Mexican Archæology/Chapter 9

by Thomas Athol Joyce

 

CHAPTER IX—THE MAYA: RELIGION AND MYTH

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 Quiche 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. Tohilisin 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

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.)

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).
B:	The death-god (God A).
F.	The goddess of suicides.
(Dresden MS.)

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.

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 Quiche 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."

Fig. 48.—The serpent-bird, from a carved wooden panel at Tikal.
(After Maudslay)

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,

MAYA
Stela 14; Piedras Negras, Guatemala

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, KinichAhau, 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 stele 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 1s 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. 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

Fig. 49.—Stone Relief; Temple of the Foliated Cross, Palenque.

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.

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 Kakchiguel. 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 1n 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

Fig. 50.—The two-headed monster; from a stone carving at Copan.
(After Maudslay)

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 1s unusual, since it is usually shown as a support rather than as a canopy, but I think that in this case 1t emphasizes the fact that the home of the death-god 1s 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. §1). 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. §9). 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.

The earth-monster is not however the only two-headed animal in Maya art. Many of the stelæ, particularly

Fig. 51.—Rear head of the two-headed monster; Temple of the Cross, Palenque.
(After Maudslay)

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 skygod. 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 stele bear dates recording even katun quarters (a katun = 47200 days, see p. 251), and it is possible that these stele 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 stele 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

 

MAYA
Stela H.; Copan, Honduras

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.

Fig. 52.—Ceremonial axes from the monuments.

 

a.	Tzendales.	c.	Cuirigua.	e.	Menché.
b.	Palenque.	d.	Palenque.

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 1s 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 net-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.

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 ballgame; 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.

 

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