User:Bryan A Morgan/sandbox

Hey, erm..Maya mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles. Other parts of Maya oral tradition (such as animal tales and many moralising stories) do not properly belong to the domain of mythology, but rather to legend and folk tale.

Page 9 of the Dresden Codex (from the 1880 Förstemann edition)

Sources

Representations of Maya mythology can be found throughout the Maya world. From the Maya codices to pottery, from murals and stone carvings to the regalia of the social elites, it is apparent that the mythological world was a part of everyday life for the Maya people and was certainly represented in nearly every form of artwork produced by the Maya.

The oldest written myths date from the 16th century and are found in historical sources from the Guatemalan Highlands. The most important of these documents is the Popol Vuh or 'Book of the Council', which contains Quichean creation stories and some of the adventures of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

Yucatán is an equally important region. The Books of Chilam Balam contain mythological passages of great antiquity, and mythological fragments are found scattered among the early-colonial Spanish chronicles and reports, chief among them Diego de Landa's Relación, and in the dictionaries compiled by the early missionaries.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, anthropologists and local folklorists have committed many stories to paper. Even though most Maya tales are the results of an historical process in which Spanish narrative traditions interacted with native ones, some of the tales reach back well into pre-Spanish times. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the transmission of traditional tales has entered its final stage. Fortunately, however, this is also a time in which the Mayas themselves have begun to salvage and publish the precious tales of their parents and grandparents.

Important mythical themes

In Maya narrative, the origin of many natural and cultural phenomena is set out, often with the moral aim of defining the ritual relationship between mankind and its environment. In such a way, one finds explanations about the origin of the heavenly bodies (Sun and Moon, but also Venus, the Pleiades, the Milky Way); the mountain landscape; clouds, rain, thunder and lightning; wild and tame animals; the colours of the maize; diseases and their curative herbs; agricultural instruments; the steam bath, etc. The following more encompassing themes can be discerned.

The oldest written account of Popol Vuh (ms c.1701 by Francisco Ximénez, O.P.)

Creation mythology and the flood

According to Jeffrey Chouinard in his book Mouths of Stone, “The events of creation were celebrated, revered, imitated, and endlessly retold.” There is a considerable amount of crossover between the creation mythology and representations of the everyday life of the Maya. Most anthropologists agree that the majority of the depictions of Maya mythology were either produced by or commissioned by the elite class of the Maya culture. However, these depictions were likely designed for display to the masses as a form of both asserting political authority as well as maintaining a cohesive group identity.

The creation story of the Maya can trace its origins far beyond the Maya themselves and shares aspects with most Mesoamerican cultures as well as some native cultures in North America (primarily those of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic background). Anthropologists have attributed this, at least in part, to certain basic human archetypes and life experiences. Similarities may also manifest due to common aspects found within the lifestyles of these groups. Due to the nature of ancient stories it is important to note that there is considerable variation in the way the stories have been told from one Maya group to the next, but the striking similarities in the basic thematic elements show a continuity throughout the Maya region and, in fact, to some degree throughout the whole of Mesoamerica.

Yucatan creation imagery contains similarities to both the Quiché Popol Vuh and, to a lesser extent, the Aztec creation mythology. Much like the Popol Vuh, the Yucatec creation mythology holds that before the current creation cycle the Gods destroyed the previous earth and its inhabitants. Though the descriptions vary greatly from the Popol Vuh to the mythology of the Yucatec, the similarities stand as testament to the importance of these stories which held the Maya together so that they are recognizable as a single culture rather than multiple divergent cultures.

Another shared aspect of the creation narrative that is absolutely fundamental to understanding the Maya and their beliefs is that of the reason that the Gods created man. According to the Maya tradition, man was created to nourish the Gods through prayer and adoration, as well as through sacrifice. This indicates that man’s purpose for existence was to appease the Gods and in doing so were given the ability to feel joy, happiness and fulfillment. This ideology is one that permeated the everyday life of the Maya and the constant obligation to fulfill their purpose in the universe was a powerful force by which power relations could be maintained.

Creation and end of the world

The Popol Vuh describes the creation of the earth by the wind of the sea and sky, as well as its sequel. The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel relates the collapse of the sky and the deluge, followed by the raising of the sky and the erection of the five World Trees. The Lacandons also knew the tale of the creation of the Underworld.

Creation of mankind

The Popol Vuh gives a sequence of four efforts at creation: First were animals, then wet clay, wood, then last, the creation of the first ancestors from maize dough. To this, the Lacandons add the creation of the main kin groupings and their 'totemic' animals. The creation of humankind is concluded by the Mesoamerican tale of the opening of the Maize (or Sustenance) Mountain by the Lightning deities.

Actions of the heroes: Arranging the world

The best-known hero myth is about the defeat of a bird demon and of the deities of disease and death by the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Of equal importance is the parallel narrative of a maize hero defeating the deities of Thunder and Lightning and establishing a pact with them. Although its present spread is confined to the Gulf Coast areas, various data suggest that this myth was once a part of Mayan oral tradition as well. Important mythological fragments about the heroic reduction of the jaguars have been preserved by the Tzotziles.

Marriage with the Earth

This mythical type defines the relation between mankind and the game and crops. An ancestral hero - Xbalanque in a Kekchi tradition - woos the daughter of an Earth God; the hero's wife is finally transformed into game, bees, snakes and insects, or the maize. If the hero gets the upper hand, he becomes the Sun, his wife the Moon. A moralistic Tzotzil version has a man rewarded with a daughter of the Rain Deity, only to get divorced and lose her again.

Origin of Sun and Moon

The origin of Sun and Moon is not always the outcome of a Marriage with the Earth. From Chiapas and the western Guatemalan Highlands comes the tale of Younger Brother and his jealous Elder Brethren: Youngest One becomes the Sun, his mother becomes the Moon, and the Elder Brethren are transformed into wild pigs and other forest animals. In a comparable way, the Elder Brethren of the Popol Vuh Twin myth are transformed into monkeys, with their younger brothers becoming Sun and Moon.

Lintel 25 at Yaxchilan, now in the British Museum.

The role of mythology in legitimization of the ruling class

When it comes to depictions of Maya mythologies it is difficult to separate purely fictional tales from those that have been intertwined with historical events. This is not likely an accident; on the contrary, it is more likely by design. Since the beginning of Maya culture rulers sought ways to legitimize their reign based on lineage, especially when it could tie them to the Maya mythos. This form of mythological re-appropriation can also be seen in depictions of rulers as deities themselves or as participants in mythological scenes, etc.

Itzamna, Classic period

Mythological reapropriation

Lintel 25 at Yaxchilan is a very good example of the ruling class using mythology as a way to legitimize their own power. This lintel depicts the founder of the Yaxchilan dynasty appearing from the mouth of a monster serpent which, according to Jeffrey Chouinard, is symbolic of the first God’s birth “out of the primordial earth”. This essentially deifies the founder of the Yaxchilan and perhaps by proxy his successor, whom in the case of Yaxchilan lintel 25 would have been Shield Jaguar who ascended to the throne on roughly October 3, 681. Imagery from the Popol Vuh, as well as other Maya myths, sets a precedent for this type of transference of power through bloodlines.

Stone version of the Maya calendar at the Smithsonian. image provided by Matthew Bisanz @ en:User:MBisanz

The calendar

The Maya calendar follows the basic principles of Maya belief in a cyclical existence for all things including time and space, life and death, and all creation and destruction. This cyclical reality is referenced throughout Maya mythology and holds an important clue as to how and why the Maya developed such a complex and accurate calendrical system. Maya mythology often credits the deity Itzamna as the source of knowledge for the Maya calendar system.

Though it is likely that being able to accurately record and prepare for past and future seasons proved an invaluable asset to the sedentary, agricultural lifestyle practiced by the Maya, it is suggested by anthropologist Karl Taube, Chouinard, and others that the calendar’s primary purpose was not the success of agriculture but rather a complex record keeping system for the use of recording and planning religious ceremonies as well as births and coronations. This elaborate system of record keeping allowed the Maya rulers to trace their lineages back to help legitimize their reign as part of a great dynasty. Without an accurate means of recording and following a specific timeline it would not have been possible to know when to conduct ceremonies that related to specific periods of time, such as Wayeb', the five unlucky days at the end of the Haab calendar.

There are actually multiple calendars used by the Maya, most notably the 260-day calendar known as the Tzolk'in and the 365-day solar calendar known as the Haab. Many of the glyphs used in the calendars represent deities or important spirit animals. In particular all of the months in the Haab have a patron deity which is often found in conjunction with the month name glyph. In some cases where the month name has been lost, the patron deity glyphs have been used as a form of identification allowing archaeologists to discern the name of the month via the name of the deity. In some rare cases entire calendar dates found on stela as well as codices are encoded into complex vignettes which depict deities.

Reconstructing Pre-Spanish mythology

The three surviving Mayan books are mainly of a ritual and also (in the case of the Paris codex) historical nature, and contain but few mythical scenes. Although a sort of 'strip books' may once have existed, it is very much to be doubted that mythical narratives were ever completely rendered hieroglyphically. As a consequence, depictions on temple walls and movable objects (especially the so-called 'ceramic codex') are used to aid reconstruction of pre-Spanish Mayan mythology.

A main problem with depictions is to define what constitutes a mythological scene, for any given scene might in principle also represent a moment in a ritual sequence, a visual metaphor stemming from oral literature, a scene from mundane life, or a historical event. At this stage of our understanding, it is, in any case, clear that the Twin myth - albeit it in a version which considerably diverged from the Popol Vuh - already circulated in the Classic Period. In some cases, ancient Mayan myths may only have been preserved by neighbouring peoples; the narrative of the principal Maya maize god, and, to a lesser extent, that of the Bacabs are cases in point. As the process of hieroglyphical decipherment proceeds, the short explanatory captions often included within the scenes will hopefully be restored to their original eloquence, and make ancient narrative come to life more fully.

Bibliography

Bierhorst,John, The Mythology of Mexico and Central America. Oxford U.P. 2002.

Bierhorst, John (ed.), The Monkey's Haircut and Other Stories Told by the Maya. New York: William Morrow 1986.

Boremanse, Didier, Contes et mythologie des indiens lacandons. Paris: L'Harmattan. 1986. (Also in Spanish: Cuentos y mitología de los lacandones. Tradición oral maya. Editorial: Academia de Geografia e Historia de Guatemala.)

Chouinard, Jeffrey (1995). Mouths of Stone. Durnham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press. ISBN 0-89089-565-1.

Danien, Elin C., Maya Folktales from the Alta Verapaz. University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia 2004.

Gossen, Gary, Chamulas in the World of the Sun.

Guiteras Holmes, Calixta, Perils of the Soul. The World View of a Tzotzil Indian. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe. 1961.

Laughlin, Robert, Of Cabbages and Kings.

Martin, Simon (2000). Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London and New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05103-8. OCLC 47358325. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Miller, Mary (2004). Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05129-1. OCLC 54799516. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Miller, Mary (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Nicholson, Irene, Mexican and Central American Mythology. London: Paul Hamlyn. 1967.

Read, Kay Almere, & Jason J. Gonzalez, Mesoamerican Mythology. A guide to the gods, heroes, rituals, and beliefs of Mexico and Central America. Oxford 2002.

Roys, Ralph L., The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1967.

Taube, Karl, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan. Dumbarton Oaks 1992.

Taube, Karl, Aztec and Maya Myths. British Museum 1993.

Tedlock, Dennis, Popol Vuh. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Thompson, J. Eric S. (1970). Maya History and Religion. Civilization of the American Indian Series, No. 99. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-0884-3. OCLC 177832. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links

• Maya mythology and Maya calendar by Dr. Renato Villalobos, 2011
• Public domain translations of some important Maya texts, including Popol Vuh, Chilam-Balam.
• Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts, by Paul Schellhas, 1904, from Project Gutenberg