Mam 'grandfather' or 'grandson', is a pan-Maya kinship term as well as a term of respect referring to ancestors and deities. In Classic period inscriptions, the word ''mam'' appears to be used mainly to introduce the name of a grandfather, grandson, or ancestor, often a king. Ethnographically, ''Mam'' refers to several aged Maya deities:
*(i) In Kekchi-speaking Belize, 'Mam' is a general designation for the mountain spirits; four Mams were specifically associated with the four corners of the earth (see
Bacab).
[Thompson, Maya History and Religion 1970.]
* (ii) In the Kekchi-speaking Alta Verapaz of Guatemala, one of the Mams is a greatly feared mountain spirit associated with earthquakes and inundations. An image of this Mam was apparently buried during the Holy Week.
*(iii) Among the Huaxtec Mayas (
Huastec people
The Huastec or Téenek (contraction of ''Te' Inik'', "people from here"; also known as Huaxtec, Wastek or Huastecos) are an Indigenous people of Mexico, living in the La Huasteca region including the Mexican state, states of Hidalgo (Mexico), Hid ...
), the Mams or Mamlabs are earth deities; there are three or four of them, the most important one (Muxiʼ) being the violent originator of the rainy season.
*(iv) Among the Tzutujil Mayas of Santiago Atitlán, the Mam
Maximón
Maximón (), is a Maya deity and folk saint, represented in various forms by the Maya peoples of several towns in the Guatemalan Highlands. Oral tradition of his creation and purpose in these communities is complex, diverse, and born of the anci ...
is a deity of merchants and travellers and of witchcraft. Assimilated to Judas, he is especially venerated during the last days of the Holy Week, and discarded afterwards.
*(v) In 16th-century Yucatán, 'Mam' was also the designation of a straw puppet set up and venerated during the five unlucky days (
Uayeb) at the end of the year (Cogolludo), when witchcraft was thought to be prevalent; at the conclusion of this period, the straw figure was discarded.
The Mayanist J.E.S. Thompson referred to Mam (ii) as the evil Mam, an unfelicitous term redolent of Judaeo-Christian dichotomies. Thompson further believed the Mams (ii), (iv) and (v) to represent the same deity.
[Thompson 1970: 297-300]
The Mams are likely to have had their counterparts within the small Classic Maya group of aged deities consisting of God D (
Itzamna
Itzamná () is, in Maya mythology, an upper god and creator deity thought to reside in the sky. Itzamná is one of the most important gods in the Classic and Postclassic Maya pantheon. Although little is known about him, scattered references a ...
), the various representatives of God N (
Bacab), and
God L. A corresponding concept in Aztec religion would be
Huehueteotl ('old god', 'ancient god').
References
{{Maya
Maya deities
Maya mythology and religion