ALPHABET-GODS: In the early days of archeological exploration, when glyphs and codices were still a complete mystery, no-one had a clue what the God’s names were. So for administration purposes, they were identified by letters of the alphabet.

“This is a picture of God A, and underneath is God B. Please insert God C into Slot D and connect to God E using the tool provided.”

This Godly A-¬to-Z was first compiled by Paul Schellhas in 1904, with various revisions appearing over the years. As more information came to light, Godologists were gradually able to work out the names of each God. But the A-to-Z system is still in use today so we’ve incorporated it thus: Read the rest of this entry »

In Maya mythology, Camazotz was a bat god. Camazotz - Mythology.

In the Popol Vuh the common noun refers to bat-like monsters encountered by the Maya Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque during their trials in the underworld of Xibalba.

Forced to spend the night in Bat House, the boys are able to keep the creatures at bay until Hunahpu loses his head while trying to watch for the coming of dawn. Read the rest of this entry »

Several gods who played significant roles in the Postclassic codices can be identified on earlier Maya monuments. The most important of these is Itzamnб, the supreme Maya deity, who functioned as the original creator god, as well as lord of the fire and therefore of the hearth. In his serpent form he appears on the ceremonial bar held in the arms of Maya rulers on Classic stelae.

“A”: Lord of Death, and ruler of the realm of the dead. His dwelling place is in the uttermost West, a land of the bones of His subjects. His attributes are a skull and an obsidian knife.

Acan: He is the Patron of drunkeness and ruler of the the art of brewing Balche, a fermented honey concoction flavored with Balche bark.

Aca: one of those referred to as a Becab, possibly the Becab of the East. He has several diverse functions, among which He is Lord of the art of Tattooing. He is regarded as a Life Spirit, and has charge over the growth and proper development of fetuses. Read the rest of this entry »

Name and Etymology:

Itzamna, “Lizard House”
In Mayan, “itz” can mean “dew” or “nectar”
Name often preceded by “ahaulil,” or “lord”

Religion and Culture of Itzamna:

Maya, Mesoamerica

Symbols, Iconography, and Art of Itzamna:

Images of Itzamna often contain snakes or mussels and he himself is depicted as an old man with a flower headdress. Sometimes he is shown as a giant bird. Read the rest of this entry »

Ek Chuah is the sixth most commonly depicted deity in the codices, and is portrayed 40 times. He has a thick, pendulous lower lip and is generally painted in black, in the Tro-Cortesian codex, or partially black, in the Dresden codex. In the former, his mouth is always surrounded by a dull red circle which makes his thick lips stand out.

The hieroglyph of his name is an eye with a black ring. He was beneficial god for traveling merchants. As a beneficent god, he appears carrying a bundle of goods on his back, like a traveling merchant, and in some places he is shown with the head of Xamán Ek, god of the North Star, who, as we will see, is said to have been “The Merchants’ Guide”.

Finally, Ek Chuah was the patron of cacao, and the owners of plantations of this crop conducted a ceremony in his honor in the month of Muán. Read the rest of this entry »

Mayan Goddess of the Moon

As an ancient fertility goddess, Ix-Chel was responsible for sending rain to nourish the crops. When fulfilling that function she was called “Lady Rainbow”. She helped insure fertility by overturning her sacred womb jar so that the waters would flow.

Though sometimes depicted as a goddess of catastrophe (the woman who stands by as the world floods), many of her myths show her in a more benevolent light—as a goddess who refused to become a victim of oppression.

This was a woman who, when faced with adversity, took charge of her life and turned it around! Read the rest of this entry »

Kinich Ahau (K’inich Ahaw) ‘Sun-eyed Lord’ is the 16th-century Yucatec name of the Maya sun god, designated as god G in the Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube classification. The element k’inich, usually assumed to mean ’sun-eyed’, appears to have been in general use as a royal title during the Classic Period.

In the Classic period, god G is depicted as a middle-aged man with an aquiline nose, large square eyes, cross-eyed, and a filed incisor in the upper row of teeth. Usually, there is a k’in ’sun’-infix, sometimes in the very eyes. Among the southern Lacandons, Kinich Ahau continued to play a role in narrative well into the second half of the twentieth century. Read the rest of this entry »

OVERVIEW

The Mayan Death God, Ah Puch possessed the body of mortal Daniel Gleason and menaced the Phantom Stranger.

HISTORY

Ah Puch was the Mayan god of death and ruler of Mitnal, the most abysmal of the nine Mayan hells. He thrived on human sacrifice, and was especially revered in the city of Chichen Itza, where people were thrown into the Cenote, a sacred well, as sacrifices for Ah Puch to feast upon.

With the advent of Christianity, worship of Ah Puch died out. This rendered Ah Puch so weak that he turned into a discorporeal spirit and was forced into dormancy. Read the rest of this entry »

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 Aztec 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. Read the rest of this entry »

South of the border down Mexico way, reaching down as far as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. This amazing civilization started with the Zapotecs and included the Olmecs and Mixtecs before ending with the Toltecs.

Their city, Teotihuacan, preceded Mayan culture and is full of mysteries from an earlier civilisation. It seems to have suffered fire at some point, but parts of it were in use up to Aztec times. With its pyramid of the sun built over a chambered cave, this may even have been PACARI, ‘The Place Of Emergence’, where the Incan Gods hid during a terrible disaster.

Teotihuacan was the size of Rome, and the Maya could have achieved Roman Empire status if it hadn’t been for their aversion to getting their feathered costumes ruined by salt water. Plus all that messing about with sails and rigging just to end up somewhere with lousy cold weather. Read the rest of this entry »