The Maya and Their Origins
The Maya and Their Origins
In the translation of The Popol Vuh by Allen J. Christenson, we learn of the origins of humanity as told by Mayan mythology. In the beginning of the book, we focus on Earth before humans came to be. We learn of the family of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, and their own antics on Earth. In the second half, we focus on how humanity came to be. Xcumane and Xpiyacoc form humanity, using “water [as] their blood” and “ears of maize [as] their flesh” (Christenson 179).
The Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, were born to the daughter of Gathered Blood, a Xibalban Lord by One Hunahpu’s spit. The story of their conception is a unique one, because at the time of conception, One Hunahpu was dead. One Hunahpu and his brother, Seven Hunahpu, had been challenged to a ball game by the Lords of Xibalba and had been tricked into losing. As a result, the two were sacrificed, and One Hunahpu’s head was hung from the tree at the crossroads, creating the Calabash Tree. Gathered Blood’s daughter was curious about the tree and journeyed to see it, meeting One Hunahpu’s skull that spit on her hand and left her with child.
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| Izapa Stele 25 Depicts the Hero Twins shooting a demon with a blowgun. |
And so, the Hero Twins were born. The twins went on to become their grandmother’s favorites and seek justice throughout their world. The twins killed Seven Macaw and his sons due to their false majesty and violence. Seven Macaw claimed to be the sun, though he “was not truly the sun,” but rather rich with gold and silver and beautiful, bright plumage (Christenson 78). He claimed to have the best vision, but it “did not reach beyond where he sat” (Christenson 78). His “desire [for] greatness and transcendence” made him an unfit ruler, and the twins tricked him into stealing his riches, leading to his loss of power (Christenson 78).
Seven Macaw’s sons were volatile and proud. The firstborn of Seven Macaw, Zipacna could create mountains and was very strong. One day, Zipacna helped 400 boys carry a cut tree to use for their hut. The boys believed him to be a demon because of his strength and power and planned to kill him, however Zipacna escaped. After his escape, “Zipacna collapsed their hut down upon their heads,” killing all four hundred boys (Christenson 91).
His deadly actions led to his defeat by “Hunahpu and Xbalanque, whose hearts were offended by the deaths of the four hundred boys at the hands of Zipacna” (Christenson 91). The boys created a great crab and placed it in the mountain Meauan, and as he crawled into the mountain to catch it, the mountain settled on top of him, burying him.
Seven Macaw’s second born, Cabracan, shook mountains. The twins tell him that a mountain in the East won’t stop growing and they need him to travel with them to stop it. On their journey, they cook a bird for dinner. In his gluttony, he decides to eat the bird- but the twins covered it in white earth. When he ate the bird, he became buried in earth, weakening him and taking his abilities.
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| Replica of Seven Macaw Ball Court Decoration Museum of Mayan Sculpture, Copan, Honduras |
At this point, the reader knows that the twins have strong senses of justice and society- they are against pride and violence. However, we also know that they are clever. All of their defeats have been through trickery. So when the twins are challenged to a ball game with the lords of Xibalba- as their father once was- they do not fall prey to the trickery of the Xibalban lords. The twins make it through the houses of Xibalba, defeating every trap laid in their path. Their fathers had not been so wise and had not made it past the House of Darkness, one of their first trials. The twins made it through every house and then defeated the Xibalban lords in the ball game.
When Hunahpu and Xbalanque enter Xibalba, they do not sit on the hot stone bench. They do not burn up the cigar and torches they were given. They do not get killed by the daggers nor the skeleton game ball. They pass all the tests their fathers failed.
When Hunahpu and Xbalanque died, it was willingly. They gave themselves up to the Lords of Xibalba and were sacrificed in a pit, and their bones grinded into a “finely ground maize flour (Christenson 165). Later, the twins were reincarnated as orphans and defeated the Lords of Xibalba, going on to become the sun and the moon.
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| Yellow and White Maize Humans are said to be made of yellow and white maize, giving us our coloring. |
Later on, we learn that when humans were unable to eat, they drank “only atole made of maize grains” from utop Chi Pixab (Christenson 206). We learn earlier in the story that the twins' bones had been ground into fine corn flour, connecting their bones to the food of humanity.
In the adolescence of Hunahpu and Xbalanque, they prove their skill in planting maize. Maize is what eventually formed humanity, so their affinity for growing the crop shows us that humans would likely not have been able to survive without their production of massive yields of maize.
When the sun rises for the first time, it turns the jaguars, rattlesnakes, pit vipers, and pumas into stone, protecting humans. We even learn that the sun appears to be more humanlike than the True Sun. This implies that Hunahpu, the sun, protects humankind from the sky.
Below is a summary of the Popol Vuh and the Mayan Origin story! Definitely a great, concise watch!
Works Cited
Food & Beverage Online. (n.d.). Yellow corn and white corn. 21food. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from https://www.21food.com/products/yellow-corn-and-white-corn-407146.html.
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