Maya And The K Iche Summary
K’iche’ (Quiche’) Maya and the Popol Vuh
K’iche’ (Quiche’) Maya and the Popol Vuh
The K’iche’ (Quiché) Maya had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times with a high level of political and social organization. Archaeological findings have shown large populations centers and a complex class structure. While the early Mayan people did not have an exact written language the fact of oral tradition has left historians to be lucky enough to have later writers to preserve the stories. The written records and oral traditions are preserved in the sacred book of the Maya known as the Popol Vuh; written in the native K’iche’ language after the conquest of the Spanish in 1524. This now lost manuscript was later recorded in the seventeenth century by Father Francisco Ximénez. The sacred book of the Maya, the Popol Vuh, is a rare survivor from the Spanish invasion, and explains the mythology, traditions, creations, and the history of the K’iche’ themselves.
To understand the sacred text of the Maya, one must have knowledge of the people who created it. The Maya civilization began approximately around 2000 BC and reached the height of its existence during the Classic period between AD 300 and AD 900. Mayan Indians live throughout the present day …show more content…
Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Most of the decedents reside in Guatemala. K’iche’ ancestors founded their kingdom in the Guatemalan highlands where they became the most powerful of the Mayan states until the Spanish invasion when Pedro de Alvarado brutally and forcefully conquered the lands. Alvarado is said to have killed the last K’iche’ king named Tecun Uman.
The K’iche’ people had a complex social structure where they lived in large populations. The capital of their great state was known as Q’umarkaj, which is located near Santa Cruz del Quiche today. Maize, also known as corn, was the basis of life for the Mayan people. The relationship between the Maya and their cultivated corn is a very strong and mysterious one. Cultivation of corn was a religious and sacred duty; corn was a gift from the gods and acted as a central role in every aspect of life. As a primary food source, maize symbolized life itself. In the Popol Vuh, the Gods attempt to create life finally came about as humans being born from the maize ears.1 In ancient images, the maize god is portrayed as an innocent, beautiful being that is vulnerable to the rain, wind, drought and pests. The well-being and survival of this individual is dependent on the protection of the humans.
The tribes of Mayan people were also very achieved in astronomy, architecture, agriculture, and mathematics. They had knowledge of the concept of zero and a base 20 number system. With mathematics and astronomical discoveries, the Maya created an extremely accurate calendar. By observing the movement of stars and planets in the night sky, farmers knew when to plan, irrigate and harvest crops.2 In the Popol Vuh, the hero twins decent into the Underworld to fight the Lords of the Night. The morning appearance of Venus, followed by the rise of the sun symbolized the hero twins’ victory over the gods of the underworld. Venus represented Hunahpu, and the sun for Xbalanque.3
The Christianization process of the natives was formally established in Guatemala in 1534 under the command of Bishop Francisco Marroquin. He sent out priests to all the native towns and villages to baptize the Maya and erase any remnants of their religion which might have survived the first invasion of the conquest. In towns and villages that were destroyed during the take overs, the surviving natives were moved to near settlements. The most popular being the town of Santa Cruz del Quiche’ which translates to Holy Cross of the Quiche’. Here missionary priests administered Catholic rule and instruction of Christian faith. And here it is believed the Popol Vuh was created.
The Popol Vuh is considered the most important example of pre-Columbian Mayan literature. This sacred text has been translated approximately thirty times into seven different languages but most were not based on original K’iche’ but rather the Spanish versions derived from the original language. The Popol Vuh does not contain “objective history” rather it is a collection of traditions of historical facts and partly mythic interpretations from the native K’iche’ and their ancestral lineages. The content of the historical script predates the Spanish conquest and reflects their native ways of life. Although the exact creation date of the Popol Vuh is uncertain, it can be believed that the work was completed between the years 1554-1558. The anonymous authors refer to the book based as an ilb’al, meaning “instrument of sight or vision”4 It is understood that the K’iche’ consulted the Popol Vuh in times of national distress as a way of seeing the future:
“They knew if there would be war. It was clear before their faces. They saw if there would be death, if there would be hunger. They surely knew if there would strife. There was an instrument of sight. There was a book. Popol Vuh was their name for it.” 5
Unfortunately, the Precolumbian version of this sacred text has been lost to the sands of time, destroyed by the Spanish Conquest and Christianization. While the text that can be found today is translated as close to the native K’iche’ as possible, it cannot be assumed that this was a word for word transcription of the original.
The authors of the Popol Vuh remain completely anonymous. They are not described in anyway in the book; the only reference given is they refer to themselves as “we”. A common theory that these authors may have kept their identity anonymous is the fact that the K’iche’ themselves realized the dangers of the European religion. The European domination of religion was a destructive and relentless conquest. Any natives found hiding or possessing a religious text was captured and tortured while the texts where burned and completely demolished out of existence. During the first stages of the Spanish conquest, the most obvious and most accessible of the Maya religion and literature were chased out of existence. The Spanish believed that any remaining articles of Maya religion left in existence would cause hindrances to the conversion of the people. But the natives were able to hide certain manuscripts and keep oral tradition alive well past the Spanish conquest.
Although the Popol Vuh was composed after the European invasion, the text itself contains little to no direct Christian influence. The authors were traditionalists, in that they recorded the history and theology of the K’iche’ without European Christianization. The text states that the Maya gods “accomplished their purpose in purity of being and in truth” long before the arrival of the Christian God. 6 The translator Christenson wrote, “Thus the Popol Vuh contrasts is ‘ancient word’ which contains light and life, with that of the more recent voice of Christianity. In highland Maya society, antiquity denotes authority. A modern priest-shaman in Momostenango once told me that the Maya ‘Earth God’ is greater than Christ and the saints because he was worshiped by his people for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans.”7
The Popol Vuh itself was likely composed in its present original language form at Santa Cruz del Quich’e which was a new city founded by the Spanish conquerors near the ancient capital of the K’iche’. The majority of this new capital most likely contained the members of the old ruling classes. And it is believed that the authors of the text were most likely the members of nobility who were able to retain the surviving pieces of the pre-Columbian Popol Vuh hieroglyphic manuscripts from their royal archives. This does indicate some clues on who the actual authors of the text may be. In the text itself following the list of the K’iche’ kings, it describes that “the three Nim Ch’okoj (Great Stewards) of the principal K’iche’ ruling lineages were ‘the mothers of the word, and the fathers of the word’.8 ‘The word’ is used in the text to describe the Popol Vuh itself 9, indicating that the Nim Ch’okoj were the likely authors” The Nim Ch’okoj was described as a relatively minor position within the nobility which had certain duties such as recitation of tales dealing with the gods, heroes and past rulers. Around the time that the original manuscript was supposedly written, it lists the names of don Juan de Rojas and don Juan Cortes as the contemporary kings of the ruling Cavec lineage. These two men were supposedly the grandsons of the two kings that the conquistador Alvarado burned. So if the authors were actually the nobles (Nim Ch’okoj) then at least one of the authors name can be determined. Whoever those authors may have been, they were very tedious in their work and their mission to make their way of life or at least their religion survive.
As fate has it the manuscript disappears for almost 150 years, and reappears in Chuvila now known as Santo Tomas Chichicastenango. It was recorded that Chichicastenango had double in size and importance over the former hiding place in Santa Cruz, and that the members of the old nobility had now resided there. And between 1701 and 1704, the Dominican monk named Francisco Ximenez came into possession of the manuscript. Ximenez was a language student of the Dominican order from Eciha, Spain. He arrived in Guatemala in 1688 and had served in Maya communities where he was able to learn a number of dialects and grammar so that he could teach new clerics. In a span of 14 years, he completed many works including: Arte de last res lenguas Quiche, Cakchikel y Tzutuhil (a grammatical treatise); Tesoro de last res lenguas Quiche, Cakchikel y Tzutuhil (a dictionary); a confessionary guide; and Empiezan las historias de el origen de los indios de esta Provincia de Guatemala (Spanish literal translations alongside a Quiche transcription of the Popol Vuh); Historia natural del reino de Guatemala (natural history of the flora and fauna of Guatemala).10 Ximenez’s work followed many other Dominicans as well such as Francisco de la Parra who invented the alphabet used to transcribe Maya languages, Domingo de Vico who wrote the first Quiche grammar, and Bartolome de Las Casas, who peacefully subdued the Coba-Kekchi region and advocated for the rights of the natives. But Ximenez was particularly intrigued by the K’iche’ language itself, calling it “principal one of the world.” His work shifted the focus of scholars to the Quiche language which showed many similarities between the native cosmography and the Roman Catholicism.
Ximenez’s linguistic training and religious vow moved him to account fully for the beliefs of the native Quiche. His contribution was to provide their historical account using authentic native documents. He also noted that even the K’iche’ people still conserved ancient “errors” which they had believed to be prior to the Spanish invasion.11 It’s mentioned that his curiosity of the ancient history and religion was enough to curb the suspicion of the old royal members and allowed Ximenez to view their coveted fortunes. He transcribed the K’iche’ text and also added a Spanish translation. The existence of the 16th century manuscript is unknown but believed to be back in the hands of its original protectors of the elders or possibly in the archives of Chichicastenango. After Ximenez had transcribed this long hidden text back into existence the copy lay in the parish archives for ages. When the Guatemalan Civil War broke out, all religious orders were expelled from the country. All books and documents were transferred to public libraries and/ or individual private collections. Ximenez’s manuscript copy found a new home in the library of the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City. 12
Years later, an Austrian traveler by the name of Carl Scherzer came across the old transcript copy and had another copy made for himself. Scherzer had described the original copy in very poor condition with ink so light that in little time the manuscript itself would be illegible and therefor useless. In 1861, the Popol Vuh was published for the first time also with a copy of a French translation by Father Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg which was also based off of Ximenez’s work. Francisco Ximenez ultimately saved the existence of the sacred Maya text and brought worldwide attention to its poetic assembly and narrative stories.13
Not only is the Popol Vuh and important historical sacred text but in the original K’iche’ language it is a great piece of literature. With translations the text tends to lose some of the parallel structure the words create. The K’iche’ text is not based on rhymes or rhythms but in parallel structures in the native language. But still in a translated form the sense of creativity and arrangement of concepts are still present. Some scholars have even argued that the Popol Vuh can be compared with other great epics such as the Iliad or the Odyssey.
For the actually stories in the Popol Vuh itself, the most recent work and translations are from Allen Christenson in 2003 and 2007.
The Popol Vuh is divided into two parts. The first part contains the history of the Mayas and also the creation stories. The second part deals completely with the K’iche’. The first part of part one consists of two stories: the first is the creation stories of the failure of the gods to create beings that were able to adore, obey and sustain themselves which is the first three chapters. And the second tells the tale of the two hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The text itself is a very long story so provided below is a summarized
version.
It opens with a description of the universe of what it was like before the first creation began. “This is the account of when all is still silent and placid. All is silent and calm. Hushed and empty in the womb of the sky… All alone the sky exists... The face of the earth has not yet appeared. All is as rest….” Then came the word, like lightning bolt through the sky, penetrated the water, and fertilized the mind of the earth-water gods. And the creator couple said “let it be done” and it was done. The earth emerged from the sea, plants grew shoots, and wild animals came to be. The gods then made three attempts to create humankind. Their first attempt was out of animals, the second out of mud, and the third finally out of wood. All three were failed attempts. The wood men were finally killed off and those who survived ran for cover up in the trees where they remained and are today the monkeys.
The second story begins with Vucub-Caquix who had two sons by the names of Zipacna and Cabracan who refused to adore, obey and sustain their creators. As the hero twins are out hunting they shoot Vucub-Caquix in the jaw while he is eating a fruit in the tree. Angrily he tears off Hunaphu’s arm and to retrieve the arm the twins pose as dentists. The twins convince Vucub-Caquix to pull his teeth and replace them with white corn kernels and they steal the arm back. And with the corn kernels as teeth, Vucub-Caquix no longer looked like royalty and died in poverty.
The brothers then set out to kill his son Zipacna. They create a crab to lure Zipacna which worked and the crab kills Zipacna in its claws. Cabracan is the only one left now. The hero twins then poison a bird with white earth and when Cabracan ate the bird he died.
The second part included the next 14 chapters. The first two introduce the two brothers Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, sons of the divine Xpiyacoc and Xmucane. And on a side note Hun Hunahpu is the father of the hero twins.
Hun Hunahpu and his wife Xbaquiyalo had two sons named Hun Batz’ and Hun Chouen and everyday Hun Hunahpu and his brother teamed up to play the ballgame with his sons the Monkey Brothers. One day the noise of their ballgame annoyed the lord of Hell, Xibalba, who summoned the brothers to come and play ball in hell. The Hunahpu brothers came down to Hell and were tortured, sacrificed, and buried. On the spot where the brothers were buried a tree grew. From the branches of the tree grew skulls instead of fruit and among them was the head of Hunahpu.
One day Xquic, the daughter of the lords of Hell, ventured to the tree. She reached up to pick one of the fruits and the skull of Hun Hunahpu spit into her hand. Suddenly Xquic became pregnant with the hero twins. When her father noticed her pregnancy he orders four messengers to take Xquic to the woods and sacrifice her and bring her heart back for burning. Xquic talked the messengers into sparing her life and they brought back a fake heart in a gourd. Xquic went up to earth to the home of Xmucane her mother in law and gave birth to the Hero Twins.14
The Monkey Brothers grew envious of their new half-brothers the Hero Twins so they tried to kill the infants with ants and thistles. But the Hero Twins were able to survive the ant hills and thistles. Once they were grown, the twins tricked their half-brothers into climbing a tree where they turned into monkeys while the tree grew taller.
The next passages are of the Hero Twins that become cultivators of maize. While the brothers work hard during the day to clear the fields they are always undone at night by the wild animals. One night they catch the animals in the act and a rat tell them where they can find their father’s ball playing gear. The Hero Twins find the gear and play ball and the Lords of hell summon the twins. The message is relayed from Xmucane by a louse that on the way is swallowed by a toad; the toad is then swallowed by a snake and the snake by ahark, which is then shot down by the Twins’ blowgun. When the Twins cure the hawk it vomits the snake, which vomits the toad, which vomits the louse, which eventually tell the message and the twins go to Xibalba.
The Lords of Xibalba set the twins to a series of tests, placing them in various “houses” and in between the twins play ball with the lords, always winning or at least tying with them. First is the House of Gloom. The twins are sent to hold lighted pitch pine sticks and smoke a cigar and succeed with the help of fireflies. Second is the House of Knives, the twins are sent to gather flowers in the House of Knives and succeed by escaped with the help of ants. Third is the House of Cold. There the brothers kept the warmth of life in them by burning knots of pine which they found under the dust. Next they were sent to the House of the Jaguars and there they fought off for the whole night the fierce beasts that snarled all around them. Next they were sent to get flowers from Vukub-Came’s garden. It was a garden guarded by poisonous snakes but the twins were aided by the ants who brought them flowers and filled four vases for the lords. Lastly the twins were sent to the most dreaded place of all, the House of Bats. There the twins lay in a cave with bats hovering over them. The laid flat upon their faces but Hunahpu lifted his head and the Death Bat Camaztoz flew down and sheared his head off.
The next day the Lords demanded the brothers come out and finish the ball game. Before the game started the Lords were fooled with a rabbit they thought was a ball and chased after it. Meanwhile Xbalanque found Hunahpu’s head and set it back in place where it fastened itself back together and resumed the game with the Lords. The brothers won the ball game over the Lords of Xibalba. Next the brothers told them they would prove themselves. They had themselves killed and their bones ground to power then transformed themselves as fish and swam away. They came back as beggars and stood before the Lords once more. The burned down houses and immediately built them back up again. They then killed a dog that belonged to one of the Lords and immediately restored it back to life. They killed each other and brought each other back to life again. The Lords cried with envy to be like the brothers so much they had the brothers kill them to experience death, and life after death. The twins sacrificed the Lords of Xibalba but did not resurrect them. The Hero Twins proclaim their revenge of their father and uncle and took their place in the sky as the sun and the moon.15
The third part of the Popol Vuh switches back to the creation story and it is now time for humans to appear on earth. The first four men (the four fathers) were made this time not from animals, nor clay, nor wood but this time from corn dough. Heart of Heaven blew mist into their eyes so that they could only see what was close, thus checking their desires to becomes gods like them. And the people made of corn are a success.
The first four women were then created as wives for the first four men. Jaguar Quiche (Balam Kitze) received Red Sea Woman, Jaguar Night (Balam Aqab) received Beauty Woman, Naught (Mahuq’utah) received Hummingbird Woman, and Wind Jaguar (Iq’I Balam) received Parrot Woman as his wife.
The god Tohil gives them fire, but it is extinguished by hail. To revive it, Tohil requires blood sacrifices. Instead the K’iche’ hide themselves in the smoke and obtain the fire without the God’s conditions. The first dawn appears, dries out the land, and turns the original animals to stone.
The last part of the Popol Vuh is about the K’iche’ lineages and their final endings. It relates how the population grew and the tribes began to fight each other, with the K’iche’ coming out on top. The K’iche’ traveled to the mountains to find the feathered serpent lord who raises them to the height of their rule. Great cities are founded and architectural structures emerge. The Popol Vuh then ends with a royal genealogy list of the rulers of the K’iche’ leading up to the Spanish conquest.16
Keep in mind that the translations may vary from one to the other. Translations between languages aren’t always precise as desired but the stories lines will contain many of the same content just varying in certain aspects of details of the story lines. Provided was just a short summary of the Popol Vuh, it is highly recommended to read the actually full translations to fully enjoy the magnificent sacred text of the Maya.
The significance of the text is enormous since it is one of the small numbers of early Mesoamerican mythological texts to have survived the Spanish conquest. It is often considered the most import piece of Mesoamerican literature. This sacred text had been preserved through centuries and even survived a dismal conquest of eradicating the native language all together. It is a true work of historical literature. And today is still treasured to the remaining decedents and the rest of the world.
Bibliography
“Francisco Ximenez” Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures (Oxford University Press, March 2001.)
Andrews, Tamara. A Dictionary of Nature Myths. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 131-132
Christenson, Allen. Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiche’ Maya People. (Mesoweb Publications 2007)
Christenson, Allen. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya. (John Publishing, 2004)
León-Portilla, Miquel. Time and Reality in the Thought of the Maya. 2nd Edition (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988)
Quiroa, Nestor Ivan. "Francisco Ximénez and the Popol Vuh: Text, Structure, and Ideology in the Prologue to the Second Treatise". Colonial Latin American Historical Review2002 (3): 279–300.
Sherzer, Carl. (ed.). Las historias del origen de los indios de esta provincia de Guatemala. Vienna: Carlos Gerold e hijo. 1857
Tedlock, Dennis. Popol Vuh: the Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. with commentary based on the ancient knowledge of the modern Quiché Maya. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985).
Tedlock, Dennis. trans., Popol Vuh: The Maya Book of the Dawn of Life 2nd Edition (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996)
K’iche’ (Quiche’) Maya and the Popol Vuh
The K’iche’ (Quiché) Maya had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times with a high level of political and social organization. Archaeological findings have shown large populations centers and a complex class structure. While the early Mayan people did not have an exact written language the fact of oral tradition has left historians to be lucky enough to have later writers to preserve the stories. The written records and oral traditions are preserved in the sacred book of the Maya known as the Popol Vuh; written in the native K’iche’ language after the conquest of the Spanish in 1524. This now lost manuscript was later recorded in the seventeenth century by Father Francisco Ximénez. The sacred book of the Maya, the Popol Vuh, is a rare survivor from the Spanish invasion, and explains the mythology, traditions, creations, and the history of the K’iche’ themselves.
To understand the sacred text of the Maya, one must have knowledge of the people who created it. The Maya civilization began approximately around 2000 BC and reached the height of its existence during the Classic period between AD 300 and AD 900. Mayan Indians live throughout the present day …show more content…
Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Most of the decedents reside in Guatemala. K’iche’ ancestors founded their kingdom in the Guatemalan highlands where they became the most powerful of the Mayan states until the Spanish invasion when Pedro de Alvarado brutally and forcefully conquered the lands. Alvarado is said to have killed the last K’iche’ king named Tecun Uman.
The K’iche’ people had a complex social structure where they lived in large populations. The capital of their great state was known as Q’umarkaj, which is located near Santa Cruz del Quiche today. Maize, also known as corn, was the basis of life for the Mayan people. The relationship between the Maya and their cultivated corn is a very strong and mysterious one. Cultivation of corn was a religious and sacred duty; corn was a gift from the gods and acted as a central role in every aspect of life. As a primary food source, maize symbolized life itself. In the Popol Vuh, the Gods attempt to create life finally came about as humans being born from the maize ears.1 In ancient images, the maize god is portrayed as an innocent, beautiful being that is vulnerable to the rain, wind, drought and pests. The well-being and survival of this individual is dependent on the protection of the humans.
The tribes of Mayan people were also very achieved in astronomy, architecture, agriculture, and mathematics. They had knowledge of the concept of zero and a base 20 number system. With mathematics and astronomical discoveries, the Maya created an extremely accurate calendar. By observing the movement of stars and planets in the night sky, farmers knew when to plan, irrigate and harvest crops.2 In the Popol Vuh, the hero twins decent into the Underworld to fight the Lords of the Night. The morning appearance of Venus, followed by the rise of the sun symbolized the hero twins’ victory over the gods of the underworld. Venus represented Hunahpu, and the sun for Xbalanque.3
The Christianization process of the natives was formally established in Guatemala in 1534 under the command of Bishop Francisco Marroquin. He sent out priests to all the native towns and villages to baptize the Maya and erase any remnants of their religion which might have survived the first invasion of the conquest. In towns and villages that were destroyed during the take overs, the surviving natives were moved to near settlements. The most popular being the town of Santa Cruz del Quiche’ which translates to Holy Cross of the Quiche’. Here missionary priests administered Catholic rule and instruction of Christian faith. And here it is believed the Popol Vuh was created.
The Popol Vuh is considered the most important example of pre-Columbian Mayan literature. This sacred text has been translated approximately thirty times into seven different languages but most were not based on original K’iche’ but rather the Spanish versions derived from the original language. The Popol Vuh does not contain “objective history” rather it is a collection of traditions of historical facts and partly mythic interpretations from the native K’iche’ and their ancestral lineages. The content of the historical script predates the Spanish conquest and reflects their native ways of life. Although the exact creation date of the Popol Vuh is uncertain, it can be believed that the work was completed between the years 1554-1558. The anonymous authors refer to the book based as an ilb’al, meaning “instrument of sight or vision”4 It is understood that the K’iche’ consulted the Popol Vuh in times of national distress as a way of seeing the future:
“They knew if there would be war. It was clear before their faces. They saw if there would be death, if there would be hunger. They surely knew if there would strife. There was an instrument of sight. There was a book. Popol Vuh was their name for it.” 5
Unfortunately, the Precolumbian version of this sacred text has been lost to the sands of time, destroyed by the Spanish Conquest and Christianization. While the text that can be found today is translated as close to the native K’iche’ as possible, it cannot be assumed that this was a word for word transcription of the original.
The authors of the Popol Vuh remain completely anonymous. They are not described in anyway in the book; the only reference given is they refer to themselves as “we”. A common theory that these authors may have kept their identity anonymous is the fact that the K’iche’ themselves realized the dangers of the European religion. The European domination of religion was a destructive and relentless conquest. Any natives found hiding or possessing a religious text was captured and tortured while the texts where burned and completely demolished out of existence. During the first stages of the Spanish conquest, the most obvious and most accessible of the Maya religion and literature were chased out of existence. The Spanish believed that any remaining articles of Maya religion left in existence would cause hindrances to the conversion of the people. But the natives were able to hide certain manuscripts and keep oral tradition alive well past the Spanish conquest.
Although the Popol Vuh was composed after the European invasion, the text itself contains little to no direct Christian influence. The authors were traditionalists, in that they recorded the history and theology of the K’iche’ without European Christianization. The text states that the Maya gods “accomplished their purpose in purity of being and in truth” long before the arrival of the Christian God. 6 The translator Christenson wrote, “Thus the Popol Vuh contrasts is ‘ancient word’ which contains light and life, with that of the more recent voice of Christianity. In highland Maya society, antiquity denotes authority. A modern priest-shaman in Momostenango once told me that the Maya ‘Earth God’ is greater than Christ and the saints because he was worshiped by his people for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans.”7
The Popol Vuh itself was likely composed in its present original language form at Santa Cruz del Quich’e which was a new city founded by the Spanish conquerors near the ancient capital of the K’iche’. The majority of this new capital most likely contained the members of the old ruling classes. And it is believed that the authors of the text were most likely the members of nobility who were able to retain the surviving pieces of the pre-Columbian Popol Vuh hieroglyphic manuscripts from their royal archives. This does indicate some clues on who the actual authors of the text may be. In the text itself following the list of the K’iche’ kings, it describes that “the three Nim Ch’okoj (Great Stewards) of the principal K’iche’ ruling lineages were ‘the mothers of the word, and the fathers of the word’.8 ‘The word’ is used in the text to describe the Popol Vuh itself 9, indicating that the Nim Ch’okoj were the likely authors” The Nim Ch’okoj was described as a relatively minor position within the nobility which had certain duties such as recitation of tales dealing with the gods, heroes and past rulers. Around the time that the original manuscript was supposedly written, it lists the names of don Juan de Rojas and don Juan Cortes as the contemporary kings of the ruling Cavec lineage. These two men were supposedly the grandsons of the two kings that the conquistador Alvarado burned. So if the authors were actually the nobles (Nim Ch’okoj) then at least one of the authors name can be determined. Whoever those authors may have been, they were very tedious in their work and their mission to make their way of life or at least their religion survive.
As fate has it the manuscript disappears for almost 150 years, and reappears in Chuvila now known as Santo Tomas Chichicastenango. It was recorded that Chichicastenango had double in size and importance over the former hiding place in Santa Cruz, and that the members of the old nobility had now resided there. And between 1701 and 1704, the Dominican monk named Francisco Ximenez came into possession of the manuscript. Ximenez was a language student of the Dominican order from Eciha, Spain. He arrived in Guatemala in 1688 and had served in Maya communities where he was able to learn a number of dialects and grammar so that he could teach new clerics. In a span of 14 years, he completed many works including: Arte de last res lenguas Quiche, Cakchikel y Tzutuhil (a grammatical treatise); Tesoro de last res lenguas Quiche, Cakchikel y Tzutuhil (a dictionary); a confessionary guide; and Empiezan las historias de el origen de los indios de esta Provincia de Guatemala (Spanish literal translations alongside a Quiche transcription of the Popol Vuh); Historia natural del reino de Guatemala (natural history of the flora and fauna of Guatemala).10 Ximenez’s work followed many other Dominicans as well such as Francisco de la Parra who invented the alphabet used to transcribe Maya languages, Domingo de Vico who wrote the first Quiche grammar, and Bartolome de Las Casas, who peacefully subdued the Coba-Kekchi region and advocated for the rights of the natives. But Ximenez was particularly intrigued by the K’iche’ language itself, calling it “principal one of the world.” His work shifted the focus of scholars to the Quiche language which showed many similarities between the native cosmography and the Roman Catholicism.
Ximenez’s linguistic training and religious vow moved him to account fully for the beliefs of the native Quiche. His contribution was to provide their historical account using authentic native documents. He also noted that even the K’iche’ people still conserved ancient “errors” which they had believed to be prior to the Spanish invasion.11 It’s mentioned that his curiosity of the ancient history and religion was enough to curb the suspicion of the old royal members and allowed Ximenez to view their coveted fortunes. He transcribed the K’iche’ text and also added a Spanish translation. The existence of the 16th century manuscript is unknown but believed to be back in the hands of its original protectors of the elders or possibly in the archives of Chichicastenango. After Ximenez had transcribed this long hidden text back into existence the copy lay in the parish archives for ages. When the Guatemalan Civil War broke out, all religious orders were expelled from the country. All books and documents were transferred to public libraries and/ or individual private collections. Ximenez’s manuscript copy found a new home in the library of the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City. 12
Years later, an Austrian traveler by the name of Carl Scherzer came across the old transcript copy and had another copy made for himself. Scherzer had described the original copy in very poor condition with ink so light that in little time the manuscript itself would be illegible and therefor useless. In 1861, the Popol Vuh was published for the first time also with a copy of a French translation by Father Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg which was also based off of Ximenez’s work. Francisco Ximenez ultimately saved the existence of the sacred Maya text and brought worldwide attention to its poetic assembly and narrative stories.13
Not only is the Popol Vuh and important historical sacred text but in the original K’iche’ language it is a great piece of literature. With translations the text tends to lose some of the parallel structure the words create. The K’iche’ text is not based on rhymes or rhythms but in parallel structures in the native language. But still in a translated form the sense of creativity and arrangement of concepts are still present. Some scholars have even argued that the Popol Vuh can be compared with other great epics such as the Iliad or the Odyssey.
For the actually stories in the Popol Vuh itself, the most recent work and translations are from Allen Christenson in 2003 and 2007.
The Popol Vuh is divided into two parts. The first part contains the history of the Mayas and also the creation stories. The second part deals completely with the K’iche’. The first part of part one consists of two stories: the first is the creation stories of the failure of the gods to create beings that were able to adore, obey and sustain themselves which is the first three chapters. And the second tells the tale of the two hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The text itself is a very long story so provided below is a summarized
version.
It opens with a description of the universe of what it was like before the first creation began. “This is the account of when all is still silent and placid. All is silent and calm. Hushed and empty in the womb of the sky… All alone the sky exists... The face of the earth has not yet appeared. All is as rest….” Then came the word, like lightning bolt through the sky, penetrated the water, and fertilized the mind of the earth-water gods. And the creator couple said “let it be done” and it was done. The earth emerged from the sea, plants grew shoots, and wild animals came to be. The gods then made three attempts to create humankind. Their first attempt was out of animals, the second out of mud, and the third finally out of wood. All three were failed attempts. The wood men were finally killed off and those who survived ran for cover up in the trees where they remained and are today the monkeys.
The second story begins with Vucub-Caquix who had two sons by the names of Zipacna and Cabracan who refused to adore, obey and sustain their creators. As the hero twins are out hunting they shoot Vucub-Caquix in the jaw while he is eating a fruit in the tree. Angrily he tears off Hunaphu’s arm and to retrieve the arm the twins pose as dentists. The twins convince Vucub-Caquix to pull his teeth and replace them with white corn kernels and they steal the arm back. And with the corn kernels as teeth, Vucub-Caquix no longer looked like royalty and died in poverty.
The brothers then set out to kill his son Zipacna. They create a crab to lure Zipacna which worked and the crab kills Zipacna in its claws. Cabracan is the only one left now. The hero twins then poison a bird with white earth and when Cabracan ate the bird he died.
The second part included the next 14 chapters. The first two introduce the two brothers Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, sons of the divine Xpiyacoc and Xmucane. And on a side note Hun Hunahpu is the father of the hero twins.
Hun Hunahpu and his wife Xbaquiyalo had two sons named Hun Batz’ and Hun Chouen and everyday Hun Hunahpu and his brother teamed up to play the ballgame with his sons the Monkey Brothers. One day the noise of their ballgame annoyed the lord of Hell, Xibalba, who summoned the brothers to come and play ball in hell. The Hunahpu brothers came down to Hell and were tortured, sacrificed, and buried. On the spot where the brothers were buried a tree grew. From the branches of the tree grew skulls instead of fruit and among them was the head of Hunahpu.
One day Xquic, the daughter of the lords of Hell, ventured to the tree. She reached up to pick one of the fruits and the skull of Hun Hunahpu spit into her hand. Suddenly Xquic became pregnant with the hero twins. When her father noticed her pregnancy he orders four messengers to take Xquic to the woods and sacrifice her and bring her heart back for burning. Xquic talked the messengers into sparing her life and they brought back a fake heart in a gourd. Xquic went up to earth to the home of Xmucane her mother in law and gave birth to the Hero Twins.14
The Monkey Brothers grew envious of their new half-brothers the Hero Twins so they tried to kill the infants with ants and thistles. But the Hero Twins were able to survive the ant hills and thistles. Once they were grown, the twins tricked their half-brothers into climbing a tree where they turned into monkeys while the tree grew taller.
The next passages are of the Hero Twins that become cultivators of maize. While the brothers work hard during the day to clear the fields they are always undone at night by the wild animals. One night they catch the animals in the act and a rat tell them where they can find their father’s ball playing gear. The Hero Twins find the gear and play ball and the Lords of hell summon the twins. The message is relayed from Xmucane by a louse that on the way is swallowed by a toad; the toad is then swallowed by a snake and the snake by ahark, which is then shot down by the Twins’ blowgun. When the Twins cure the hawk it vomits the snake, which vomits the toad, which vomits the louse, which eventually tell the message and the twins go to Xibalba.
The Lords of Xibalba set the twins to a series of tests, placing them in various “houses” and in between the twins play ball with the lords, always winning or at least tying with them. First is the House of Gloom. The twins are sent to hold lighted pitch pine sticks and smoke a cigar and succeed with the help of fireflies. Second is the House of Knives, the twins are sent to gather flowers in the House of Knives and succeed by escaped with the help of ants. Third is the House of Cold. There the brothers kept the warmth of life in them by burning knots of pine which they found under the dust. Next they were sent to the House of the Jaguars and there they fought off for the whole night the fierce beasts that snarled all around them. Next they were sent to get flowers from Vukub-Came’s garden. It was a garden guarded by poisonous snakes but the twins were aided by the ants who brought them flowers and filled four vases for the lords. Lastly the twins were sent to the most dreaded place of all, the House of Bats. There the twins lay in a cave with bats hovering over them. The laid flat upon their faces but Hunahpu lifted his head and the Death Bat Camaztoz flew down and sheared his head off.
The next day the Lords demanded the brothers come out and finish the ball game. Before the game started the Lords were fooled with a rabbit they thought was a ball and chased after it. Meanwhile Xbalanque found Hunahpu’s head and set it back in place where it fastened itself back together and resumed the game with the Lords. The brothers won the ball game over the Lords of Xibalba. Next the brothers told them they would prove themselves. They had themselves killed and their bones ground to power then transformed themselves as fish and swam away. They came back as beggars and stood before the Lords once more. The burned down houses and immediately built them back up again. They then killed a dog that belonged to one of the Lords and immediately restored it back to life. They killed each other and brought each other back to life again. The Lords cried with envy to be like the brothers so much they had the brothers kill them to experience death, and life after death. The twins sacrificed the Lords of Xibalba but did not resurrect them. The Hero Twins proclaim their revenge of their father and uncle and took their place in the sky as the sun and the moon.15
The third part of the Popol Vuh switches back to the creation story and it is now time for humans to appear on earth. The first four men (the four fathers) were made this time not from animals, nor clay, nor wood but this time from corn dough. Heart of Heaven blew mist into their eyes so that they could only see what was close, thus checking their desires to becomes gods like them. And the people made of corn are a success.
The first four women were then created as wives for the first four men. Jaguar Quiche (Balam Kitze) received Red Sea Woman, Jaguar Night (Balam Aqab) received Beauty Woman, Naught (Mahuq’utah) received Hummingbird Woman, and Wind Jaguar (Iq’I Balam) received Parrot Woman as his wife.
The god Tohil gives them fire, but it is extinguished by hail. To revive it, Tohil requires blood sacrifices. Instead the K’iche’ hide themselves in the smoke and obtain the fire without the God’s conditions. The first dawn appears, dries out the land, and turns the original animals to stone.
The last part of the Popol Vuh is about the K’iche’ lineages and their final endings. It relates how the population grew and the tribes began to fight each other, with the K’iche’ coming out on top. The K’iche’ traveled to the mountains to find the feathered serpent lord who raises them to the height of their rule. Great cities are founded and architectural structures emerge. The Popol Vuh then ends with a royal genealogy list of the rulers of the K’iche’ leading up to the Spanish conquest.16
Keep in mind that the translations may vary from one to the other. Translations between languages aren’t always precise as desired but the stories lines will contain many of the same content just varying in certain aspects of details of the story lines. Provided was just a short summary of the Popol Vuh, it is highly recommended to read the actually full translations to fully enjoy the magnificent sacred text of the Maya.
The significance of the text is enormous since it is one of the small numbers of early Mesoamerican mythological texts to have survived the Spanish conquest. It is often considered the most import piece of Mesoamerican literature. This sacred text had been preserved through centuries and even survived a dismal conquest of eradicating the native language all together. It is a true work of historical literature. And today is still treasured to the remaining decedents and the rest of the world.
Bibliography
“Francisco Ximenez” Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures (Oxford University Press, March 2001.)
Andrews, Tamara. A Dictionary of Nature Myths. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 131-132
Christenson, Allen. Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiche’ Maya People. (Mesoweb Publications 2007)
Christenson, Allen. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya. (John Publishing, 2004)
León-Portilla, Miquel. Time and Reality in the Thought of the Maya. 2nd Edition (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988)
Quiroa, Nestor Ivan. "Francisco Ximénez and the Popol Vuh: Text, Structure, and Ideology in the Prologue to the Second Treatise". Colonial Latin American Historical Review2002 (3): 279–300.
Sherzer, Carl. (ed.). Las historias del origen de los indios de esta provincia de Guatemala. Vienna: Carlos Gerold e hijo. 1857
Tedlock, Dennis. Popol Vuh: the Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. with commentary based on the ancient knowledge of the modern Quiché Maya. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985).
Tedlock, Dennis. trans., Popol Vuh: The Maya Book of the Dawn of Life 2nd Edition (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996)