Religion
Tepeu and Gukumatz (also known as Kukulkán, and Quetzalcoatl) are referred to as the Creators, the Makers, and the Forefathers. They were two of the first beings to exist and were said to be as wise as sages. Huracan, or the Heart of Heaven, also existed and is given less personification. He acts more like a storm, of which he is the god.
Tepeu and Gukumatz hold a conference and decide that, in order to preserve their legacy, they must create a race of beings who can worship them. Huracan does the actual creating while Tepeu and Gucumatz guide the process. Earth is created, but the gods make several false starts in setting humanity upon the earth. Animals were created first; however, with all of their howling and squawking they did not worship their creators and were thus banished forever to the forest. Man is created first of mud, but they just crumbled and dissolved away. Other gods are summoned and man is next created of wood but has no soul, and they soon forgot their makers, so the gods turned all of their possessions against them and brought a black resinous rain down on their heads. Finally man is formed of masa or corn dough by even more gods and their work is complete.
Chriakan-Ixmucane
Chriakan-Ixmucane is one of the thirteen creator gods who helped construct humanity.
* Ah Puch - God of Death
* Chaac - God of Rain and Thunder
* Camazotz - Bat god, tries to kill the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh.
* Gucumatz - Snake god and creator.
* Hunahpu - One of the Maya Hero Twins.
* Huracan - Storm and fire god, one of the creator deities.
* Ixbalanque - One of the Maya Hero Twins.
* Ixchel - Earth and Moon goddess.
* Ixtab - Goddess of suicide.
* Zipacna - Underworld demon.
Bacabs
The Bacabs were four brothers, the sons of Itzamna and Ixchel. A creator god placed these skybearers at the four corners of the universe. Because each stands at one of the four cardinal directions, each is associated with a color and with a specific segment in the Maya calendar.
* Hobnil (later replaced by Chaac) - bacab of the east, is assigned the color red and the Kan years.
* Can Tzicnal - bacab of the north, is assigned the color white, and the Muluc years.
* Zac Cimi - bacab of the west, is assigned the color black and the Ix years.
* Hozanek - bacab of the south, is assigned the color yellow and the Cauac years.
References to the Bacabs are found in the writings of sixteenth-century historian Diego de Landa and the various Maya histories known as the Chilam Balams. At some point, the brothers became associated with the figure of Chac, a Maya rain god. In the Yucatán, the Maya of Chan Kom referred to the four skybearers as the four Chacs. They were also believed to be jaguar gods, and are associated with beekeeping. Like many other deities, the Bacabs were important in divination ceremonies, being approached with questions about crops, weather or the health of bees.
Ah Puch
Ah Puch is the God of death and King of Metnal, the underworld. He is depicted as a skeleton or corpse adorned with bells, sometimes the head of an owl.
Chaac
Chaac (also rendered as Chaak or Chac) is the god ofh rain and thunder, and isalso significant in rites and observances associated with fertility and agriculture.
Camazotz - Bat god, tries to kill the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh.
In the Popol Vuh the common noun refers to bat-like monsters encountered by the Maya Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque during their trials in the underworld of Xibalba. Forced to spend the night in Bat House, the boys are able to keep the creatures at bay until Hunahpu loses his head while trying to watch for the coming of dawn. The grieving Xbalanque calls all the animals, instructing each to bring back its favorite food. When the coati returns with a squash, Xbalanque carves it into a new head for his brother, and they continue their adventures, bringing about the eventual defeat of the Xibalbans.
Gucumatz - Snake god and creator.
Gukumatz ("feathered serpent") is a feathered snake god, one of all three groups of gods who created Earth and humanity. He taught mankind civilization and agriculture.
Gukumatz was a hero who taught the Olmec the arts of civilization, including codes of law, agriculture, fishing and medicine. He came from an ocean, and eventually returned to it. According to one legend, Gukumatz will return to the Earth during the End times. He also represents the forces of good and evil.
Gukumatz is a god of the four elements of fire, earth, air and water, and each element was associated with a divine animal or plant:
* Air --Vulture
* Earth --Maize
* Fire --Lizard
* Water --Fish
Hunahpu - One of the Maya Hero Twins.
Hun-Ahpu or Hunahpu was a son of Hun-Hunahpu and Xquic, and an older twin to Xbalanque; the two were the Maya Hero Twins. The story of Hunahpu and his brother is told in the Popol Vuh. The pair was apparently well favored by the greater Mayan gods, and over their lifetimes had a long career of defeating their enemies through trickery and great powers (see below).
As a name, Hunahpu, or Hun-ahpu, is usually understood as Hun-ahpub, or 'One-Blowgunner', the blowgun characterizing the youthful hero as a hunter for birds.
Huracan - Storm and fire god, one of the creator deities.
Huracan ("one legged") was a wind, storm and fire god and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused the Great Flood after the first humans angered the gods. He supposedly lived in the windy mists above the floodwaters and repeated "earth" until land came up from the seas.
In appearance he has one leg, the other being transformed into a serpent, a zoomorphic snout or long-nose, and a smoking object such as a cigar, torch holder or axe head which pierces a mirror on his forehead.
Ixbalanque - One of the Maya Hero Twins.
Ixbalanque or Xbalanque was originally a son of Hun Hunahpu and the lady Xquic. His twin was Hunahpu. The two were the Maya Hero Twins and together their story forms a large part of the Popol Vuh, the most important Book of the Faith
Xbalanque and his brother Hunahpu were quite inseparable in their lives, together outwitting arrogant gods and the lords of the Underworld, Xibalba. In the underworld scenes of the Popol Vuh, Xbalanque seems to have been the dominant one among the brothers, often the one to do the talking and the planning, although Hunahpu was not merely a hapless sidekick. In fact, Xbalanque is credited with saving his older brother's life at least once.
As a name, Xbalanque has been variously translated as 'Jaguar Sun' and 'Hidden Sun'. Nonetheless, in the Popol Vuh, Xbalanque finally ascends into the sky to become associated with the full moon.
Ixchel - Earth and Moon goddess.
Ixchel or Ix Chel was an earth and moon goddess, patroness of weavers and pregnant women.
The Sun was her "lover," but that her grandfather was very upset with this and he threw lightning at her out of jealousy which in turn killed Ix Chel. As a result dragonflies sang over her for 183 days and then she awoke again only to follow the sun to his palace. But the sun soon after too started to become jealous of Ix Chel, thinking that she was having an affair with the morning star, who was the sun's brother. The sun threw her out of heaven and then persuaded her back home, but soon after her return he became jealous again. It is said that Ix Chel became annoyed with the behavior of the sun and so she went off into the night and remained invisible whenever the sun came around. At her new place in the night it is said that Ix Chel spent the nights nursing women of Earth through their labor (during the stint of their pregnancy and birth)
Ixtab - Goddess of suicide.
Suicide, especially suicide by hanging, is considered an honorable way to die, comparable to the human victims of the sacrificial rite and slain warriors. Ixtab, depicted as a corpse with a rope around her neck, would accompany the suicides to their eternal rest
Zipacna - Underworld demon.
Zipacna was a son of Vucub Caquix (Seven Macaw) and Chimalmat. He and his brother, Cabrakan (Earthquake), were often considered demons. Zipacna, like his relatives, was said to be very arrogant and violent. Zipacna was characterized as a large caiman and often boasted to be the creator of the mountains.
The Popol Vuh tells the story that one day Zipacna was basking on the beach when he was disturbed by the Four Hundred Boys (the patron deities of intoxication), who were attempting to construct a hut. They had felled a large tree to use as the central supporting log, but were unable to lift it. Zipacna, being immensely strong, offered to carry the log for them, which he did. Although most translations of the Popol Vuh would seem to indicate this was done as a gesture of goodwill, it is generally agreed that Zipacna did so in a spirit of arrogance, mocking the boys for their inability to do so.
The Four Hundred Boys decided it was not good that one man had such strength, and that Zipacna should be killed. They attempted to deceive Zipacna by asking him to dig a hole for their post, intending to thrust the massive column into the hole and kill him. Zipacna realized their deceit, however, and saved himself by surreptitiously digging a side tunnel and hiding inside it when the boys dropped the post in the hole. To complete the illusion of his death, Zipacna cried out in pain, and later allowed ants to carry bits of his hair and trimmings from his nails out of the hole, satisfying the boys that he had been killed.
On the third day after their apparent success, the Four Hundred Boys finished the construction of their hut and celebrated both its completion and Zipacna's death by preparing wine and engaging in a drunken revelry. Zipacna emerged from his hole after the boys had passed out, and with his massive strength he felled the column and caused the house to crash down upon the sleeping boys, killing the lot without a single survivor. After their death, the boys entered into the heavens as the open cluster known as the Pleiades.
Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the two divine Hero Twins, decided to exact revenge upon Zipacna for the death of the Four Hundred Boys; they also did so in a continuation of their quest to bring down the arrogant gods. The pair devised a scheme in which an elaborate fake crab was constructed and hid it deep in a canyon. They then sought out Zipacna along the beach, where he was hunting for his usual favourite food, crabs. Zipacna was very hungry and had been unable to locate any crabs for his meal, and the pair informed him they had spotted a very large crab for the taking. They guided Zipacna to their trap, and being overcome with hunger, he was unable to see through the trick. Zipacna went in for the crab, and by means not specified by the Popol Vuh, a mountain was made to collapse or fall over on top of him, either killing him or turning him into stone.
Jaguar
The Olmec carved distinctive human figures in stone, some of monumental size. Smaller items were carved from fine jade and jadeite, including many human figures with strong jaguar features. As the jaguar was an indigenous predator in the area, jaguar figures may visually represent an Olmec myth about the interaction of the jaguar or a jaguar spirit with human beings. Despite the large number of what are thought to be jaguar or were-jaguar images, it is not known whether the Olmec actually considered the jaguar or were-jaguar as a god or deity (as the Egyptians did with Anubis, for example).
The image of the jaguar is pervasive in later Maya inscriptions and the word B'alam, "jaguar", is an element in the names of mythical heroes and some Maya rulers.