This is a list of deities playing a role in the Classic (200–1000 CE), Post-Classic (1000–1539 CE) and Contact Period (1511–1697) of Maya religion. The names are mainly taken from the books of Chilam Balam, Lacandon ethnography, the Madrid Codex, the work of Diego de Landa, and the Popol Vuh. Depending on the source, most names are either Yucatec or Kʼicheʼ. The Classic Period names (belonging to the Classic Maya language) are only rarely known with certainty.
Maya mythological beings
editList Source keys
edit- CHB – Books of Chilam Balam
- LAC – Lacandon ethnography
- L – de Landa
- M — Madrid Codex
- PV – the Popol Vuh.
A
editThe god of wine and intoxication, identified with the drink Balché.
The god of tattoos and tattooing.
The god of the sky and wood, a creator deity.
The god of bees and honey.
The goddess of the Moon and the night.
B
editThe old god of the interior of the earth and of thunder, sky-carrier, sometimes depicted as four Bacabs that each represent the directions.
The jaguar god of the underworld.[1] Also any of a group of jaguar gods who protected people and communities.
A sky god. One of the creator and destroyer deities who participated in the last two attempts at creating humanity.
Bolon Tzʼakab (Dzacab) *L* [ god
editBolontiku *CHB*
editA group of nine underworld gods.
"Nine Strides", mentioned in the Books of Chilam Balam and in Classic inscriptions; functions unknown.
Buluc Chabtan [ god F ]
editThe god of war, violence, sacrifice, and gambling.
C
editA god of mountains and earthquakes. He was a son of Vucub Caquix and Chimalmat.
Also known as kacoch. Was a male creator god worshipped by the Lacandon people and associated with Acan the god of wine. He is said to have created the water lily that all other gods sprang from.
A bat and death god.
Can Tzicnal *L*
editThe Bacab of the north, associated with the color white, and the Muluc years. Son of Itzamna and Ixchel.
God of rain, thunder, and lightning, wields an axe of lightning, brother to Kinich Ahau.
Chaac Uayab Xoc *L*
editA fish god and the patron deity of fishermen.
A group of four Chorti rain gods who live in lakes and make rain clouds from the water in them. As with the Bacabs, each of the rain gods was associated with a cardinal direction. Chiccan was also the name of a day in the Tzolkin cycle of the calendar.
A god of medicine and healing
A giant who was, by Vucub Caquix, the mother of Cabrakan and Zipacna.
The main god of relationships.
A god of earthquakes and death who lived in Metnal.
Colel Cab
editGoddess of the bees.
An eclipse deity.
The god of thunder. Brother of Cakulha.
E
editEk Chuaj, the "black war chief" was the patron god of warriors and merchants. He was depicted carrying a bag over his shoulder and wearing a Jaguar mantle. He was typically represented with a dangling lower lip, a long nose, sometimes a scorpion’s tail, and particularly in the Madrid codex he is painted all black.
G
editGI, GII, GIII
editThe three patron deities of the Palenque kingdom, made up of a sea deity with a shell ear, GII a baby lightning god (god K), and GIII the jaguar god of fire, also patron of the number seven.
Ku'ku'lkan > Qʼuqʼumatz *PV*
editA feathered snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Gukumatz of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is closely related to the god Kukulkan of Yucatán and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztec. God of the seas, oceans, wind, and storms.
H
editHachäkʼyum *LAC*
editPatron deity of the Lacandon.
Hobnil *L*
editBacab of the east.
Hozanek *L*
editBacab of the south.
"One Howler Monkey", one of two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.
"One-Death", a lord of the underworld (Xibalba) who, along with Vucub-Came "Seven-Death", killed Hun Hunahpu. They were defeated by the latter's sons the Hero Twins.
Hun-Chowen *PV*
editOne of the two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.
Hun-Hunahpu *PV*
editThe father of the Maya Hero Twins Ixbalanque and Hun-Ahpu by a virgin. Beheaded in Xibalba, the underworld, by the rulers of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vucub Came.
"Sole God", identical with Itzamna as the highest Yucatec god; or a more abstract upper god. *Current research now indicates this 'Maya' symbol is not of Maya origin and rather an invention by a Catholic missionary to more easily introduce one-god concept into the Maya culture.
One of the Maya Hero Twins.
Hunahpu-Gutch *PV*
editOne of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity.
Hunahpu Utiu *PV*
editOne of the thirteen creator gods who helped to create humanity.
"One-Maize", a reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period Tonsured Maize God
A now-obsolete reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period Tonsured Maize God
"One-Leg", one of three lightning gods together called "Heart of the Sky", and acting as world creators. God of the weather, wind, storms, and fire.
I
edit- The creator god
- A patron god of the Lacandon people.
Ixbalanque > Xbalanque
edit- Jaguar goddess of midwifery, medicine and the moon.
- One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity, grandmother of the Hero Twins.
- A creator god who helped create humanity.
- Goddess of suicide, represented with a rope around her neck.
J
editmountain god of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ Maya
K
editAssumed to have been the Classic name of God K (Bolon Dzacab). Title attested for Itzamna, Uaxac Yol, and Amaite Ku; family name; probably not meaning "food", but "powerful".
The solar deity.
The most commonly depicted god of death.
"Feathered Serpent". Although heavily Mexicanised, Kukulkan has his origins among the Maya of the Classic Period, when he was known as Waxaklahun Ubah Kan (/waʃaklaˈχuːn uːˈɓaχ kän/), the War Serpent, and he has been identified as the Postclassic version of the Vision Serpent of Classic Maya art.
M
editA title of respect meaning "Grandfather" and applied to a number of different Maya deities including earth spirits, mountain spirits, and the four Bacabs.
A god of travelers, merchants, medicine men/women, mischief and fertility, later conflated with Saint Simon and in modern times part of the celebrations surrounding Holy Week.
N
editThe god of war. A Powerful god, claimed to be stronger than all the other gods of war in every other religion.
A creator-destroyer deity, the brother of the death god Kisin (or possibly another earthquake god also known as Kisin). He is the sworn enemy of the world serpent Hapikern and it is said that, in the end of days, he will destroy Hapikern by wrapping him around himself to smother him. In some versions, this will destroy life on Earth. He is related, in some stories, to Usukan, Uyitzin, Yantho and Hapikern, all of whom wish ill to human beings. Brother of Xamaniqinqu, the patron god of travelers and merchants.
Q
editOne of the second set of creator gods.
Qʼuqʼumatz *PV*
editFeathered Snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Qʼuqʼumatz of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is closely related to the god Kukulkan of Yucatán and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs.
S
editA hunting god of the Yucatec Maya arguably ears and antlers.[2]
T
editA sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity.
A patron god of the Kʼicheʼ, to whom a great temple was erected at the Kʼicheʼ capital Qʼumarkaj.
Tunkuruchu *PV*
editAn ancient owl, one who foretells death. At a party held by all birds, he was humiliated by some humans, and as revenge, he would visit them announcing their deaths.
V
edit"Straight God", a mountain god of the Postclassic Manche Chʼol.[3]
Legendary ancestral deity, Chiapas.
Vucub-Caquix *PV*
editA bird being, whose wife is Chimalmat and whose sons are the demonic giants Cabrakan and Zipacna.
X
editThe god of travelers and merchants, who gave offerings to him on the side of roads while traveling.
One of the Hero or War Twins and companion to Hunahpu.
A mountain god of the Postclassic Manche Chʼol.[4]
Xmucane and Xpiayoc *PV*
editA creator god couple which helped create the first humans. They are also the parents of Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. They were called Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light and Bearer twice over, begetter twice over and given the titles midwife and matchmaker.
She was the daughter of Cuchumaquic, one of the lords of the underworld, Xibalba. She is noted for being the mother of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque and is sometimes considered to be the Maya goddess associated with the waning moon.
Y
editOne of four Mopan "Grandfathers" of the earth and chief lightning god.
An important rain god at Copán and Quiriguá in the southern Maya area.[5]
God of the woods, of wild nature, and of the hunt; invoked before carving out a maize field from the wilderness.
Z
editThe Bacab of the west.
A demonic personification of the earth crust.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ "Religion-Mayan Gods Deities". www.maya-archaeology.org.
- ^ Braswell, Geoffrey E. (2003). The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. p. 286. ISBN 0-292-70587-5. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
- ^ Thompson 1938, p. 594.
- ^ Wanyerka August 2009, p. 182.
- ^ Gutiérrez González 2012, p. 1061.
References
edit- Gutiérrez González, Ma. Eugenia (2012). B. Arroyo; L. Paiz; H. Mejía (eds.). "Yopaat, un dios maya de la tormenta en Quiriguá" (PDF). Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala (in Spanish). XXV (2011). Guatemala City, Guatemala: Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Instituto de Antropología e Historia and Asociación Tikal: 1061–1073. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
- Knowlton, Timothy W., Maya Creation Myths: Words and Worlds of the Chilam Balam. University Press of Colorado, Boulder 2010.
- Taube, Karl, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatán. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington 1992.
- Mark, Joshua (2012). "The Mayan Pantheon: The Many Gods of the Maya". worldhistory.org.
- Thompson, J. Eric S. (October–December 1938). "Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Reports on the Chol Mayas". American Anthropologist. New Series. 40 (4 (Part 1)). Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association: 584–604. doi:10.1525/aa.1938.40.4.02a00040. JSTOR 661615.
- Thompson, J. Eric S. Maya History and Religion. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1970.
- Wanyerka, Phillip Julius (August 2009). "Classic Maya Political Organization: Epigraphic Evidence of Hierarchical Organization in the Southern Maya Mountains Region of Belize" (PDF). Carbondale, Illinois, US: Southern Illinois University. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
- "Hunab Ku: The FAKE Maya god…". 12 April 2017. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017.