This is a list of deities playing a role in the Classic (200–1000 CE), Post-Classic (1000–1539 CE) and Contact Period (1511–1697) of
Maya religion
The traditional Maya or Mayan religion of the extant Maya peoples of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and the Tabasco, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán states of Mexico is part of the wider frame of Mesoamerican religion. As is ...
. The names are mainly taken from the books of Chilam Balam,
Lacandon ethnography, the
Madrid Codex, the work of
Diego de Landa
Diego de Landa Calderón, O.F.M. (12 November 1524 – 29 April 1579) was a Spanish Franciscan bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yucatán. Many historians criticize his campaign against idolatry. In particular, he burned almost a ...
, and the
Popol Vuh. Depending on the source, most names are either
Yucatec
Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...
or
Kʼicheʼ. The
Classic Period
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – ...
names (belonging to the
Classic Maya language) are only rarely known with certainty.
Maya mythological beings
List Source Key
*CHB – Books of Chilam Balam
*LAC – Lacandon ethnography
*L – de Landa
*M — Madrid Codex
*PV – the Popol Vuh.
A
Acan Acan or ACAN may refer to:
* Acan (god), a Maya deity
* Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names
* ACAN (gene), a gene coding for the aggrecan protein
* ACAN-EFE
Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major multimedia n ...
The god of wine and intoxication, identified with the drink
Balché
''Balché'' is a mildly intoxicating beverage that was commonly consumed by the ancient Maya in what is now Mexico and upper Central America. Today, it is still common among the Yucatec Maya. The drink is made from the bark of a leguminous tree, ...
.
Acat
A god of tattoos and tattooing.
Alom
The god of the sky and wood, a creator deity.
Ah-Muzen-Cab
God of bees and honey.
Awilix
The goddess of the moon, queen of the night.
B
Bacab
The old god of the interior of the earth and of thunder, sky-carrier, fourfold.
Baalham
The jaguar god of the underworld. Also any of a group of jaguar gods who protected people and communities.
Bitol pv*
A sky god. One of the creator and destroyer deities who participated in the last two attempts at creating humanity.
Bolon Tzʼakab (Dzacab) *L* god_K_.html" ;"title="god_K.html" ;"title="god K">god K ">god_K.html" ;"title="god K">god K /h2>
''Ah Bolon Dzacab'' "Innumerable Generations", the lightning god, patron of the harvest and the seeds.
Bolontiku *CHB*
A group of nine underworld gods.
Bolon Yokteʼ
"Nine Strides", mentioned in the Books of Chilam Balam and in Classic inscriptions; functions unknown.
Buluc Chabtan (Deity), Buluc Chabtan [ god F ]
The god of war, violence, sacrifice and gambling.
C
Cabrakan
A god of mountains and earthquakes. He was a son of Vucub Caquix and Chimalmat.
Cacoch *LAC*
A creator
Camazotz
In the Late Post-Classic Maya mythology of the Popol Vuh, Camazotz ( from Mayan ) (alternate spellings Cama-Zotz, Sotz, Zotz) is a bat spirit at the service of the lords of the underworld. Camazotz means "death bat" in the Kʼicheʼ language. In ...
*PV*
A bat and death god.
Can Tzicnal
Can may refer to:
Containers
* Aluminum can
* Drink can
* Oil can
* Steel and tin cans
* Trash can
* Petrol can
* Metal can (disambiguation)
Music
* Can (band), West Germany, 1968
** ''Can'' (album), 1979
* Can (South Korean band)
Other
* C ...
*L*
The Bacab of the north, associated with the color white, and the Muluc years. Son of
Itzamna and
Ixchel.
Chaac
Chaac (also spelled Chac or, in Classic Mayan, Chaahk ) is the name of the Maya god of rain, thunder, and lighting. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds, causing them to produce thunder and rain. Chaac corresponds to Tlaloc among ...
*L*
The god of rain, thunder, and lightning, wields an axe of lightning, brother to Kinich Ahau.
Chaac Uayab Xoc
Chaac (also spelled Chac or, in Classic Mayan, Chaahk ) is the name of the Maya god of rain, thunder, and lighting. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds, causing them to produce thunder and rain. Chaac corresponds to Tlaloc among ...
*L*
A fish god and the patron deity of
fishermen
A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...
.
Chiccan
A group of four Chorti rain gods who live in lakes and make rain clouds from the water in them. As with the Bacabs, each of the rain gods was associated with a
cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are ...
. Chiccan was also the name of a day in the Tzolkin cycle of the calendar.
Cit-Bolon-Tum
A god of medicine and healing
Chimalmat
A giant who was, by Vucub Caquix, the mother of Cabrakan and Zipacna.
Chin
The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible ( mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm.
Evolution
The presence of a well-developed chin is considered to be one ...
The main god of homosexual relationships.
Cizin
A god of earthquakes and death who lived in
Metnal. He is often depicted as a dancing human skeleton smoking a cigarette.
Colel Cab
Goddess of the bees.
Colop U Uichkin *RITUAL OF THE BACABS*
An eclipse deity.
Coyopa
The god of thunder. Brother of Cakulha.
E
Ek Chuaj *M* (God M)
Ek Chuaj, the "black war chief" was the patron god of
warrior
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have be ...
s and
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
s. He was depicted carrying a bag over his shoulder. In art, he was a dark-skinned man with circles around his eyes, a scorpion tail and dangling lower lip.
G
GI, GII, GIII
The three patron deities of the
Palenque kingdom, made up of a sea deity with a shell ear, GII a baby lightning god (
god K), and GIII the
jaguar god of fire, also patron of the number seven.
Gukumatz > Qʼuqʼumatz *PV*
A feathered snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Gukumatz of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is closely related to the god
Kukulkan
K’uk’ulkan, also spelled Kukulkan, ( "''Plumed Serpent''", "''Amazing Serpent''") is the name of a Mesoamerican serpent deity that was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula before the Spanish conquest of Yucat ...
of
Yucatán
Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate mun ...
and to
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nah ...
of the Aztec. God of the seas, oceans, wind, and storms.
H
Hachäkʼyum *LAC*
Patron deity of the
Lacandon.
Hobnil *L*
Bacab of the east.
Hozanek *L*
Bacab of the south.
Hum Hau
A god of death and the underworld.
Hun-Batz *PV*
"One Howler Monkey", one of two stepbrothers of the
Hero Twins, one of the
Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.
Hun-Came *PV*
"One-Death", a lord of the underworld (Xibalba) who, along with Vucub-Came "Seven-Death", killed Hun Hunahpu. They were defeated by the latter's sons the Hero Twins.
Hun-Chowen *PV*
One of the two stepbrothers of the
Hero Twins, one of the
Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.
Hun-Hunahpu *PV*
The father of the Maya Hero Twins Ixbalanque and Hun-Ahpu by a virgin. Beheaded in Xibalba, the underworld, by the rulers of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vucub Came.
Hunab Ku Hunab Ku () is a colonial period Yucatec Maya ''reducido'' term meaning "The One God". It is used in colonial, and more particularly in doctrinal texts, to refer to the Christian God. Since the word is found frequently in the Chilam Balam o ...
"Sole God", identical with Itzamna as the highest Yucatec god; or a more abstract upper god. *Current research now indicates this 'Maya' symbol is not of Maya origin and rather an invention by a Catholic missionary to more easily introduce one-god concept into the Maya culture.
Hun-Ahpu
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Kʼicheʼ document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the Kʼic ...
*PV*
One of the
Maya Hero Twins
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Kʼicheʼ document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the Kʼi ...
.
Hunahpu-Gutch *PV*
One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity.
Hunahpu Utiu *PV*
One of the thirteen creator gods who helped to create humanity.
Hun-Ixim
"One-Maize", a reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period
Tonsured Maize God
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century Popol Vuh, the Hero ...
Hun-nal-ye
A now-obsolete reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period
Tonsured Maize God
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century Popol Vuh, the Hero ...
Hunraqan *PV*
"One-Leg", one of three lightning gods together called "Heart of the Sky", and acting as world creators. God of the
weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
,
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...
,
storms, and
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames ...
.
I
;
Itzamna
:The founder of maize and
cacao, as well as writing, calendars, and medicine. Once mentioned as the father of the Bacabs.
;
Itzananohkʼu
:A patron god of the Lacandon people.
;
Ixbalanque > Xbalanque
;
Ixchel *L*
oddess O:Jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine.
;
Ixmucane *PV*
:One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity, grandmother of the Hero Twins.
;
Ixpiyacoc *PV*
:A creator god who helped create humanity.
;
Ixtab *L*
:Goddess of suicide, represented with a rope around her neck.
J
Jacawitz *PV*
mountain god of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ Maya
K
Kʼawiil
Kʼawiil, in the Post-Classic codices corresponding to God K, is a Maya deity identified with lightning, serpents, fertility and maize. He is characterized by a zoomorphic head, with large eyes, long, upturned snout and attenuated serpent foot. A ...
(Kawil, Kauil)
Assumed to have been the Classic name of God K (Bolon Dzacab). Title attested for Itzamna, Uaxac Yol, and Amaite Ku; family name; probably not meaning "food", but "powerful".
K'inich Ahau
The solar deity.
Kisin (Cisin)
The most commonly depicted god of death.
Kukulkan
K’uk’ulkan, also spelled Kukulkan, ( "''Plumed Serpent''", "''Amazing Serpent''") is the name of a Mesoamerican serpent deity that was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula before the Spanish conquest of Yucat ...
"Feathered Serpent". Although heavily Mexicanised, Kukulkan has his origins among the Maya of the Classic Period, when he was known as Waxaklahun Ubah Kan (/waʃaklaˈχuːn uːˈɓaχ kän/), the War Serpent, and he has been identified as the Postclassic version of the Vision Serpent of Classic Maya art.
M
Mam
Mam or MAM may refer to:
Places
* An Mám or Maum, a settlement in Ireland
* General Servando Canales International Airport in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (IATA Code: MAM)
* Isle of Mam, a phantom island
* Mam Tor, a hill near Castleton in th ...
A title of respect meaning "Grandfather" and applied to a number of different Maya deities including earth spirits, mountain spirits, and the four Bacabs.
Maximon
A god of travelers, merchants, medicine men/women, mischief and fertility, later conflated with
Saint Simon and in modern times part of the celebrations surrounding
Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
.
N
Nakon
The god of
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
.
A Powerful god, claimed to be stronger than all the other gods of war in every other religion.
Nohochacyum
A creator-destroyer deity, the brother of the death god Kisin (or possibly another earthquake god also known as Kisin). He is the sworn enemy of the world serpent
Hapikern and it is said that, in the end of days, he will destroy Hapikern by wrapping him around himself to smother him. In some versions, this will destroy life on Earth. He is related, in some stories, to Usukan, Uyitzin, Yantho and Hapikern, all of whom wish ill to human beings. Brother of Xamaniqinqu, the patron god of travelers and merchants.
Q
Qaholom *PV*
One of the second set of creator gods.
Qʼuqʼumatz *PV*
Feathered Snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Qʼuqʼumatz of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is closely related to the god
Kukulkan
K’uk’ulkan, also spelled Kukulkan, ( "''Plumed Serpent''", "''Amazing Serpent''") is the name of a Mesoamerican serpent deity that was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula before the Spanish conquest of Yucat ...
of
Yucatán
Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate mun ...
and to
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nah ...
of the Aztecs.
S
Sip
A hunting god of the Yucatec Maya arguably corresponding, in the Classic period, to an elderly human with deer ears and antlers.
T
Tepeu Tepeu is a word of the K'iche' Maya language meaning "sovereign" (also "one who conquers" or "one who is victorious"). The title is associated with the god Q'uq'umatz of the K'iche'-Maya, one of the creation gods of the Popol Vuh; his whole name ...
*PV*
A sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity.
Tohil *PV*
A patron god of the Kʼicheʼ, to whom a great temple was erected at the Kʼicheʼ capital
Qʼumarkaj.
Tunkuruchu *PV*
An ancient owl, one who foretells death. At a party held by all birds, he was humiliated by some humans, and as revenge, he would visit them announcing their deaths.
V
Vatanchu
"Straight God", a mountain god of the Postclassic
Manche Chʼol.
Votan
Legendary ancestral deity, Chiapas.
Vucub-Caquix *PV*
A bird being, whose wife is Chimalmat and whose sons are the demonic giants Cabrakan and Zipacna.
X
Xaman Ek
The god of travelers and merchants, who gave offerings to him on the side of
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types o ...
s while traveling.
Xbalanque
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Kʼicheʼ document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the Kʼi ...
*PV*
od CH/h2>
One of the
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
or War Twins and companion to Hunahpu.
Xcarruchan
A mountain god of the Postclassic Manche Chʼol.
Xmucane and Xpiayoc *PV*
A creator god couple which helped create the first humans. They are also the parents of Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. They were called Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light and Bearer twice over, begetter twice over and given the titles midwife and matchmaker.
Xquic
She was the daughter of Cuchumaquic, one of the lords of the underworld,
Xibalba. She is noted for being the mother of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque and is sometimes considered to be the Maya goddess associated with the waning moon.
Y
Yaluk
One of four Mopan "Grandfathers" of the earth and chief lightning god.
Yopaat
An important rain god at Copán and Quiriguá in the southern Maya area.
[Gutiérrez González 2012, p. 1061.]
Yum Cimil
God of death, disease, and the underworld.
Yum Kaax
God of the woods, of wild nature, and of the hunt; invoked before carving out a maize field from the wilderness.
Z
Zac Cimi *L*
The
Bacab of the west.
Zipacna *PV*
A demonic personification of the earth crust.
See also
*
Maya death gods
Notes
References
*
* Knowlton, Timothy W., ''Maya Creation Myths: Words and Worlds of the Chilam Balam''. University Press of Colorado, Boulder 2010.
* Taube, Karl, ''The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatán''. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington 1992.
* Mark, Joshua (2012)
"The Mayan Pantheon: The Many Gods of the Maya" ''worldhistory.org''.
*
* Thompson, J. Eric S. ''Maya History and Religion''. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1970.
*
*
{{List of mythological figures by region
*
Maya gods
Maya goddesses
Mesoamerican deities
Maya gods and supernatural beings
Maya gods and supernatural beings