Maya maize god
The Maya Maize God is a significant deity within the Mayan religion, revered as the patron god of corn, a staple crop central to the Mayan diet and culture. Due to historical factors, such as the destruction of many Mayan texts in the sixteenth century, much of the understanding of this god and his associated myths remains limited. Scholars have identified him primarily through archaeological findings, artwork, and a few surviving ancient texts, such as the Popol Vuh. The Maya Maize God is often depicted in two key forms: the "Tonsured" figure, representing mature corn, and the "Foliated" spirit, symbolizing young corn, highlighting the agricultural cycle of growth and harvest. His mythology encompasses important creation stories, including one that describes the origins of the Mayan people from a corn seed. Additionally, he is linked with other powerful figures in Mayan lore, including Hun Hunahpu, a character connected to both life and death themes, particularly through a tale of loss and eventual rebirth as maize. This deity's profound association with agriculture reflects the broader cultural significance of corn in Mayan society, where honoring harvest gods was believed to enhance crop yields.
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Maya maize god
The Maya Maize God was a deity in the Mayan religion who was the patron god of corn. Due to the destruction of important documents related to Mayan mythology in the sixteenth century, many aspects of this figure are poorly understood. In addition, the Mayan culture was split into different rival groups throughout Central America and existed over an extended period of time. These aspects of Mayan culture had the effect of creating complex and competing mythologies. However, archaeologists believe that the Maya Maize God was among the most important figures in the Mayan religion, and beyond his associations with maize, he has been linked to several origin myths throughout the region that was occupied by the Mayans.
Background
The gods in Mayan mythology often represented important aspects of their culture, including food crops, war, life, and death. The Mayas believed that honoring harvest gods like the Maya Maize God would improve the size and health of their crops. As a result, he was regarded as a central figure in their mythology. Although the Mayans left written documentation of their religion and culture, Spanish priests destroyed many of their books and work because they believed that the traditional Mayan culture was ungodly and any evidence of their ancestral beliefs needed to be destroyed to fully convert them to Christianity. Only a handful of works survived. This means that much of the contemporary understanding of figures like the Maya Maize God is derived from the study of Mayan hieroglyphic writing and Mayan artwork, as well as from a small handful of surviving texts called the Mayan Codices and a seventeenth-century Mesoamerican text written after the Spanish conquest called the Popol Vuh.
Description
The Maya Maize God has several forms and names. Most simply, he is called "God E" by archaeologists because he was the fifth god identified by early researchers before the Mayan script was translated. In the Mayan's Classic Period (250-900 C.E.) and the Post-Classic Period (900-1500 C.E.), the Maya Maize God is most frequently depicted in one of two forms: as a "Tonsured" figure with a partially shaved head or as a "Foliated" spirit that is often depicted as a young man with plant-like features. These two forms are thought to have represented corn at two different stages in its development. The Tonsured Maize God is associated with mature, harvestable corn while the Foliated Maize God embodies young, immature green corn. As a result, the Tonsured Maize God is typically represented as a powerful adult man whose long, shaved head is shaped like a maize cob with swirls of corn silk curling down the back of his neck. Oftentimes, he is shown barefoot, wearing a skirt with a diamond pattern, a beaded belt, and an ornate headdress. The Foliated incarnation of the Maize God, by contrast, is depicted as an attractive young man with vegetation sprouting from his head. Both figures have important connections to the cycle of life and death. These associations probably related both to the annual harvesting of corn—which would be planted and razed annually, that is, born and killed within a single year on the Mayan calendar—and to the success of the corn harvest, which would alternate between years of abundance and failure. Various proposed names for the Maya Maize God include Hun Nal Ye, Ixim, and Nal.
Mythology
The Maya Maize God ranks among the most important deities in the Mayan pantheon of gods, which reflects the importance of maize to the Mayan diet. The Maya Maize God also figures prominently in several creation myths. According to one myth, the Mayans descended from a white corn seed that was hidden in the middle of an enormous mountain buried under an immovable rock. A rain deity split the rock using an ax made of lightning. This turned the white seed black, red, and yellow—the colors of maize. From this seed, the Maya Maize God grew corn. He created dough from this corn and shaped it into the first peoples.
In myths and legends, the Maya Maize God is represented as Hun Hunahpu, although this link is the subject of continuing debate. Hun Hunahpu wed Xbaquiyalo in what was said to be the first marriage. Together, they conceived the Monkey Twins, Hun Batz and Hun Chowen, who became the patron gods of the arts.
Hun Hunahpu was also the father of another set of twin boys: Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, who are called the Hero Twins. According to legend, after Hun Hunahpu's defeat in a ballgame by the lords of the Mayan underworld of Xibalba, he was decapitated, and his head was hung from a tree. However, in death his spittle was said to have impregnated a daughter of one of the lords. Pregnant with the Hero Twins, she fled the underworld and gave birth. When they grew up, the Hero Twins avenged their father and recovered his body. Although they were unable to bring him back to life, Hun Hunahpu was reborn as the maize that was given to the ancestral Mayan people. Because Hun Hunahpu is so strongly connected with maize in Pre-Classical Mayan myths and legends, archaeologists believe that he may be an early incarnation of the Maya Maize God.
Bibliography
Carroll, Cynthia Richards. "The Image of the Maize God in Classic Maya Art: The Ideal Aesthetic of Gods and Royalty." Studia Antiqua 4.1 (2005): 43-61. Web. 7 Dec. 2015. https://journals.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/StudiaAntiqua/article/view/11649
Phillips, Charles. "The Gods of Maize." From The Complete Illustrated History of the Aztec & Maya. 206-7. London: Hermes House, 2006. Print.
Shearer, Robert, and Loa Traxler. The Ancient Maya. 6th Ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005. Print.
Taube, Karl. "The Classic Maya Maize God: A Reappraisal." Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983. The Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute. Web. 7 Dec. 2015. http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT07/Maize-OCR.pdf
Taube, Karl. The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, 1992. Print.
"Teaching History with 100 Objects: The Mayan Maize God." The British Museum. Trustees of the British Museum. Web. 7 Dec. 2015. http://www.teachinghistory100.org/objects/about‗the‗object/maize‗god