| Mayan Deities |
| Ab Kin Xac Mayan god of war and poetry. Acat Mayan god of life, responsible for the development of children in the womb. Ahau Chamahez Mayan god of medicine and health. Ah Bolom Tzacab The Mayan god of agriculture, the one who controls the rain and thunder. His name means "the leaf-nosed god", and he was portrayed with a leaf in his nose. He is the so-called 'God K'. Ah Kinchil Mayan god of the sun. Ah Puch Also known as Hunhau, he was the Maya god of death who ruled over Mitnal, the land of death, the lowest and most horrible of the nine hells. He was normally represented with the head of an owl on a human body. This figure of death has survived to this day, where the Indians of Central America and Mexico believe that someone will die when the owl screeches. In other representations Ah Puch is shown as a skeleton or a bloated corpse, adorned with bells. Mitnal. He is also referred to as 'God A'. Ahau-Kin "Lord of the Sun Face". The Mayan sun god, Ahau-Kin possessed both daytime and nocturnal aspects. In his daytime manifestation, the sun god was often depicted with some jaguar features. However, between sunset and sunrise he actually became the Jaguar god, the Lord of the underworld, as he travelled from west to east through the lower regions of the world. Ahpuc Mayan god of death, associated with suicide, death by hanging, beheading, and human sacrifice. Ahulane Mayan war god sometimes called "The Archer". Alaghom Naom The Mayan mother goddess. She is especially associated with creation of mind and thought, and is known as "Mother of Mind". Chac The Mayan god of fertility and agriculture, the one who sends thunder and rain. Later he appears as one of the Bacabs, a group of four protective deities, where Chac is the personification of the east. The center of his cult was in Chichen Itzan (Yucatan). He is the Tlaloc of the Aztecs and the rain god Cocijo of the Zapotec. Chac is portrayed with two curling fangs, a long turned-up nose and tears streaming from his wide eyes. His hair was made up of a tangle of knots. Chac was beneficent and a friend of man. He taught them how to grow vegetables and was the protector of their cornfields. The Maya appealed to him for rain by means of particular ceremonies by which the men would settle outside the village and adhere to strict observance of fasting and sexual abstinence. The animal associated with Chac is the frog, because it signals the coming of rain by its croaking. He is also known as Ah Hoya ("he who urinates"), Ah Tzenul ("he who gives food to others"), and Hopop Caan ("he who lights up the sky"). Cit Chac Co Mayan war god. Ek Ahau Mayan war god. Ek Chuah Mayan scorpion god, patron of traveling merchants and cacao planters, god of war. Concerned himself primarily with those who died in battle. Participants were not allowed to get drunk at his festival as they did at others. He is often called God M. Gucumatz Mayan god of farming, agriculture, civilization, and domestic matters. He was said to live in heaven and hell at the same time. Hachiman A historical figure in Mayan history, was elevated to the status of god after death. A god of war, battle, honor, courage, bravery, personal success. Haya-Ji Mayan god of the winds, whirlwinds. Invoke for air elemental magic. Hun Hunahpu A Mayan fertility god. He fathered the twins Hunahpu and Ixbalangue on a virgin. During a ballgame in the underworld Xibalba he was beheaded. His head was attached to an infertile gourd, which immediately started to bear fruits. His sons avenged his death by killing the responsible demons. Hunab Ku The supreme god and creator of the Maya. He is the head of the Mayan pantheon and called 'god of the gods'. Hunab Ku rebuilt the world after three deluges, which poured from the mouth of a sky serpent. The first world he created was inhabited by dwarfs, the builders of the cities. The second world was inhabited by the Dzolob, 'the offenders', an obscure race. The third and final world Hunab Ku created for the Maya themselves (who are destined to be overcome by a fourth flood). The god Itzamna is his son. He is similar to the Aztec Ometeotl. Hunahpu The Mayan creator god. He is the son of Hun Hunahpu and a virgin. Together with his brother Ixbalangue he went to the underworld and killed the evil demons Hun Came and Vucub Caquix, thus avenging the death of their father. Afterwards they are taken to the heavens where Hunapu became a sun god and Ixbalangue a female moon deity. They are the parents of the first pair of humans. Hun Pic Tok Mayan war god. Hurakan Hurakan is the ancient Mayan god of wind and storm. He visits the anger of the gods upon humanity by bringing about the Flood. He is a creator god who according to legend dwelt in the mists hanging over the primeval flood, in the form of the wind, ceaselessly repeating the word "earth" until the solid world rose from the seas. When the gods became angry with the first human beings, Hurukan unleashed the deluge which destroyed them. From his name the word 'hurricane' is derived. Hurakan means "one-legged". Hurukan Ancient mayan creator god who made the earth, the element of fire, animals, and mankind. Symbolizes fire, spiritual enlightenment, thunder, hurricanes, whirlwinds, disasters. Itzamna The founder of the Maya culture. He brought his people maize and cacao and taught them script, healing, and the use of calendars. As the bringer of culture he became the state-god of the Mayan empire. As the moon-god he rules over the night. Itzamna is also called 'God D' and bears the title of 'lord of knowledge'. He is a son of Hunab Ku and with Ixchel he is the father of the Bacabs. Lord of day and night. Omnipotent, remote, and impersonal. Personified the rising sun, light, life, knowledge, and the east. His sign was a red hand. Depicted as a cross-eyed, toothless old man with a lizard body. His attributes are the snake and the mussel. Animal totems were the lizard and the jaguar. Founder of Mayan religion. Invoke for healing, art, drawing, letters, crops, fertility, water, regeneration, medicine. Ixchel "Lady Rainbow". The Mayan earth and moon goddess and patroness of pregnant women. She invented the art of weaving. Ixchel is thought to be the consort of Itzamna and with him she is the mother of the Bacabs, but also Voltan was thought to be her husband. She is portrayed with a snake as a head-band and her skirt is embroidered with crossbones. Ixchel shows many similarities with the Aztec goddess Chalchihuitlicue. Generally portrayed as being destructive, deathly, and demonic. Ixchup Mayan moon goddess, married to a sun god. Ixtab Ixtab is the Maya goddess of the noose and the gallows. She is also the protector of those who committed suicide. It was believed that those who committed suicide or died by hanging, together with slain warriors, sacrificial victums, priests, and woman who died in childbirth, went straight to eternal rest in paradise. Ixtab gathered them and brought them there. She is depicted as hanging from a tree with a noose around her neck, her eyes closed in death and her body partly decomposed. Kukulcan The Mayan supreme god, to whom the Mayas attributed many functions. Not only was he a god of the four elements, he was also a creator god and the god of resurrection and reincarnation. He originated from Toltec myth, where he was a divine hero who taught the Toltecs laws, fishing, healing, the calendar, and agriculture. He emerged from the ocean, and disappeared in it afterwards. His name means "the feathered serpent", and the Aztecs merged him with their Quetzalcoatl. His attributes, each representing one element, are a maize-ear (earth), a fish (water), lizard (fire), and vulture (air). He is the so-called 'God B'. Mam Mayan earthquake god. Masaya Mayan goddess of fire and divination. She required that victims be thrown into volcanoes. Mitnal The Mayan realm of the dead. It is the ninth and lowest level of the underworld; a place of eternal cold and darkness. This is where the souls of those who lived a bad life are sent to. The ruler of Mitnal is the god Hunhau Nohochacym Mayan creator god, defender from evil. Popol Vuh The Quich� Mayan book of creation. It begins with the deeds of the Mayan gods in the darkness of a primeval sea and ends with the radiant splendor of the Mayan lords who founded the Quich� kingdom in the Guatemalan highlands. It was originally written in Mayan hieroglyphs but was transcribed into the Roman alphabet in the sixteenth century. This book is the most important source of Mayan mythology and cosmology. The name means "the book of the written leaves". Vucub Caquix A Mayan demon of the underworld. He was the father of the giant demons Kabrakan and Zipakna. He considered himself to be the sun, the moon, and the light. For this reckless thought, and for the part he played in the death or their father, the twins Hunahpu and Ixbalangue descended to the underworld and killed him. Xaman Ek Mayan god of merchants, business, economy, trade. Xibalba The realm of the dead in Mayan mythology, where the giant Hun Came rules. The steep road that leads to this underworld is very dangerous; there are torrents, it is flanked by abysses, and it is covered with thorns. In this place the evil demons live who dared challenge the gods to combat. Yum Caax "lord of the woods" He is the Mayan god of maize in particular and of agriculture in general. In his youthful appearance he personifies perfect male beauty. Yum Caax is the so-called 'God E' of Mayan mythology. Zip Mayan god of the hunt. Protector of the deer. According to legend, the deer created the vagina of the moon goddess by stepping on her abdomen. She was then she was able to bear the children of the sun god. Zip would deceive hunters to believe he was shooting a deer when in fact it was a iguana (a sacred animal of Itzam Na; to kill one is to incite the death penalty). To gain Zip's favor through worship and sacrifice results in a good hunt. |