The Maya Creation Myth

Author: Traditional Maya

Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE; 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: Mesoamerica

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

At first, the creator gods Tepeu, the god of the sky, and Gucumatz (Plumed Serpent), god of the seas, are all alone in the universe; there is nothing but the sky above and the ocean below. The gods live in the depths of the ocean, sheltered by green and blue feathers. When they grow tired of living in a featureless existence, they bring the world into being with the help of Hurakan, the god of the wind and the storm. When they see it, they are very happy. However, it soon occurs to them that the world is much too quiet, so they create animals and birds and command them to live in their distinctive ways and make their distinctive cries.

Although the world is now filled with sounds, the creator gods are not wholly satisfied. They wish for creatures to worship them, not merely make unintelligent noises. They decide to create humans to do just this. At first, they make people out of mud, but these people are blind, unintelligent, and unable to stand up properly, and they fall apart when it rains. The creator gods destroy the mud people and start again.

The next people are made from sticks. These are better, as they can stand, move around, and reproduce. However, they have no real intelligence or emotions, do not know how to cook, and are cruel to their pets. The gods flood the stick people’s domain with sap and allow the dogs they have mistreated to attack them. Some escape by climbing trees, and these become monkeys.

Frustrated by their failures, the creator gods are determined to find a way to make human beings who can worship them correctly. At this point, they are visited by a coyote, a crow, a mountain lion, and a parrot, who tell them of a new food called corn that is growing at the Broken Place. This site has been identified by present-day Maya descendants as Paxal, in the western highlands of Guatemala, near the Mexican border. The gods are excited by this information and go there at once.

The gods ask coyote and crow to gather yellow and white corn (maize). They grind and mix the corn together with the blood of the tapir and serpent. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, the father and mother of the gods, make nine broths and mix them with the corn mixture, using it to form four perfect human specimens, known as the men of maize, four fathers of humanity: Balam-Quitzé (Smiling Jaguar), Balam-Agag (Nighttime Jaguar), Mahucutan (Famous Name), and Iqui-Balam (Moon Jaguar). The four fathers then drink corn broth, which gives them strength and intelligence. They are very grateful and are able to understand everything.

In time, however, Tepeu, Gucumatz, and Hurakan realize the four fathers are too perfect and may grow to rival the gods themselves. They blow mist into the eyes of the fathers, partially fogging their sight and understanding so that they are still fairly intelligent but not perfect. Pleased with this state of affairs, the gods make women to keep the four fathers company and allow them to fill the world with their children. The four mothers are: Caha-Paluma (Falling Water), wife of Balam-Quitzé; Choimha (Beautiful Water), wife of Balam-Agag; Tzununiha (House of the Water), wife of Mahucutan; and Cakixa (Water of Parrots), wife of Iqui-Balam. The gods also give the people fire, although they do not allow them to make it for themselves.

The four fathers, however, wish to see the dawn, for the world remains in darkness. They decide to travel to the place where the sun rises. They come to the seashore, and using a magic staff given to them by the gods, part the sea to continue their journey. They eventually arrive at the magnificent land where the sun rises for the first time. The first animals, when they stand in the sunlight, turn to stone, as do the gods who were to watch over the men of maize. The four fathers realize that they cannot return home and live among their descendants, so they ascend the mountain Hacavitz, never to be seen again.

SIGNIFICANCE

Traditional Maya culture flourished from around 1500 BCE until the early sixteenth century CE, when it was nearly obliterated by Spanish invaders. In that vast span of time, Maya civilization consisted of a series of interrelated but largely independent city-states. These were scattered throughout what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and northern El Salvador.

The precolonial Mayas were skilled artists, creating magnificent statuary, pottery, and jewelry. Uniquely among the peoples of the Americas, they are known to have been prolific writers, producing books from perishable material such as deer hide and tree bark as well as more permanent glyphic accounts in stone. However, modern understanding of Maya culture is limited, largely because the conquering Spanish systematically destroyed Maya books and suppressed traditional beliefs, which they considered to be inspired by devil worship.

During this period of Spanish suppression of Maya beliefs, elite members of the Quiché band living in the western Guatemalan highlands secretly authored the Popol Vuh, meaning “council book” or “book of counsel,” among other possible interpretations. This vast poetic work is a quasi-historical account of the Maya people. The Popol Vuh describes a complex mythological system that revered many divinities, including gods of the sky, the earth, various natural phenomena, and human economic activities. Although it is undated, internal evidence suggests that it was penned in the mid-1550s, three decades after the Spanish invaders began their conquest of the Maya homeland.

The authors of the Popol Vuh claim that the content of the work came from an earlier book, still in their possession at the time that they were writing. It is known from contemporary accounts from Spanish officials, many of whom were intent on seeking out and destroying such works, that there was a fair amount of Maya religious literature written on specially prepared deer hides and folded-bark books. The original source referred to by the Quiché authors was likely made of such perishable material.

It is difficult to determine the degree to which the myths in the Popol Vuh can be taken as representative of ancient Maya beliefs. The Maya pantheon of gods was wide and complex, and specific modes of worship varied between city-states and within different ruling families. Moreover, non-Maya influences had probably led to cultural changes in the centuries before the Popol Vuh was written. Specifically, the central Mexican Nahuatl language, the mother tongue of the Aztec and Toltec people, had become a common language for elites throughout Mesoamerica, including among the Mayas. It is likely that this newly adopted language brought about some changes in mythological beliefs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Christenson, Allen J., trans. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2007. Print.

Foster, Lynn V. A Brief History of Central America. 2nd ed. New York: Checkmark, 2007. Print.

Rubalcaba, Jill. Empires of the Maya. New York: Chelsea, 2010. Print.

Sharer, Robert J. Daily Life in Maya Civilization. 2nd ed. Westport: Greenwood, 2009. Print.

Tedlock, Dennis, trans. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. Rev. ed. New York: Simon, 1996. Print.

Young, Peter A. Secrets of the Maya. New York: Hatherleigh, 2004. Print.