Maya Hero Twins: Hunahpu and Xbalanque

Author: Traditional Maya

Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE; 1501 CE–1700 CE

Country or Culture: Central America

Genre: Myth

Overview

The culture of the ancient Maya people has taken on something like a legendary status in modern times. Established around 2000 BCE near what today is the border of Mexico and Guatemala, Maya civilization would grow over thousands of years to include millions of people, diverse ethnic groups, thriving city-states, and some of the most advanced understandings of science and written languages in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Despite the many accomplishments of the Maya civilization, however, much of its history has been lost to time. This is largely due to two major periods of decline, one in the second century CE and one in the eighth to ninth, as well as to invasion and violent oppression by Europeans in the sixteenth century. While Maya culture thrived beyond the periods of decline and colonization, the destruction that came along with those periods has made it difficult for modern historians and archaeologists to re-create a detailed understanding of ancient Maya life. This lack of information, combined with evidence of extraordinary advancements by the Maya people, has made ancient Maya culture fascinating to many contemporary scholars as well as to the public.

What has remained despite the expanse of time is a rich and varied mythology, preserved through some extant literary traditions as well as through the ornate pottery, architecture, and artwork of the Maya people. One of the most popular myths from the ancient Maya world is that of Hunahpu (sometimes spelled Junajpu) and Xbalanque, the Hero Twins. Master players of the Maya ball game, the brothers go on many adventures through Maya mythology, conquering monsters with their legendary wits and exploring the Mesoamerican world. It is their origin story, however, for which they are most often celebrated. Born from their deceased father, Hun Hunahpu (One Hunahpu), the brothers are summoned to the underworld of Xibalba by the Lords of Death. There, they go through many trials that test their wits, only to survive and defeat the Lords of Death in a ball game. Sacrificing themselves so that they can be reborn, the brothers are ultimately clever enough to outwit the lords, killing the two most powerful among them and finally ascending to the sky as the sun and the moon.

The story of Hunahpu and Xbalanque extant today came down through a sixteenth-century text recorded by the K’iche’ (Quiché) people of Guatemala but based on centuries of oral storytelling. Because of this, the myth of the Hero Twins provides a unique insight into Maya mythology. The sixteenth-century narrative, called the Popol Vuh (or Popol Wuj), shows how the K’iche’ people during the end of the postclassic period understood the Hero Twins as well as some of the rituals and traditions associated with death. By looking also at ancient Maya architecture across North and South America, however, it becomes clear that the specifics of the myth were as varied over time as the diverse ethnic and cultural groups that told the stories. Ultimately, the myth of the Hero Twins offers a rare opportunity to understand ancient Maya culture as a dynamic, thriving civilization, its sophisticated understanding of death in a state of continual evolution.

Summary

Before the birth of humanity live Hun Hunahpu (One Hunahpu) and Vucub Hunahpu (Seven Hunahpu), twin brothers who are excellent ballplayers. They spend all their time playing the game, causing a ruckus on the court, which is located on the road to the underworld, Xibalba. Eventually, the noise from their game bothers the twelve lords of Xibalba enough that they send for the brothers, instructing them to bring their equipment along. While the brothers answer the summons, they hide their ball-playing equipment in their mother’s house.

The brothers travel across rivers of spikes, blood, and pus and follow Black Road at the crossroads, eventually coming to the courtroom of the Lords of Death. They see the lords standing there and greet them by name, only to realize that the figures before them are actually wooden statues. The brothers know they have been tricked when the actual lords step forward, telling them not to worry about their mistake and offering them a seat. The bench, however, is scalding hot, and when the brothers sit down, they are immediately burned. They then fail to keep their torch and cigar burning through the night they spend in Dark House. Having outwitted the twins three times, the Lords of Death sacrifice them, burying their bodies under the ball court.

The head of Hun Hunahpu, removed before the burial, is placed in a tree. One day, Xquic (Blood Woman), the daughter of one of the Xibalban lords, comes upon the tree, and when she investigates the head, it spits saliva into her hand. This saliva impregnates Xquic, greatly angering her father, who attempts to have her sacrificed. She convinces the would-be executioners to substitute the fragrant, gelatinous croton sap for her heart as the sacrifice and then makes her way to the upper world, where she eventually gives birth to the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. As they grow older, the twins one day try to make a garden, but as soon as they clear any land, the animals of the forest drag brush back over it. Frustrated, the brothers catch a rat in the act of moving branches. They begin to burn it alive, but the rat tells them he knows something they are more suited for than making gardens. He then leads them to their grandmother’s house, where he runs loose in the walls while the brothers convince their grandmother to make them chili sauce and to fetch them water. When she is gone, the rat releases the hidden ball equipment for the twins, the same equipment that their father and uncle had used.

The twins are likewise great ballplayers, and it is not long before their shouts attract the attention of the Lords of Death, who are upset that they have not learned to be more humble. The lords fetch the Hero Twins, and their grandmother is certain they will die. However, they have more wit than the previous twins. Arriving in Xibalba, one brother unleashes a mosquito on the lords. As the mosquito bites every lord, the wooden statues stay perfectly still, while the real lords cry out in alarm. As the lords call each other by name, the Hero Twins are able to greet only the real rulers. Likewise, they recognize the bench to be a cooking griddle and decline the seat that is offered to them.

“‘Get up!’ he said, and Hunahpu came back to life. The two of them were overjoyed at this—and likewise the lords rejoiced, as if they were doing it themselves. One and Seven Death were as glad at heart as if they themselves were actually doing the dance.

And then the hearts of the lords were filled with longing, with yearning for the dance of Hunahpu and Xbalanque, so then came these words from One and Seven Death:

‘Do it to us! Sacrifice us!’ they said. ‘Sacrifice both of us!’”

The Hero Twins, after having played two matches against the Lords of Death, are then set to new tasks. The lords put them in a number of test houses, including Jaguar House, Razor House, Fire House, and Cold House. Every house has its own challenges, and the brothers outwit every scenario. The only exception comes in the last house, where Hunahpu peeks outside their hiding spot and has his head cut off by a snatch-bat. As the head rolls onto the ball court, the brothers place a squash on top of Hunahpu’s neck and tell a rabbit to hide in the goal. The Lords of Death then challenge them to a game on the field, using Hunahpu’s head for a ball. During the game, however, the brothers deflect the ball at the same moment the rabbit goes running away from the field. With the lords distracted, they switch the squash for Hunahpu’s head, and playing with the squash, they manage to defeat the lords on the court.

The Hero Twins know that the lords will not stop until they are dead, so when given the chance, they jump into a hot stove and are burned alive. The brothers know that through this form of death they can be resurrected, coming back first as fish and then in their original forms. Reborn, they are magical tricksters, traveling the realm and performing wonders for all people. The Lords of Death, hearing of their magic, summon them for a performance. Back in Xibalba, Xbalanque performs a trick in which he dismembers Hunahpu before the lords and then puts Hunahpu back together, resurrecting him. The lords are pleased and demand to be dismembered and resurrected by the brothers. The brothers agree, but after they have sacrificed the two most powerful lords, Hun Came (One Death) and Vucub Came (Seven Death), they instead leave them dead. In this way, the brothers outsmart death and rob Xibalba of its great glory. Knowing their success, they reassemble Vucub Hunahpu’s body, leaving him beside the ball court and consecrating his calendar day for veneration of the dead. The brothers then ascend to the heavens, becoming the sun and the moon.

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