Popol VuhMesoamerican MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeK'iche'SharePopol Vuh 8Spence - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableSpenceLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Popol Vuh 1Popol Vuh 2Popol Vuh 3Popol Vuh 4Popol Vuh 5Popol Vuh 6Popol Vuh 7Popol Vuh 8Popol Vuh 9Popol Vuh 10Popol Vuh 11Popol Vuh 12Popol Vuh 13Popol Vuh 14Popol Vuh 15Popol Vuh 16Popol Vuh 17›The Pantheon Of The "Popol Vuh"Popol Vuh 8ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1It 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. 2Almost 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] 3Deities 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. 4That 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. 5Cucumatz 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: 6[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." 7That 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. 8Hurakan, 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). 9Hun-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." 10"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." ‹Previous chapterPopol Vuh 7Next chapterPopol Vuh 9›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg