, at the head of these Olympic councils.
Cucumatz is one and the same with the Nahuatlacan--or, more properly
speaking, Toltecan Quetzalcohuatl. The name is compounded from two
Kiché words signifying "Feathered Serpent," and its meaning in the
Nahuatl is precisely the same. Concerning the nature of this deity,
there is probably more difference of opinion than in the case of any
other known to comparative mythology. Strangely enough, although
unquestionably an alien in the mythology of the Aztecan branch of
the Nahuatlacâ, he bulks more largely in the myths of that people
than in the legends of the Kichés. To the Aztecâ he seems to have
appeared as a half-friendly Baal, to worship or revile according to
the opportunism of national fortune. If he were here to be dealt with
as his importance demands the limits of this monograph would speedily
be surpassed. Although unquestionably the same god to both Mexicans
and Kichés, he had acquired a significance in Aztecan eyes quite out
of all proportion to his Kiché or Mayan importance. To the Aztecan
mind he was a culture-hero, unalterably associated with the sun,
and with the origins of their civilisation. To the Toltecs he was the
"Man of the Sun," the traveller, who, with staff in hand, symbolised
the daily journey of the Sun-god. In all likelihood Quetzalcohuatl
was evolved upon Mexican soil by the Toltecs, perhaps adopted from
some older cultus by them. He was at least worshipped sedulously
by aboriginal or pre-Aztecan tribes in Anahuac. Mr. Payne writes:
[11] "The fact that the worship of Quetzalcohuatl under the name of
Cuculcan or Gucumatz was extensively prevalent in Yucatan and Central
America, while no trace is found of the worship of Tezcatlipoca,
strongly suggests that the founders of the Central American
pueblos (the Toltecs) were, in fact, devotees of Quetzalcohuatl,
who preferred exile and adventure in strange lands to accepting a
religious innovation which was intolerable to them."
That Quetzalcohuatl was not an aboriginal Maya-Kiché deity is proved
by the relative importance granted him by a people--the Aztecâ--to
whom he was alien; and that they regarded him as the aboriginal god
of Anahuac par excellence is indisputable.
Hurakan, the winged creative power, is the wind of the tempest. [12]
In the "Popol Vuh" he is designated "The Heart of Heaven." He is
parallel with if not identical to the Aztecan deity Tezcatlipoca, who
in his variant of Yoalli-ehecatl (the Wind of Night) was supplicated
by the Aztecâ as the life-breath. [13] Elsewhere we have hinted that
Tezcatlipoca may have been an ice-god. [14] Mr. Payne sees in him an
elaboration of the vision of death in a polished "scrying"-stone,
which seems possible but scarcely probable. Hurakan was in all
likelihood derived from an original deity of the Antilles. [15]
The term "hurricane" is said to have originated from the name of
this god, and although the direct evidence for this is scanty, other
circumstances place the connection beyond reasonable doubt. Hurakan is
also alluded to in the "Popol Vuh," as "The Strong Serpent," and "He
who hurls below," referring to his presence in the lightning. Brinton
is of opinion that the name Hurakan signifies "giant," but the
sequence of proof is not altogether convincing. Hurakan had the
assistance of three demiurges, named respectively Cakulha-Hurakan
(lightning), Chipi-Cakulha (lightning-flash), and Raxa-Cakulha
(track-of-the-lightning).
Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, who appear in the first myth proper--that
of the destruction of Vukub-Cakix, are certainly "of the gods," but
seem to be only demi-gods. They are constantly alluded to as "young
men." Brasseur de Bourbourg, who saw in the Vukub-Cakix myth the
struggle between the Toltecs and the invading Nahuatlacâ, believed
these hero-gods to be equivalents of Tezcatlipoca and Nanahuatl,
but the resemblance appears to exist merely in the martial character
of the deities, and is hardly noticeable in other details. Hun-Ahpu
would appear to signify "The Master," but Brinton translates the name
as "Magician." It may have a reconciliatory translation as "Adept." A
variant is the name of his father Hun-Hun-Ahpu, "Each-one-a-Magician,"
and some confusion is apparent in the Vukub-Cakix myth between the
two names; but as the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg so justly observes,
"these names are so symbolic in character that their absolute
elucidation is impossible." Xbalanque signifies "Little Tiger."
"The gods of the Kichés were legion," but the foregoing list embraces
practically all the deities proper with whom we have to deal in the
"Popol Vuh."