1. The Mayas
It was to the Maya -the people who occupied the territory between the isthmus of Tehuantepec and Nicaragua- that the civilization of Central America owed most. The language they spoke was quite distinct from the Nahuatl spoken by the Nahua of Mexico, and in many respects their customs and habits were widely different from those of the people of Anahuac. It will be remembered that the latter were the heirs of an older civilization, that, indeed, they had entered the valley of Mexico as savages, and that practically all they knew of the arts of culture was taught them by the remnants of the people whom they dispossessed. It was not thus with the Maya. Their arts and industries were of their own invention, and bore the stamp of an origin of considerable antiquity. They were, indeed, the supreme intellectual race of America, and on their coming into contact with the Nahua that people assimilated sufficient of their culture to raise them several grades in the scale of civilization.
Whence came the Maya?
Whence came these folk, then, who raised a civilization by no means inferior to that of ancient Egypt, which, if it had had scope, would have rivalled in its achievements the glory of old Assyria? We cannot tell. The mystery of its entrance into the land is as deep as the mystery of the ancient forests which now bury the remnants of its mighty monuments and enclose its temples in impenetrable gloom. Generations of antiquarians have attempted to trace the origin of this race to Egypt, Phonicia, China, Burma. But the manifest traces of indigenous American origin are present in all its works, and the writers who have beheld in these likenesses to the art of Asiatic or African peoples have been grievously misled by superficial resemblances which could not have betrayed any one who had studied Maya affinities deeply.
1.2 The Riddle of Ancient Maya Writing
What may possibly be the most valuable sources of Maya history are, sealed to us at present. We allude to the native Maya manuscripts and inscriptions, the writing of which cannot be deciphered by present-day scholars. Some of the old Spanish friars who lived in the times which directly succeeded the settlement of the country by the white man were able to read and even to write this script, but unfortunately they regarded it either as an invention of the Father of Evil or, as it was a native system, as a thing of no value. In a few generations all knowledge of how to decipher it was totally lost, and it remains to the modern world almost as a sealed book, although science has lavished all its wonderful machinery of logic and deduction upon it, and men of unquestioned ability have dedicated their lives to the problem of unravelling what must be regarded as one of the greatest and most mysterious riddles of which mankind ever attempted the solution.
The romance of the discovery of the key to the Egyptian hieroglyphic system of writing is well known. For centuries the symbols displayed upon the temples and monuments of the Nile country were so many meaningless pictures and signs to the learned folk of Europe, until the discovery of the Rosetta stone a hundred years ago made their elucidation possible. This stone bore the same inscription in Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphics, and so the discovery of the "alphabet" of the hidden script became a comparatively easy task. But Central America has no Rosetta stone, nor is it possible that such an aid to research can ever be found. Indeed, such "keys" as have been discovered or brought forward by scientists have proved for the most part unavailing.
The Maya Manuscripts
The principal Maya manuscripts which have escaped the ravages of time are the codices in the libraries of Dresden, Paris, and Madrid. These are known as the Codex Perezianus preserved in the Biblioth?que Nationale at Paris: the Dresden Codex, long regarded as an Aztec manuscript, and the Troano Codex, so called from one of its owners, Se?or Tro y Ortolano, found at Madrid in 1865. These manuscripts deal principally with Maya mythology, but as they cannot be deciphered with any degree of accuracy they do not greatly assist our knowledge of the subject.
2. Mythology of the Maya
The Maya pantheon, although it bears a strong resemblance to that of the Nahua, differs from it in so many respects that it is easy to observe that at one period it must have been absolutely free from all Nahua influence. We may, then, provisionally accept the theory that at some relatively distant period the mythologies of the Nahua and Maya were influenced from one common centre, if they were not originally identical, but that later the inclusion in the cognate but divided systems of local deities and the superimposition of the deities and rites of immigrant peoples had caused such differentiation as to render somewhat vague the original likeness between them. In the Mexican mythology we have as a key-note the custom of human sacrifice. It has often been stated as exhibiting the superior status in civilization of the Maya that their religion was free from the revolting practices which characterised the Nahua faith. This, however, is totally erroneous. Although the Maya were not nearly so prone to the practice of human sacrifice as were the Nahua, they frequently engaged in it, and the pictures which have been drawn of their bloodless offerings must not lead us to believe that they never indulged in this rite. It is known, for example, that they sacrificed maidens to the water-god at the period of the spring florescence, by casting them into a deep pool, where they were drowned.
Quetzalcoatl among the Maya
One of the most obvious of the mythological relationships between the Maya and Nahua is exhibited in the Maya cult of the god Quetzalcoatl. It seems to have been a general belief in Mexico that Quetzalcoatl was a god foreign to the soil; or at least relatively aboriginal to his rival Tezcatlipoca, if not to the Nahua themselves. It is amusing to see it stated by authorities of the highest standing that his worship was free from bloodshed. But it does not appear whether the sanguinary rites connected with the name of Quetzalcoatl in Mexico were undertaken by his priests of their own accord or at the instigation and pressure of the pontiff of Huitzilopochtli, under whose jurisdiction they were. The designation by which Quetzalcoatl was known to the Maya was Kukulcan, which signifies "Feathered Serpent," and is exactly translated by his Mexican name. In Guatemala he was called Gucumatz, which word is also identical in Kiche with his other native appellations. But the Kukulcan of the Maya appears to be dissimilar from Quetzalcoatl in several of his attributes. The difference in climate would probably account for most of these. In Mexico Quetzalcoatl, as we have seen, was not only the Man of the Sun, but the original wind-god of the country. The Kukulcan of the Maya has more the attributes of a thunder-god. In the tropical climate of Yucatan and Guatemala the sun at midday appears to draw the clouds around it in serpentine shapes. From these emanate thunder and lightning and the fertilising rain, so that Kukulcan would appear to have appealed to the Maya more as a god of the sky who wielded the thunderbolts than a god of the atmosphere proper like Quetzalcoatl, though several of the stel? in Yucatan represent Kukulcan as he is portrayed in Mexico, with wind issuing from his mouth.
Difficulties of Comparison
Unluckily the accounts of Spanish authors concerning Maya mythology do not agree with the representations of the gods delineated in the codices. That the three codices have a mythology in common is certain. Again, great difficulty is found in comparing the deities of the codices with those represented by the carved and stucco bas-reliefs of the Maya region. It will thus be seen that very considerable difficulties beset the student in this mythological sphere. So few data have yet been collected regarding the Maya mythology that to dogmatise upon any subject connected with it would indeed be rash. But much has been accomplished in the past few decades, and evidence is slowly but surely accumulating from which sound conclusions can be drawn.
The Conflict between Light and Darkness
We witness in the Maya mythology a dualism almost as complete as that of ancient Persia -the conflict between light and darkness. Opposing each other we behold on the one hand the deities of the sun, the gods of warmth and light, of civilisation and the joy of life, and on the other the deities of darksome death, of night, gloom, and fear. From these primal conceptions of light and darkness all the mythologic forms of the Maya are evolved. When we catch the first recorded glimpses of Maya belief we recognise that at the period when it came under the purview of Europeans the gods of darkness were in the ascendant and a deep pessimism had spread over Maya thought and theology. Its joyful side was subordinated to the worship gloomy beings, the deities of death and hell, and if the cult or light was attended with such touching fidelity it was because the benign agencies who were worshipped in connection with it had promised not to desert mankind altogether, but to return at some future indefinite period and resume their sway of radiance and peace.
Maya Polytheism
On the whole the Maya do not seem to have been burdened with an extensive pantheon, as were the Nahua, and their polytheism appears to have been of a limited character. Although they possessed a number of divinities, these were in a great measure only different forms of one and the same divine power probably localized forms of it. The various Maya tribes worshipped similar gods under different names. They recognised divine unity in the god Hunabku, who was invisible and supreme, but he does not bulk largely in their mythology, any more than does the universal All-Father in other early faiths. The sun is the great deity in Maya religion, and the myths which tell of the origin of the Maya people are purely solar. As the sun comes from the east, so the hero-gods who bring with them culture and enlightenment have an oriental origin. As Votan, as Kabil, the "Red Hand" who initiates the people into the arts of writing and architecture, these gods are civilizing men of the sun as surely as is Quetzalcoatl.
3. Mayan gods
Ah Kinchil: the Sun god.
Ah Puch: the god of Death.
Ahmakiq: a god of Agriculture who locks up the wind when it threatens to destroy the crops.
Akhushtal: the goddess of Childbirth.
Bacabs: the bacabs are the canopic gods, thought to be brothers, who, with upraised arms, supported the multilayered sky from their assigned positions at the four cardinal points of the compass. (The Bacabs may also have been four manifestations of a single deity.) The four brothers were probably the offspring of Itzamna, the supreme deity, and Ixchel, the goddess of weaving, medicine, and childbirth. Each Bacab presided over one year of the four-year cycle. The Maya expected the Muluc years to be the greatest years, because the god presiding over these years was the greatest of the Bacab gods. The four directions and their corresponding colours (east, red; north, white; west, black; south, yellow) played an important part in the Mayan religious and calendrical systems.
Chac: Mayan god of rain, especially important in the Yucatan region of Mexico where he was depicted in Classic times with protruding fangs, large round eyes, and a proboscis-like nose. In post-Classic Mayan and Toltec ruins, reclining figures known as the Chacs Mool are thought to represent the rain god. Following the Spanish conquest, the Chacs were associated with Christian saints and were often depicted on horseback.
Cit Bolon Tum: a god of Medicine.
Cizin (Kisin): "Stinking One"; Mayan earthquake god and god of death, ruler of the subterranean land of the dead. He lives beneath the earth in a purgatory where all souls except those of soldiers killed in battle and women who died in childbirth spend some time. Suicides are doomed to his realm for eternity. He may possibly have been one aspect of a malevolent underworld deity who manifested himself under several names and guises (e.g., Ah Puch, Xibalba, and Yum Cimil). In pre-Conquest codices, or manuscripts, the god of death is frequently depicted with the god of war in scenes of human sacrifice. One aspect of the dualistic nature of the Mayan religion is symbolically portrayed in the existing codices, which show Cizin uprooting or destroying trees planted by Chac, the rain god. Cizin is often depicted on pottery and illustrated in the codices in the form of a dancing skeleton, holding a smoking cigarette. He is also known by his death collar, the most prominent feature of which consists of disembodied eyes dangling by their nerve cords. After the Spanish Conquest, Cizin became merged with the Christian devil.
Ekahau: the god of Travellers and Merchants.
Itzamna: "Iguana House"; principal pre-Columbian Mayan deity. The ruler of heaven, day, and night, he frequently appeared as four gods called Itzamnas, who encased the world. Like some of the other Mesoamerican deities, the Itzamnas were associated with the points of the compass and their colours (east, red; north, white; west, black; and south, yellow). Itzamna was sometimes identified with the remote creator deity Hunab Ku and occasionally with Kinich Ahau, the sun-god. The moon goddess Ixchel, patroness of womanly crafts, was possibly a female manifestation of the god. Itzamna was also a culture hero who gave humankind writing and the calendar and was patron deity of medicine.
Ix Chel (Ixchel): the goddess of the Moon.
Kan-u-Uayeyab: the god who guarded cities.
Kinich Ahau: was the Sun god. He was the patron god of the city Itzamal.
Supposedly, he visited the city at noon everday. He would descend as a macaw and consume prepared offerings. Kinich Ahau is usually shown with jaguar-like features (ex. filed teeth). Kinich Ahau also wears the symbol of Kin, a Mayan day. Kinich Ahau was also know by the name Ah Xoc Kin, who was associated with poetry and music.
Kinich Kakmo: the Sun god symbolised by the Macaw.
Kukulcan: the Wind god, who is recognizable in Classic reliefs is the Feathered Serpent, known to the Maya as Kukulcan (and to the Toltecs and Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl). Probably the most ubiquitous of all is the being known as Bolon Tzacab (first called God K by archaeologists), a deity with a baroquely branching nose who is thought to have functioned as a god of royal descent; he is often held as a kind of sceptre in rulers' hands.
Mitnal: Mitnal was the underworld hell where the wicked were tortured.
Yaxche: Yaxche is the Tree of Heaven under which good souls rejoice.
Yumil Kaxob: The Maize god is representative of the ripe grain which was the base of the Mayan agriculture. In certain areas of Mesoamerica, like Yucatan, the Maize god is combined with the god of flora, Yumil Kaxob. The Maize god is principally shown with a headdress of maize and a curved streak on his cheek. He is also noticeable from other gods throug his youth. Despite this youth, the Maize god was powerless by himself. His fortunes and misfortunes were decided by the control of rain and drought. The Rain god would protect him. However, he suffered when the Death god exercised drought and famine.
Yum Cimil: The death god was called Yum Cimil. He also could be called Ah Puch, the god of the Underworld. His body is predominantly skeletal. His adornments are likewise made of bones. Yum Cimil has also been represented with a body covered with black spots (decomposition). He also wears a collar with eyeless sockets. This adornment was the typical symbol for the Underworld.
4. Mayan legends
Since the beginning of their civilization, approximately 3,000 years ago, the Maya have related stories, legends and fables about mythical beings and the laws of nature. These tales are drawn either from both individual and collective experiences or imaginary ones. Today, they help us to understand a very different way of life and being, as well as allow us to enter one of history's most mysterious cultures. The following fable is by an unknown author and of unknown date. However, its location can be placed exactly in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and is called:
The Maya's Sadness
One day, all the animals drew near to a Maya man and said to him:
-We do not like to see you so sad. Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it.
The man said:
-I want to be happy.
The owl responded:
-Who knows what happiness is? Ask us for something more concrete.
-Well then, continued the man, I want to have good sight.
The vulture replied:
-You shall have mine.
-I want to be strong.
The jaguar said:
-You shall be strong like me.
-I wish to be able to walk without tiring.
The deer replied:
-I will give you my legs.
-I want to be able to forecast the arrival of the rains.
The nightingale said:
-I will let you know with my song.
-I want to be astute.
And the fox said:
-I shall teach you.
-I long to be able to climb the trees.
The squirrel responded:
-I will give you my claws.
-I want to be able to see in the dark.
And the cat said:
-I will lend you my eyes.
-I want to be able to recognize medicinal plants.
And the serpent responded:
-Ah, this is my domain, because I know all the plants. I will mark them for you in the fields and woods.
Hearing the words of the snake, the man left. Then, the owl said to all the animals:
-Now the man knows much more and is able to do many things, but he will always be sad.
-Poor animals! Poor animals!
The man who sold his soul
Once upon a time, a good but unfortunate man decided to sell his soul to the devil to get himself out of his troubles. He invoked Kizin and when he had him there, face to face, he told him what he wanted. Kizin liked the idea of taking away the soul of a good man.
In exchange for his soul the man asked for seven things: one for each day of the week. For the first day he asked for money, and straight away his pockets were filled with gold. On the second day he wanted good health, and it was granted. On the third day he was hungry and asked for food, and ate until busting. On the fourth day he asked for women and was surrounded by the most beautiful women imaginable. On the fifth day he wanted power and lived like a local ruler. On the sixth day he wanted to travel and in a jiffy he visited a thousand places.
Then Kizin said to him:
-And now what do you want? Think carefully, as it is your last day.
-Now, I just want to satisfy one whim.
-Tell me, and I will grant you it.
-I want to wash these black beans here, until they turn white.
-That's easy- said Kizin
And he began to wash the beans, but as they did not turn white he thought to himself: "This man has deceived me and I have lost a soul. So that this doesn't happen again, from now on there will be black beans, white beans, yellow beans and red beans.
The Coyote and the Hen
Once upon a time a hen was up in the branches of a tree, and a coyote came up to her:
"I've brought some good news for you. Do you want to hear it?" asked the coyote.
"Do you really have some good news?" the hen asked.
The coyote answered: "It's about the two of us." Hear this, the coyote and the hen have made peace. Now we're going to be friends and you can come down from the tree. We'll hug each other as a sign of good will."
The hen kept asking if it was true what the coyote was saying: "Where was the peace treaty approved, brother coyote?" The coyote answered:
"Over there by the hunting grounds on the other side of the mountain. Hurry up and come down so that we can celebrate this moment of peace."
The hen asked: "Over there on the other side of the mountain?"
"May God witness that I am telling the truth. Come on down from the tree," insisted the coyote.
"Maybe you are telling the truth, brother. I see that the dog is coming to celebrate the fiesta with us, because you and he are also going to make peace. I see him coming near, I hear him coming. He's coming fast and he's going to grab me, now that you and he have made peace. Do you hear, brother coyote, do you hear?" asked the hen. She was very happy and came down from the branches of the tree.
The coyote accepted this explanation and ran away. As the hen said, the dog was coming, that's why he left. The hen didn't want to come down from the tree. She didn't fall in front of the coyote; if she had, he would have eaten her. She realized he was just telling her lies.
Thus ends the story of the coyote and the hen.
Xtabai
Xtabai is a well-known myth created by the Mestizo ancestors. She is said to be a beautiful young girl who has long straight black hair. The Xtabai, according to the ancestors, has her feet like that of a bird. She only appears to people that wonder in dark places near the bush and late at night. The Xtabai only calls to men, usually drunk men. She takes them to the bush and sometimes kills them or only hurts them and leaves them with pain in the midst of the bush. The Xtabai then turns herself into a tree of prickles or into a snake. Following is a story of the said Xtabai.
Juan is fifteen years old. He lives in the village of Ranchito. Every Sunday he goes to Corozal Town. He always goes home late at night. Elena, Juan's mother, tells him that something can happen to him. He does not listen to his mother. He still goes to town every Sunday.
One night, while coming from town, Juan sees something. It is black and white. As he comes nearer he sees that it's a beautiful girl. She is combing her long black hair. She calls to him as she moves inside the bush. Juan follows her. They go far inside the bush. Juan now remembers what his mother tells him. He now remembers the story of the Xtabai. He tries to run but cannot. He feels cold.
The Xtabai comes slowly and hugs him. The beautiful girl changes into a tree of prickles. Her feet are like those of a bird, with long, sharp claws. The prickles enter Juan's body. Her long claws scratch him. Suddenly the Xtabai disappears, and he falls to the ground.
Juan tries to get up and find the road-side. After two hours he reaches the road. His whole body hurts. He feels hot. He sees a car stop. He stops it, and the driver picks him up. He talks to Juan, but Juan is silent. The driver says to himself, "I think he has seen the Xtabai."
Elena takes Juan to an old man. Mr. Jacinto, the old man, collects leaves and bathes Juan. After a week Juan is well again. He tells his friends the story. Juan learns a good lesson. He now obeys his mother.
Kakasbal and the dog
Once upon a time there was a man who was so poor he was always in a bad mood, and never passed up a chance to mistreat his old dog. Kakasbal [spirit of evil], who is everywhere, saw that he could benefit from by playing on the dog's anger. And with this in mind he approached the dog.
-Oh you poor thing; why so sad? Tell me what is the matter.
-How can I not be sad when my master beats me all the time.
-I know that he is an ornery man; why don't you leave him?
-He is my master and I am loyal; I wouldn't leave him for anything.
-But your master is incapable of appreciating your loyalty.
-That does not matter, he is my master; I will remain loyal.
But Kakasbal wouldn't let up; he harassed the dog until, just to get rid of him the dog finally said:
-OK. You have convinced me. Tell me what I should do.
-Give me your soul.
-And what will you give me in return?
-Anything you ask me for.
-I want a bone for every hair on my body.
-I agree.
With that, Kakasbal began to count the animal's hair. But just as he was finishing, having reached the tail, the dog thought of the loyalty due his master and gave a start, causing Kakasbal to lose his place.
-Why did you move? I lost my count.
-It's these darn fleas that plague me night and day. Just start again.
A hundred times Kakasbal began his count and a hundred times he lost it when the dog jumped.
-I give up. I will count no more. You have deceived me, but in so doing taught me an important lesson. It is harder to buy the soul of a dog than it is to buy the soul of a man.
for each work with the next info:
