THE 30 MAIN MAYAN GODS AND THEIR MEANING - HISTORY

Some of the main Mayan gods are Hunab Ku, Chaac (god of rain), Itzamná (wisdom), Pawahtún (carrier of the cosmos), Ixchel (love), Kinich Ahau (sun), Yum Kaax (corn) or Kauil (of the fire).

Mayan mythology has a long tradition of veneration of deities, being for them religion the channel of communication between men and the cosmos. These supernatural beings were depicted in all the ways the imagination allowed and there were no limits to their worship.

Plants, animals and humanoids were the most common forms in which the gods of the Mayan culture were found. The image of the gods can be found especially in paintings, drawings and engravings, in which this people established their veneration. But also architecture, his writings and sculpture are a representation of his beliefs.

The Mayan civilization is present in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras, but it has influence in many other territories. It was kept from 2,000 BC until the end of the 17th century.

The Mayans were the only ones who established a writing system, the glyphic, fully developed in America. In addition, they left a vast legacy of knowledge in architecture, agriculture, art and even mathematics, being one of the first peoples in the world to recognize explicit zero, a breakthrough for the time.

Their societies were complex, with a political system based on the idea of a divine king, mediating between mortals and supernatural space. Its form of government was similar to a monarchy, but varied in each state and city.

The Mayans were guided by the power of the gods, which led them to compose a complex series of calendars. The weight of religion in this culture led them to perform various human sacrifices to satisfy the desire of the divinities and avoid their wrath.

Most important gods of the Mayan culture

Hunab Ku

He is the most important god of the Mayan culture, father of all the gods, he is the only one alive and true, and from him all things are born. Hunab Ku, or kolop u wich k'in, as it was known in this civilization, is a disembodied figure, so it cannot be represented in culture.

Dualities converge in his figure, the opposite elements with which he gave rise to the universe. This god is everything and nothing at the same time.

The Mayans considered Hunab Ku the center of the galaxy, the heart, the mind and the creative being. They invoked him through the sun and the center of the universe, where they located his presence.

Chaac

Chaac is another of the main figures in the Mayan pantheon; It is associated with water, lightning and rain, which is why it is invoked to obtain good crops.

In the Mayan culture he was represented as an old man, with reptilian features and a long trunk (or nose) tilted upwards.

Itzamna

Four in one, the Mayans represented this god as a single man or as four that each held one of the corners of the universe. That is why it is called the cosmos charger.

His figure, with his arms raised, supporting the vault of the earth, contradicts his image of a toothless old man with a tortoise shell. He is the patron saint of writers and painters, and presides over the five dire days of the solar calendar.

In Mayan culture, the tortoise shell is a common and celebrated symbol, since it is the place where the Sun and the Moon took refuge from the destruction of the world.

Ixchel

Goddess of love, gestation, water, textile works, vegetation, the moon and medicine, she was associated with various elements such as water and fertility and even with a rabbit.

She is the wife of Itzamná, god of wisdom, she is known as the queen mother and is represented as an old woman emptying a vessel on the ground. It is also represented weaving or with a snake on its head, depending on the veneration that one wants to make of it.

Kinich ahau

God of fire, is one of the most popular and venerated in the Mayan culture, with rituals of the oldest in this type of civilization and is considered one of the 13 creators of humanity.

Kauil is also the patron of the abundance of human seed crops, which in the Mayan culture represents prosperity, and is described as the father and mother of the human species.

With the anger of the fire he cures diseases and was a source of veneration for a successful delivery. Its rites are prominent among the Mayans and it is represented in the culture with an elongated nose and a protruding snake-shaped mouth.

The veneration of his figure is maintained until today with fire rituals, in which it is said that the person leaves renewed. The importance of his cult in the Mayans was recorded in the sculptures that were found of him.

Ek Chua

God of cocoa, war and markets, is represented with a bag on his back, which is the figure of merchants. It is invoked to benefit commerce.

Owner of a dual character, he was auspicious as the god of itinerant merchants and malevolent as the god of war. Those who had plantations rendered ceremonies to Ek Chuah, patron of their fruits.

Yum kimil

Also called Ah Puch (which means fleshless), Kisín (smelly) or Kimil (death), his name means Lord of the Dead. Yum Limil is the main deity of Xibalbá, the Mayan underworld and hell, and therefore is the god of death.

The image of death as a skeletal body of today is closely related to the representation that the Mayans made of Yum Kimil.

Always accompanied by a rope, which he used to take the lives of others, this god also possessed an owl, which is a sign of bad fortune.

The Mayans believed that this god prowled the house of the sick in search of new prey for his abode. To drive him away, you had to shout very loudly, so Yum Kimil passed by. Some rites are still maintained today.

Xtabay

Xtabay is not a goddess, but a female demon. The Mayan legend describes it as dangerous, it could seduce or bewitch men, for good or for evil, causing them to get lost, go crazy or even cause them to die.

Bolon Dzacab

God protector of the royal lineages and their families, he is represented with a torch or a cigar in his hand (it is not clear which was the smoking object).

This figure raises some doubts among historians as there are those who believe that he is a personification of the power of the jester god.

Kukulkan

Feathered serpent, in Mayan, divinity associated with Venus, water, wind - two characteristics that allowed him to govern his ship at sea - and wisdom.

He is credited with being part of the first attempt at creation and being responsible for the transmission of writing in the Mayan people.

His importance in the pantheon is given by being considered, along with Quetzalcóatl, the conqueror. According to belief, he came to Yucatán by sea from the west and is one of the founders of civilization.

Buluc chabtan

God of destruction and human sacrifices, he often appears in the company of Ah Puch, which represents a real danger for the Mayan faithful.

His figure appears in Mayan art as a thick black line around the eyes and under the cheek. Other paintings put it in buildings on fire.

Chac bolay

God of the underworld, is related to the Sun. In the pantheon of the Mayans it is represented as a jaguar head, Roman nose, protruding teeth with stained skin.

It is considered as the symbol of the night and the celestial vault full of stars. For the Mayan culture, the jaguar is a nocturnal and twilight feline, related to the night, the underworld and the night sun, a figure that is repeated in other deities.

Ah Muzenkab

The descending god, patron of bees and honey, Ah Muzenkab is usually represented in the form of a giant bee who rules the entire species.

His name means in Mayan "the one who protects or cares for honey" and in Mayan art I portray him with honeycombs in his hands.

Hunahpu

The twin heroes represented in a Mayan vase. Source: Mayavase

Twin brother of Ixbalanqué, son of the god Hun-Hunahpú and the young Ixquic, he is god of the Sun.

Ixbalanqu

Source: Xjunajpù

Together with his brother Kauil Hunahpú hand, they are the Twin Gods. The maiden Ixquic became pregnant by the saliva of the Jícara Tree, where the skull of Hun-Hunahpú was, which led to the conception of the siblings, despite the rejection of Ixquic's parents.

The twins were on a mission to find the Mayan ball court court that their father had built.

This upset the Lords of Xibalbá, who forced Ixbalanqué and Hunahpú to visit the Underworld, where they defeated the Ajawab of Xibalbá, avenging the death of their father.

This victory turned Hunahpú into the Sun, while Ixbalanqué was the god of the Moon.

Hun-Hunahpu

Source: Maunus

Father of the twin gods, he is the god of fertility and the ball game. His figure is a mystery, although the Mayan culture never names him as the god of corn, remains were found that identify him with this activity.

He was transformed into a Jícara Tree (pumpkins), after the noises of his ball game disturbed the Lords of Xibalbá, who took him to the underworld, tortured them and sacrificed them. His twin sons avenged his memory.

Ixquic

Source: unknown Maya artist

Goddess of virgin mothers, her story is that of karma. Daughter of one of the Lords of Xibalbá, she became pregnant with Hun-Hunahpú after visiting the Jícara Tree clandestinely, without permission from her family.

The fruits of the tree bathed her in saliva and thus she conceived the twins Hun-Hunahpú (Master Magician) and Ixbalanqué (Little Solar Sacedorte) being a virgin. Her name means "La de la Sangre".

Ixmukan

Complete the genealogical tree of the Twin Gods, mother of Hun-Hunahpú, she is the grandmother of Hun-Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué and goddess of corn.

According to Mayan belief, it was Ixmukané who prepared the white corn and yellow corn drinks, which gave rise to the Men of Corn. Her name means "Princess" and for her faithful she is Mother Earth who gives life.

In culture, it is represented as the sun and dawn, which give light to dawn on the world.

Xaman Ek

Source: Sylvanus Griswold Morley, (1883–1948)

His altars on the sides of the roads are a symbol of his importance for the Mayan merchants, who paid him tribute by filling them with incense to invoke his grace.

Xaman Ek was the god of merchants and merchants, whom he cared for and helped during his missions among the different peoples of this civilization.

According to the belief, he was guided by the Polar Star, the only one visible in Yucatan, and thus could illuminate the transit roads, but also the spiritual ones.

In Mayan art it is represented with a rounded head, similar to that of a monkey, a flat nose and almond-shaped eyes.

Ah kin

Source: unknown Maya artist

God of the Sun, one of the phenomena most revered and respected by the Mayans, but also by other pre-Columbian civilizations.

The solar star is considered as a cosmic Christ, who endows the universe with strength and energy, which is why the sun god is also a central figure in this culture.

Mayan belief says that Ah Kin roamed the underworld at night, the universe of the dead, waiting for the dawn to come and the sun to shine again. For this, they prayed at dawn and incenses were burned in his honor.

He was considered a healing god, protector against evils and other demons, which were related to darkness, and with the ability to attract wives for young people.

But the destructive power of the sun was also feared in drought and storms, so sacrifices were made so as not to alter its character.

I

Known as the goddess of the sky, Ix U is the goddess of the moon, of weaving, of childbirth, of floods and patron saint of medicine. It is related to femininity, love, tenderness and non-violence.

His cultural representation is sitting on a crescent, his mouth is outwards and he wears a hairstyle with curled hair.

Naab

Source: Mały koleżka

Serpent Goddess of the Mayan Aguadas. The serpent among the Mayans has a particular symbolism, it represents the wisdom that must be acquired through inner work.

Hura

It is another of the founding gods, in this case the seven from the second attempt. Huracán is the god of fire, wind and storms, which made him a very feared creature in the Mayan culture.

In the culture of this civilization it was represented with a human figure but with a serpent's tail and some reptilian features, bearer of a torch or some smoking object and a huge crown on its head.

His participation in creation is given through corn and it was he who sent the Great Mayan Flood, which destroyed everything that the first men built before enraging the gods.

Tepeu

One of the gods who participated in the three attempts to create the universe, which makes him a central figure in all Mayan mythology.

His name means sovereign and he is the god of the sky in the Mayan pantheon.

Alom

He is also another of the gods associated with the foundation, who participated in the last two attempts to create the universe. He is considered the god of the sky like his peers and was one of those who tried to create man out of wood.

Hey

Source: Brantz Mayer

God of the wind, it is believed to be one of the manifestations of Quetzalcōātl, the feathered serpent. For the Mayans, this divinity is present in the breath of living beings and in the breeze brought by the clouds with rain in the sown fields.

According to the culture of this civilization, Ehécatl had a vital power that could give life with his breath and even move the sun. It was represented with two masks, a snail on its chest and its places of worship are usually circular in shape to withstand strong winds.

Omet