As among the Mexicans, so too among the Maya, any attempt to
reconstruct their civilization must start with a general survey of
their religious beliefs. The task of dealing shortly and clearly with
this subject is by no means easy; from the one point of view indeed
it is simpler, since the amount of information at the disposal of
students is relatively small; but on the other hand, as far as the
builders of the ruins are concerned, we are dealing with a people who
had had their day at the time of the conquest, and the meaning of the
scenes sculptured on the monuments must be inferred from the religious
practices of a people who, though no doubt ethnically and culturally
their descendants, had been exposed to influences emanating from
Mexico, and had declined in civilization. The different sources of
information, moreover, must be kept distinctly apart; such authorities
as Landa and Cogolludo deal only with the Maya of Yucatan as they found
them; the native traditions called the “Books of Chilan Balam” give a
few mythical details relating to one Yucatec tribe, and that not the
earliest of the Maya immigrants; while other native chroniclers, the
Popol Vuh and Annals of Xahila, relate to the Quiché and Kakchiquel
respectively, also comparatively late immigrants, who had fallen under
Mexican influence. The native codices give a large number of portraits
of beings which, it is safe to conclude, were gods, and these,
especially the manuscript known as Troano-Cortesianus, constitute a
most important link between the early Maya sculptures and the accounts
of the Yucatec by Landa and Cogolludo; but the identification of the
different deities is to a large extent a conjectural matter, impossible
of short treatment since it involves the production of much detailed
evidence. The following account does not pretend to be more than the
result of a careful consideration of most of the sources, and for the
evidence itself the reader must be referred elsewhere. It cannot be
denied that many of the conclusions here set forth are controversial,
but it may be claimed that there do exist in all cases certain definite
points of evidence in their favour. Mayan religion shows a close
fundamental similarity to that of the Mexicans, so much so in fact that
it is fair to argue from what we know of the latter to the former,
always with proper precautions. Care is necessary, since the migration
legends of the Quiché, Kakchiquel and books of Chilan Balam all mention
Tulan as a resting-place or starting-point, and there is always the
possibility that the myths contained in them may have been influenced
by “Toltec” beliefs. I hope to show later, however, that the basis of
the Toltec culture was in fact Mayan, and I therefore think it fair to
claim that many, though certainly not all, of the similarities between
the two religions are due to a common Mayan element. This is especially
true of what we are able to conjecture concerning the beliefs of the
builders of the ruins in Honduras, Guatemala and Chiapas.
As among the Mexicans, tribal gods, under whose leadership migrations
took place, are found also among the Maya. In Yucatan we hear of a
god Itzamna, supposed to have come from the east, whose attributes
are much the same as those of Tonacatecutli. Connected with the sites
of Chichen Itza and Mayapan was the god Kukulkan, of whose name
“Quetzalcoatl” is a literal translation, and who was supposed to have
come from the west. The god of the Quiché was Tohil, and he was in
particular the deity of the Cavek tribe and a thunder-god, while the
other principal divisions of the Quiché, the Nihaib and Ahau-Quiché,
were under the leadership of Avilix and Hacavitz respectively. A
fourth tribal division worshipped a god Nicatayah, but just as the
ultimate prosperity of the Aztec raised their deity Uitzilopochtli to
a predominating position in the pantheon, so the extinction of this
Quiché division resulted in the extinction also of its god. Tohil is
in one place definitely identified with Quetzalcoatl, under the name
Yolcual Quetzalcuat (i.e. Yoalli Eecatl Quetzalcoatl). The god of the
Rabinal was Huntoh, who is probably identical with Tohil. The god of
the Kakchiquel was a divinity in bat-form, called Zotziha Chimalcan,
and was a deity associated by the Quiché with the underworld, Xibalba.
Gods especially associated with certain localities were, Kukulkan
with Mayapan and, later, Mani, Ahchun Caan with Tihoo, Ahulneb with
Cozumel, Kinich Ahau with Campeche, and Itzamatul (perhaps a form of
Itzamna) with Itzamal. The Tzental of Chiapas and Tabasco venerated
a culture-hero Votan. But in actual cult, at any rate as far as the
Yucatec were concerned, the agricultural divinities were of primary
importance. As in Mexico, the god of agriculture and rain was also
the thunder-god; in Yucatan he was called Chac, and was assisted in
the performance of his functions by a number of subsidiary Chac,
just as Tlaloc by the Tlaloque. Another fertility-god was Ah Bolon
Tzacab, who, in one creation myth, is represented as taking the seeds
of all cultivated plants with him to the thirteenth heaven, a story
which recalls the theft of maize by Tlaloc (p. 48). Other patrons of
agriculture were the so-called Bacab, the four deities placed by the
creator to support the heavens. Their names were Hobnil, Kanzicnal,
Zaczini and Hozanek, and they are closely associated with the Chac, so
closely in fact that I am inclined to think that they were actually
four of the latter deities. Like the Mexican Tlaloc, the Chac were
supposed to carry axes, the weapon of the thunder-god, and were
closely associated with the snake which throughout America is the
symbol of rain. They have been identified, I think beyond doubt, with
the figure, called by Schellhas “God B,” of the manuscripts, a god
who appears constantly on the monuments throughout the Maya region
(Fig. 46, _e_). Like Tlaloc he is shown with a long nose and
tusks, the former of which on the buildings of Yucatan develops into
a regular trunk. Seler identifies Ah Bolon Tzacab with the “God K” of
Schellhas, a god with a foliated nose, who is closely associated with
Chac, and appears nearly as often on the monuments (Fig. 46, _b_).
God K however bears a striking resemblance to the Zapotec funerary
figures with their peculiar elongated mouth-masks, and also to the
Mexican Eecatl, a form of Quetzalcoatl. I think therefore that he is
more likely a god of wind, a deity who would necessarily be closely
connected with the rain- and thunder-gods. But though he may be the
Maya parallel of Quetzalcoatl in the form of Eecatl, I do not think
that he is to be identified with Kukulkan. This statement may not seem
to follow from what I have said before, but I hope to make it clear
later. Among the Quiché we have Kanel (or Xkanel), Xcacau, and Xtoh as
gods of fertility, and among the Kakchiquel, Kanel also. It is further
to be noted that another name of Hobnil is Kanal Bacab. Hunting- and
fishing-gods existed among the Yucatec, but nothing is known of them
save their names; the hunting-deities were Akanum, Zuhuyzip, and Tabai,
the fishing, Ahcitz, Ahkak Nexoi, Ahpua and Amalcum. As gods of the
arts we have Itzamna, the supposed inventor of letters, Ixchebelyax,
goddess of embroidery and painting, a Maya counterpart of Xochiquetzal,
Ixazalvoh, goddess of weaving, Pizlimtec and Xochbitum, gods of singing
(like Xochipilli and Macuilxochitl), and Htubhtum a god of gems.
There appear to have been four war-deities, Hunpiktok, Ahchuykak,
Citchac Coh, and Ahulneb, while the Tzental war-god was called Chinax.
Hunpiktok, who had a temple at Itzamal, is identified with Tihax of
the Quiché and Kakchiquel, the god of the stone knife, and both were
probably sacrificial-deities also. One of these war-gods may be the
God F of the manuscripts, who appears to bear a certain relation to
the death-god and to sacrifice, and whose face-paint is not unlike
that of the Aztec Xipe (Fig. 46, _f_). Like the Mexicans the Maya
possessed a god of travellers and traders, Ekchuah, who corresponds to
the Mexican Yacatecutli, though he does not seem to have been honoured
with so elaborate a cult. Gods of medicine (closely allied with magic)
were Itzamna, Citbolontum, Ahau Chamahez and a sun-god, Kinich Ahau,
husband of Ixazalvoh. Kukulkan, according to one account, was the god
of fevers, and with these deities was associated Ixchel, the goddess
of childbirth, wife of Itzamna, whose image was placed under the bed
of prospective mothers in order to secure an easy delivery. There was
also a goddess Zuhuykak, said to be a deified mortal, who was the
special protectress of children. The Quiché venerated a number of
disease-gods, connected with whom were the two deities Xpiyakok and
Xmukane, counterparts of the Mexican Oxomoco and Cipactonal, who, like
the latter, were supposed to have assisted in the creation and were
regarded as the prototypes of all magicians.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Maya gods with their
name-glyphs.
A. The Moan bird.
B. The wind-god (God K).
C. Unknown goddess.
D. The maize-god (God E).
E. The rain- and thunder-god (God B).
F. The war-god (God F).
(_Dresden MS._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Maya gods with their
name-glyphs.
A. A water-goddess (Goddess I).
B. The sun-god (God G).
C. The god of the north star (God C).
D. The sky-god (God D).
E. The death-god (God A).
F. The goddess of suicides.
(_Dresden MS._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--The serpent-bird, from a
carved wooden panel at Tikal.
(_After Maudslay_)]
We come now to the elemental gods, who seem for the most part to have
been rather vague personalities, crystallized here and there (and
rather robbed of dignity in the process) into more sharply defined
tribal protectors. These are the deities whom, I believe, the builders
of the monuments chiefly worshipped, and whose portraits or symbols
may be identified among the carvings which decorate the ruins. Among
these, the most difficult to treat satisfactorily is Kukulkan,
the Quiché Gukumatz. The name, as stated before in connection with
Quetzalcoatl, means “Feathered serpent,” and the conception of such
a divinity is not peculiar to the Maya region, since a feathered
snake, the “Mother of waters,” is worshipped by the Pueblo Indians
far to the north. But Gukumatz-Kukulkan is not a mere water-god, and
I think that his real nature is apparent from the Tzental description
of Kukulkan, “the feathered snake that goes in the waters.” It is
difficult to see what else this can typify than the ripple, born both
of wind and water, the aspect of which suggests feathers, and the
motion a serpent. Both as representing motion, i.e. primordial motion,
and as typifying wind, i.e. breath, the god represents life, and so
in his highest aspect becomes a creator-god. In his snake and water
aspect he is closely connected with the rain-gods, while in his bird
and wind manifestation he is lord of the sky and world-directions,
for the winds blow from all points of the compass. As this great and
vague deity he appears in the early part of the Popol Vuh, and also, I
believe, on the monuments, where his symbol, the serpent-bird, is not
uncommon (e.g. Figs. 48 and 49). But he is not directly represented,
for the very reason that primitive peoples (and civilized too for
that matter) shrink from expressing their high gods in definite form.
It is only when he becomes a tribal protector, as among the Toltec
and the rulers of Mayapan, that his attributes become fixed and a
definite conception of him is transferred to wood or stone. But once
the definite conception is formed, the majesty of mystery is to a large
extent lost, and we see in Mexico the god of life and breath becoming
Eecatl, the god of the material wind, who sweeps the path of the gods
of rain. It is this relation, I believe, that Kukulkan-Gukumatz bears
to the Maya god of the material wind, God K. No one who has studied the
beliefs of the American tribes will think that such a conception is
beyond their psychology. Francisco Hernandez states that the Yucatec
chiefs, that is the more highly educated class, worshipped gods which
were unknown to the populace, and we know that the religious ideas of
the Peruvian rulers were on a very high plane. These higher beliefs,
where they occurred, were usually veiled in symbolism to guard them
from the vulgar; symbolism thrived in America, and the tendency to
esoteric doctrines, evolved by professional priesthoods, adds to the
difficulty of interpreting the remains of the earlier civilizations.
The degeneration of Gukumatz is seen in the later portion of the
Popol Vuh, where he is definitely associated with the Toltec in the
additional name “Ah Toltekat,” while reminiscences of his former
exalted status are apparent in later Mexican beliefs concerning him.
His association with the planet Venus, which is not apparent on
the monuments, belongs to the later stage, and, together with his
portraiture in carvings (e.g. Fig. 87; p. 367), apart from his symbolic
representation as a serpent-bird, has an important bearing on the
origin of the later buildings at Chichen Itza. The god Itzamna, also
called Yaxkokahmut, is again not very easy to fix; he is said to be the
son of the creator Hunabku and to have come from the east, but since he
is regarded as the inventor of writing, which must have been practised
long before the Maya entered Yucatan, this does not necessarily mean
that he came by sea, but only from some district lying to the east of
the territory occupied by his votaries at the time when they acquired
the art of writing. A comparison of the manuscripts with the account
of the ceremonies which ushered in the new year given by Landa seems
definitely to identify him with Schellhas’ “God D,” the “God with the
Roman nose” (Fig. 47, _d_). As such he is a sky-god, similar in
many respects to Tonacatecutli, and like him is often represented as an
old man with a beard. His head appears constantly upon the monuments,
either as a glyph, or issuing from the mouths of the double-headed
serpent, of which the body is ornamented with planet-symbols, and
which I believe to represent the sky. In later times in Yucatan he
bore a very close relation to the sun-god, Kinich-Ahau, and was to
a certain extent identified with him, in so far as we hear of an
image of Kinich-Ahau-Itzamna being prepared for certain ceremonies.
A figure exactly similar to that of Itzamna (identified as God D) is
sometimes shown, in manuscripts and reliefs and on pottery, with a
shell (Fig. 68; p. 312), and it may be argued from Mexican analogies
that this deity was also associated with the moon. How far Itzamna may
be identified with Itzamatul, the especial god of Itzamal, is perhaps
doubtful, but at any rate it is a coincidence that both were important
gods of healing. As regards Itzamatul it is said that his emblem was
a hand, and that he was also known as Kabul, the “Strong Hand”; in
this connection it is extremely interesting to note that two of the
stelæ at Piedras Negras (Pl. XX), one at Copan, a relief at Palenque,
and a fresco at Santa Rita in British Honduras, show a figure with a
head-dress in which a hand appears as the central feature. It is stated
further that his name implies association with the dew and clouds, and
that pilgrimages were made to his oracular shrine from Tabasco, Chiapas
and Guatemala.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XX_
_By permission of the Peabody Museum_
MAYA
STELA 14; PIEDRAS NEGRAS, GUATEMALA]
The sun-god proper in Yucatan was, as stated before, Kinich-Ahau, and
at his temple in Itzamal the deity was supposed to descend at midday
to consume the offerings “as the macaw with its variegated plumage.”
The simile is interesting, since it recalls at once the reliefs
showing the offerings made to birds perched upon conventional trees
(wrongly termed crosses) at Palenque (Fig. 49), and the similar emblems
surmounted by birds held by some of the figures at Menché. Still more
interesting is the statement, found in the works of Burgoa, that at
Teotitlan in the Zapotec country was a temple with a celebrated idol
which was said to have come from heaven in the form of a bird in the
midst of a luminous constellation. One of the glyphs identified with
practical certainty is that of the sun, and figures or heads of deities
with his glyph, “kin,” upon the forehead are found in the manuscripts
and upon the monuments. Such is Schellhas’ God G, who differs from
Itzamna only in the presence of the kin-mark and of a peculiar curved
nose-ornament (Fig. 47, _b_). On the monuments this god is
invariably shown with peculiarly filed teeth, a characteristic which
persists even when the kin-mark is absent (see Fig. 72; p. 316, and
the cover-design), and a long beard-like appendage beneath his chin
which probably represents the rays of the sun (Fig. 55, _e_; p.
251). But at the date at which the manuscripts were inscribed, as in
later Yucatan, the personalities of Itzamna and the sun-god proper
were rather confused, and the tendency can be observed even upon the
monuments. The association of the sun with war is not so evident among
the Maya as among the Aztec, still I think that it may be traced in
the fact that nearly all the shields carried by figures carved upon
the monuments bear as a device the face of the sun, distinguished by
the peculiar form of the teeth. The magnificent relief in the temple
at Palenque, usually known as the “temple of the sun,” represents in
reality one of these shields slung from two crossed spears, and it is
possible that the temple itself was dedicated to the war-god (Fig.
82; p. 344). Another feature of the sun-face, when shown thus _en
face_, is a twisted snake with the fold upon the nose, but arranged
in the reverse position to that seen upon certain of the Tlaloc faces
in Mexico (compare Fig. 86, _f_; p. 356). It is worth noting,
however, that Tlaloc is often shown with the attributes of Tonatiuh
in the Mexican manuscripts. In addition to these gods, the Yucatec
also believed in the existence of a creator, Hunabku, father of
Itzamna, though, like many creating-deities, he does not seem to have
been honoured with any definite cult. It is possible that he is to
be identified with Hunahpu, a god who held a similar position in the
mythology of the Quiché, and who was associated in the work of creation
with Gukumatz and Hurakan. The latter was also termed the “Heart of
Heaven,” and was a thunder- and lightning-god. As such he was also a
god of fertility. The association of lightning with fertility is not
perhaps apparent until it is remembered that most rain in the tropics
is accompanied by thunder; for this reason Tlaloc and Chac, both of
them thunder-gods, are gods of agriculture, and the dualism which makes
the god who smites with the lightning the god also of the fertilizing
rain is found in South America, in Peru, and in the Antilles. Whilst
on this subject the existence of a special maize-god may be mentioned.
This personage does not appear in the pantheon of the later Yucatec,
for whom the Chac were the agricultural deities, but he is shown
constantly in the manuscripts (Schellhas’ God E, Fig. 46, _d_),
and on the monuments. But his position is peculiar; even in the earlier
times the rain-gods represented the active principle of fertility, the
maize-god being merely passive, and typifying the spirit of the maize,
befriended by the beneficent powers and persecuted by the lord of the
underworld and the various animals which plunder the growing crop. On
the monuments he is distinguished by a foliated ornament, representing
the corncob, which forms his head-dress, and he appears most
conspicuously in the so-called “foliated cross” at Palenque (Fig. 49),
which in reality represents a maize-plant like the Mexican Tree of the
West, shown in Fig. 10; p. 79. In the manuscripts he wears a similar
head-dress, but is usually shown also with a vertical line running down
his face passing across his eye, just as Cinteotl is depicted in the
manuscripts of Mexico.
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Stone relief; Temple of the
Foliated Cross, Palenque.
(_After Maudslay_)]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--The two-headed monster;
from a stone carving at Copan.
(_After Maudslay_)]
The lords of the underworld held an important position in Maya
mythology. The Yucatec recognized two destinations for departed
spirits; one was a sort of paradise, where the souls of the dead rested
in the shade of the mythical Yaxché tree, the other was called Mitnal,
and corresponded to the Aztec Mictlan. Here presided a god called
Hunahau or Uac Mitun Ahau, whose attributes are exactly similar to
those of Mictlantecutli. He is usually, though not invariably, shown
as a skeleton, and skulls and cross-bones, bell-like pendants and
sometimes a feather ruff are his chief _insignia_ (Schellhas’
God A, Fig. 47, _e_). He is very frequently depicted in the
manuscripts, and appears on the monuments chiefly in the form of a
skull. The Kakchiquel spoke of him as Mictan Ahau, and associated
with him two subordinate deities, Tatan Holon and Tatan Bak (“Father
Bones and Father Skull”). The Quiché termed the underworld Xibalba,
a word which was also used with the same connotation by the Maya and
Kakchiquel. The story of the demi-gods Hunahpu and Xbalanque gives a
detailed description of Xibalba. The road to it lies downwards beneath
the earth, and its rulers are Hun Camé and Vukub Camé (terms in
which we can recognize the Maya word cimi, the name of the day-sign
corresponding to miquiztli, symbolized by a skull), whose messengers
are the owls. It is expressly stated in the Popol Vuh, however, that
the inhabitants of Xibalba are not gods, but beings of a supernatural
character who delight in bringing evil upon men and stirring up strife
between nations. There are many points about the “harrying” of Xibalba
by the two heroes mentioned above which seem to suggest that the
original Xibalba was situated in a region at that time inhabited by
the Kakchiquel. One of the principal powers there is the Camazotz, a
supernatural bat, who nearly compasses the destruction of the heroes
in the Zotziha or “bat-house,” and, as has been stated, the principal
deity of the Kakchiquel was a god in bat-form called Zotziha Chimalcam.
Moreover the owl-messengers of Xibalba bear the title of Ahpop Ahchi,
a title which also appears at the Kakchiquel court. Connected with
the gods of the underworld was the Maya goddess Ixtab, who received
the souls of those who committed suicide (by hanging). A figure which
probably represents her appears once in the Dresden codex, in the
form of a woman with her head in a noose (Fig. 47, _f_). She was
associated however rather with the paradise than with Mitnal, since
individuals who hung themselves were considered to be assured of future
happiness. A few more gods might be mentioned, but as practically
nothing is known of them save their names, and they do not appear on
the monuments as far as can be traced at present, they are omitted.
But a word must be said concerning certain mythological animals which
figure in the sculptures. Chief of these is a monster resembling a
dragon, which is furnished with a head at either end of the body (Fig.
50). The head proper is distinguished by an inordinately long upper
jaw, and exhibits otherwise certain characteristics usually associated
with the serpent in Maya art. The mouth is invariably shown wide open,
with the head of a god, usually the sun-god (though sometimes God B),
emerging. The reverse head, often shown upside-down, is portrayed with
a fleshless jaw and other symbols of death, but is also associated
with the sun in so far as it bears upon the forehead the kin-glyph,
over which are certain ornaments, notably a flame-like “plume,” which
are attributes of the sun. Now the head proper, with the elongated
upper jaw, bears a distinct resemblance to the Mexican cipactli
animal, from which the earth was created, and in a very confused
creation-myth given in one of the books of Chilan Balam we find a
monster, Itzamkab-ain, who at the creation is impregnated by a god of
fecundity, Ah-uuk-chek-nale. Further the earth in Mexican symbolic art
is invariably represented by a monster with gaping jaws, which is often
shown as swallowing Tonatiuh or Tlaloc. I think that it is perfectly
just to conclude that the so-called “double-headed dragon” of Maya art
is the earth-monster. As we have seen, the god who is usually shown in
his jaws is the sun-god, and the occasional substitution of God B is
paralleled in the Mexican manuscripts which sometimes show Tlaloc in
the jaws of the earth-monster. The head with the attributes of death
and the sun combined, which appears at the other end of the animal
(sometimes, as I have said, upside-down), is, on this explanation, the
sun in the underworld, i.e. the sun after its setting. The presence
of the sun-attributes is necessitated by the fact that without them
the death-face would be indistinguishable from that of the death-god,
whereas the head of the other god requires no special identification
marks. There are a good many additional points which support this view,
but I will mention two only. The magnificent carved lintel from Tikal,
now at Basle, shows a figure with all the attributes of the death-god
beneath a particularly elaborate example of the double-headed monster.
The position of the monster here is unusual, since it is usually shown
as a support rather than as a canopy, but I think that in this case
it emphasizes the fact that the home of the death-god is below the
earth. The other point is the following: in the relief at Palenque,
known as the cross, the conventional tree (for such it is in reality),
springs from the head with the combined death- and sun-symbols (Fig.
51). In this case the part is taken for the whole, the head represents
the earth-monster, and the whole scene is an exact parallel to the
Borgia codex, in which the trees of the world-directions are shown
rooted in the body of the monstrous earth-goddess (Fig. 10; p. 79).
The Vaticanus B codex is an even closer parallel, since the trees
representing the quarters are there depicted as springing from a
cipactli head, and it will be remembered that the Mexicans believed
the earth to have been created from a monstrous cipactli (p. 59). It
is true that the “foliated cross” is supported by a head of another
type, but there is a particular reason for this; the “foliated cross”
is in reality a maize-plant, the head is that of a rain- or water-god
(of whom parallels are found at Chichen Itza and other places), and
the combination symbolizes the dependence of the maize-crop upon the
water-supply. The finest example of the double-headed earth-monster
is the remarkable monolith, designated P, at Quirigua (Pl. XXVI, 1;
p. 338.) The illustration shows the principal head of the animal with
widely-distended jaws enclosing the figure of a deity.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Rear head of the two-headed
monster; Temple of the Cross, Palenque.
(_After Maudslay_)]
The earth-monster is not however the only two-headed animal in Maya
art. Many of the stelæ, particularly those at Copan, Quirigua and
Naranjo, show a figure bearing in its arms an object usually known as
the “ceremonial bar” (see Pl. XXI; p. 236). In some cases the object
appears simply as a two-headed snake, with drooping body, but in the
majority of instances it resembles a beam with a snake-head at either
end. In either case the heads are similar, and resemble the main head
of the earth-monster; while the open jaws enclose the head of a god,
usually God B, the rain-god, but sometimes the sun- or sky-god. Where
the body assumes the beam form, it is divided into panels, enclosing
glyphs which are almost certainly symbols of certain planets, the sun,
moon, day and night. Now practically throughout America the snake is
the emblem of clouds, rain and lightning, and I would suggest that this
symbol represents the sky. From this point of view the association of
the planet symbols, and the gods of the sun and rain, is explained,
and one immediately recalls the myth according to which the creator
placed the four Bacabs at the cardinal points to support the heavens.
It may be that the figure which holds the “bar” may represent one of
these deities; and this suggestion is to some extent supported by
the following facts. Many, though not all, of the stelæ bear dates
recording even katun quarters (a katun = 7200 days, see p. 251), and
it is possible that these stelæ were erected to mark the lapse of
regular periods of time. The historical Maya were in the habit, so
Landa states, of setting up a “stone” to commemorate the passing of
a katun, and also of holding certain ceremonies at one of the sacred
piles of stones outside the village in honour of the commencement of
each solar year. These ceremonies were in honour of the Bacab, who was
supposed to preside over the year in question (see p. 263). Now a large
proportion of the figures portrayed upon stelæ at various sites carry,
instead of the “bar,” an object hitherto called the “mannikin sceptre.”
This is a short staff, presumably of wood, carved to represent God B
(or God K, both rain- and wind-gods), and terminating below the hand
in a curved projection representing the head of a snake (Fig. 52).
Now the real nature of this object has hitherto, most unaccountably,
been misunderstood. It is nothing more or less than a ceremonial axe,
the stone blade of which, bearing the marks which conventionally
expressed a stone implement, can in nearly every case be clearly
seen projecting from the forehead of the small figure. At Palenque
this blade is replaced by a foliated ornament, which may represent
an elaborate blade of copper, or, possibly, a bunch of feathers.
Considering the ceremonial nature of the implement, the substitution
in later times (for Palenque is perhaps the latest of the important
sites) for the unornamental stone of a tuft of gorgeous plumage is
easily understood and has many parallels in the history of ceremonial
weapons. Now the haft is carved in the likeness of the rain-god, the
snake is the emblem of rain, and the axe is _par excellence_
the weapon of the rain-deity, emblematical of thunder (see p. 221).
Thus again we arrive at the possibility that the bearer may be one of
the Bacabs, who seem to be identical with the Chac, or rain-gods of
Yucatan. Still, the identification of the main figures with the gods
who support the sky is not one on which I would insist at present. The
personages who bear the emblems of the sky and rain may be merely the
priests of the all-important deities of fertility, or chieftains who
are thus endowed with the symbols of divine power. I have given perhaps
disproportionate space to the discussion of these three symbols, the
earth-monster, the sky-snake and the ceremonial axe, because I wish
to emphasize two points; firstly that the accounts of the historical
Yucatec do undoubtedly throw some light upon the monumental remains of
earlier date; and secondly that the root-ideas of Mexican and Mayan
religion are closely akin and cannot with profit be studied separately.
It is the full recognition of these two axioms, combined of course with
his own remarkable intellectual gifts, which gives the investigations
of Seler so signal and permanent a value.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XXI_
_Photo. Dr. A. P. Maudslay_
MAYA
STELA H.; COPAN, HONDURAS]
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--Ceremonial axes from the
monuments.
_a._ Tzendales.
_b._ Palenque.
_c._ Quirigua.
_d._ Palenque.
_e._ Menché.]
Of other mythological animals, mention may be made of the
_moan_-bird, a bird of the falcon variety, associated with the sky
and clouds, and possessing rather sinister characteristics (Fig. 46,
_a_). Also of the lightning-animal, sometimes pictured as a dog,
sometimes as a hoofed creature with a snout resembling a pig’s, and
usually shown descending from the sky. When the horse first made its
appearance among the Maya it was associated with this animal, and one
of Cortés’ sick horses which he left among the natives was installed in
a temple and worshipped as such. Unfortunately the poor animal did not
long survive its deification, being unable to adapt itself to a diet of
chickens and flowers, the offerings made to it in all good faith by the
natives.
Like the Aztec, the Maya and cognate tribes believed that more than
one creation had taken place, and we find the tradition of a great
deluge which put an end to the age immediately preceding this. In the
Quiché legend, Hunahpu, Gukumatz and Hurakan are the creating-gods;
“Earth,” said they, and immediately the earth was formed. Then the
animals were created, and various functions were distributed among
them, but the gods were not satisfied, because the animals were
speechless and could not praise them. So man was made from clay, but
he was without intelligence and the gods destroyed him. Then came
the third creation; after consultation with Xpiyakok and Xmukane,
the creators made men from wooden images, but these too were without
intelligence and paid no worship to the divine powers; so the majority
were destroyed by a great flood, while many perished at the hands of
the animals and domestic utensils which revolted against them, the
few survivors becoming monkeys. At this point the Popol Vuh relates
the story of the two heroes Hunahpu (not the Hunahpu mentioned as the
creator) and Xbalanque. They are first introduced as the slayers of a
kind of Titan, Vukub Kakix, and his two sons, Kabrakan and Zipakna.
It is said that the eyes of Vukub Kakix were of silver, his body of
precious metals, and his teeth inlaid with gems, and he became so
haughty that he usurped the power of the sun. The two heroes robbed
the tree, whence he was accustomed to obtain his food, of its fruit,
and when he ascended into the branches, blew at him through a magical
blow-gun, which dealt destruction without ammunition, and he fell
and broke his jaw. The heroes however did not escape scot-free, for
Vukub Kakix tore off Hunahpu’s arm, which he hung up above his hearth
in order to inflict torments upon its former possessor by sympathetic
magic. Hunahpu enlisted the help of two magicians, probably Xpiyakok
and Xmukane in disguise, who, under pretence of curing Vukub Kakix’s
jaw, extracted his teeth, so that his power departed from him and he
died, and the arm was recovered. Zipakna and Kabrakan seem to have
been earthquake deities; the former was the “creator of mountains,”
the latter the “destroyer of mountains,” and they too incurred the
enmity of Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Zipakna had been persuaded by certain
four hundred young men to dig for them the hole in which to erect the
main post of a house, and they intended to bury him alive while thus
engaged; but he constructed a side-tunnel in which he hid, and cut off
his hair and nails which he gave to the ants to carry to the surface so
that the four hundred might believe him to be dead. Finally emerging
from his hiding-place when the young men were making merry over his
supposed decease, he pulled the house down over them and killed them
all. In revenge for this he was destroyed by Hunahpu and Xbalanque by
means of a stratagem, and his brother Zipakna perished in a similar
manner. The next act of the two brothers was to avenge the death of
their father and uncle at the hands of the inhabitants of Xibalba.
Xpiyakok and Xmukane had two sons, Hun Hunahpu and Vukub Hunahpu, who
one day while playing the ball-game tlaxtli attracted the notice of
the lords of the underworld. “Who are these,” they said, “who make so
much noise and cause the earth to shake over our heads?” So they sent
their messengers, the owls, to challenge them to a game. Hun Hunahpu
and Vukub Hunahpu take up the challenge, and start off for Xibalba,
passing down a steep descent, and across several rivers, one of which
is full of gourds, another of blood, and come to four cross-roads,
coloured yellow, red, white and black, the colours associated with
the four cardinal points. They take the last and arrive at Xibalba,
where they are received by the rulers Hun Camé and Vukub Camé. The
court at Xibalba seems to have been conducted on the principle of a
secret society with a definite form of initiation, for the new-comers
are forthwith submitted to various tests at all of which they fail,
and they are finally sacrificed by having their hearts torn out
before being allowed to engage in the game for which they had come.
Hun Hunahpu’s head is suspended in a tree which immediately becomes
covered with calabashes so that the head is indistinguishable from the
fruit. The head however retains its vital properties, since when Xquik,
daughter of one of the high officials of Xibalba, is standing near
the tree, it spits into her hand, causing her to conceive. When her
condition is discovered, she is delivered over to the owl messengers
to be killed, but escapes to the upper world where she seeks out the
dwelling of Xmukané and gives birth to Hunahpu and Xbalanque mentioned
above. With Xmukané are living Hun Batz and Hun Chuen, also sons of Hun
Hunahpu, who are accomplished musicians, dancers and artisans. These
two persecute their half-brothers, who take their revenge as follows:
The four start out to hunt, and Hun Batz and Hun Chuen are persuaded to
climb into the trees to drive the birds. Hunahpu and Xbalanque cause
the trees to start growing, so that their half-brothers cannot come
down, and persuade them, when they complain, to loosen their girdles so
that their movements may be the less restricted. The loosened girdles
immediately become tails, and Hun Batz and Hun Chuen are transformed
into monkeys. After a series of events Hunahpu and Xbalanque, by
the aid of a rat, discover the existence of a set of implements and
ornaments, used in the ball-game, which had formerly belonged to their
father and uncle. They start to play, and again the noise of the game
attracts the notice of the lords of Xibalba, who again send a challenge
which is accepted. But this time affairs proceed on different lines.
When they arrive at the cross-roads they send on a small insect, called
_xan_, created from a hair of Hunahpu’s leg, to act as a spy. The
xan finds the lords of Xibalba sitting with their councillors among
certain wooden figures, and by biting them one by one discovers their
names, so that when Hunahpu and Xbalanque arrive they salute each one
by his title, and do not, as their father and uncle, give greeting to
the wooden figures; they also avoid the hot stone which is offered
them as a seat, and pass the later tests with success. One of these
consisted in being shut up for the night in the “House of Gloom,”
with torches and cigars which must be kept burning all night and
produced intact in the morning. This feat the heroes achieve by fixing
red feathers to the torches and fireflies to the cigars. Eventually
disaster falls upon them in the “House of the Bats,” the Zotziha. The
point of this test seems to be that the heroes must pass the night
sleepless, erect and motionless, but Hunahpu moves his head just as
the dawn is appearing, and is immediately decapitated by the Camazotz,
the bat of the underworld, who leaps upon him from above. The head
is suspended in the ball-court, but the tortoise affixes himself to
Hunahpu’s body in its place. Xbalanque then goes out alone to face the
Xibalbans in the ball-game; he hits the ball close to the ring, and the
rabbit which is hidden near it leaps out and runs away. The Xibalbans
give chase, thinking that the rabbit is the ball, and Xbalanque
exchanges the tortoise for the head, and Hunahpu is revived. The heroes
then immolate themselves, but return after five days in the disguise of
travelling conjurers, performing many miracles, including the sacrifice
and resurrection of a man. Hun Camé and Vukub Camé desire to have
this trick performed upon them, but the heroes after sacrificing them
naturally do not revive them. Xibalba is thus conquered, and sentence
is pronounced by the heroes upon its people, “Your blood shall endure
for a little, but your ball shall not roll again in the ball-game,” and
the only occupations which they are allowed to retain are the making of
pots and the keeping of bees. Following this, honours are paid to Hun
Hunahpu and Vukub Hunahpu, who become the sun and moon respectively,
while the four hundred slain by Zipakna are resuscitated and become
stars. Certain similarities with Mexican mythology are apparent in this
legend, notably the miraculous conception of Hunahpu and Xbalanque by a
virgin, recalling the birth of Uitzilopochtli, and the transformation
of the four hundred into stars, which is reminiscent of the legend of
the Centzon Uitznaua (Four hundred Southerners) who also became stars.
In this connection it is interesting to note that a legend is found in
San Salvador, according to which four hundred youths disappeared into a
certain lake and were transformed into fishes.
Such in brief is the myth of Hunahpu and Xbalanque as given in the
Popol Vuh, but there are many extremely interesting details which
lack of space compels me to omit, but which can be found in the
translations, French or Spanish, or the English abridgment, of the
original Quiché text.
The story of the fourth and final creation again shows a similarity
with one of the Mexican legends given above. The creators decide to
make man of maize, but the maize cannot be found. It is eventually
discovered at Paxil, the Maya equivalent of Tonacatepetl, through the
agency of the fox, coyote, parrot and crow. It is ground, and from the
meal the body of man is formed, while Xpiyakok and Xmukané make from
it nine different kinds of drink which give vigour to created man. At
this time the ancestors of the Quiché are created, and from this point
the “historical” portion of the Popol Vuh begins. The Kakchiquel had
a similar myth relative to the discovery of maize by the animals, and
they believed that man, as finally created, was formed of maize and
blood, the men of a former creation having been unable to speak or walk
and feeding on wood and leaves. In Yucatan the first men were said to
have been made of earth and straw, their bodies of the former and their
hair of the latter.