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Cabrakan
Cabrakan (also known as Caprakan, Cabracan, and Kab'raqan) was a Maya god of earthquakes and mountains. Cabrakan is a son of Vucub-Caquix and the brother of Zipacna. He serves as a minor character in the Popol Vuh, where the Maya Hero Twins defeat him. He has been called the Maya equivalent to Tepēyōllōtl. Appearance Both Cabrakan and his brother Zipacna are typically depicted as massive crocodiles or caimans. Family Ties Cabrakan is the son of the Seven Macaw, Vucub-Caquix (father) and Chimalmat (mother). His brother is Zipacna, who is called a demon and was known for raising mountains. Cabrakan is known for being arrogant and violent, like his relatives. As Zipacna would raise mountains, which would destroy the land, Cabrakan would destroy them, and they both would revel in the destruction. Popol Vuh Appearance The Hero Twins Xbalanque and Hunahphu stumbled upon him wrecking mountains, and told him of a great mountain in the East that was so big it could n ...
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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 Kʼicheʼ language, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the Classic Mayas (200–900 AD). The twins are often portrayed as complementary forces. The complementary pairings of life and death, sky and earth, day and night, Sun and Moon, among multiple others have been used to represent the twins. The duality that occurs between male and female is often seen in twin myths, as a male and female twin are conceptualized to be born to represent the two sides of a single entity. The Twin motif recurs in many Native American mythologies; the Maya Twins, in particular, could be considered as mythical ancestors to the Maya ruling lineages. The Hero Twins in word and image After being invited to Xibalba by One-Death and Seven-Death, the L ...
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Maya Gods
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 names are mainly taken from the books of Chilam Balam, Lacandon ethnography, the Madrid Codex, the work of Diego de Landa, and the Popol Vuh. Depending on the source, most names are either Yucatec or Kʼicheʼ. The Classic Period 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 The god of wine and intoxication, identified with the drink Balché. 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-carr ...
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Vucub-Caquix
Vucub-Caquix ( quc, Wuqub’ Kaqix, , possibly meaning 'seven-Macaw') is the name of a bird demon defeated by the Hero Twins of a Kʼicheʼ-Mayan myth preserved in an 18th-century document, entitled ʼPopol Vuhʼ. The episode of the demon's defeat was already known in the Late Preclassic Period, before the year 200 AD. He was also the father of Zipacna, an underworld demon deity, and Cabrakan, the Earthquake God. The Kʼicheʼ Tale Vucub-Caquix is described as a powerful bird pretending to be the sun and moon of the twilight world in between the former creation and the present one. According to modern Kʼicheʼ, his name refers to the seven stars of the Big Dipper asterism. The false sun-moon bird was shot out of his tree with a blowgun by Hun-Ahpu, one of the Maya Hero Twins, but still managed to sever the hero's arm. Finally, however, the demon was deprived of his teeth, his eyes, his riches, and his power. Together, the Twins were to become the true sun and moon of the present ...
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Zipacna
In Maya mythology, Zipacna was a son of Vucub Caquix (Seven Macaw) and Chimalmat. He and his brother, Cabrakan (Earthquake), were often considered demons. Zipacna, like his relatives, was said to be very arrogant and violent. Zipacna was characterized as a large caiman and often boasted about creating mountains. The Four Hundred Boys The Popol Vuh tells the story that one day Zipacna was basking on the beach when he was disturbed by the Four Hundred Boys (possibly patron deities of alcohol), who were attempting to construct a hut. They had felled a large tree to use as the central supporting log, but were unable to lift it. Zipacna, being immensely strong, offered to carry the log for them, which he did. Although most translations of the Popol Vuh would seem to indicate this was done as a gesture of goodwill, it is generally agreed that Zipacna did so in a spirit of arrogance, mocking the boys for their inability to do so. The Four Hundred Boys decided it was not good that ...
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Popol Vuh
''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, as well as areas of Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. The ''Popol Vuh'' is a foundational sacred narrative of the Kʼicheʼ people from long before the Spanish conquest of the Maya. It includes the Mayan creation myth, the exploits of the Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and a chronicle of the Kʼicheʼ people. The name "Popol Vuh" translates as "Book of the Community" or "Book of Counsel" (literally "Book that pertains to the mat", since a woven mat was used as a royal throne in ancient Kʼicheʼ society and symbolised the unity of the community). It was originally preserved through oral tradition until approximately 1550, when it was recorded in writing. The documentation of the ''Popol Vuh'' is credited to the 18 ...
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Maya Civilization
The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in the Maya Region, an area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors. The Archaic period, before 2000 BC, saw the first developments in a ...
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Tepēyōllōtl
In Aztec mythology, Tepēyōllōtl (; "heart of the mountains"; also Tepeyollotli) was the god of darkened caves, earthquakes, echoes and jaguars. He is the god of the Eighth Hour of the Night, and is depicted as a jaguar leaping towards the sun. In the calendar, Tepeyollotl rules over both the third day, Calli (house), and the third trecena, 1-Mazatl (deer). The word is derived as a compound of the Nahuatl words ' ("mountain"), and ' ("heart" or "interior"). Tepeyollotl is usually depicted as cross-eyed holding the typical white staff with green feathers. Sometimes Tezcatlipoca Tezcatlipoca (; nci, Tēzcatl ihpōca ) was a central deity in Aztec religion, and his main festival was the Toxcatl ceremony celebrated in the month of May. One of the four sons of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the God of providence, he is a ... wore Tepeyollotl for an animal skin or disguise to trick other gods into not knowing who he was. References Aztec gods Nature gods Mythological f ...
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Chimalmat
Maya or Mayan mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Maya tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles. The myths of the era have to be reconstructed from iconography. Other parts of Mayan oral tradition (such as animal tales, folk tales, and many moralising stories) are not considered here. Important Early-Colonial and Recent narrative 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 humankind 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 colors of the maize; diseases and their curative herbs; agricultural instruments; the steam bath, etc. The following more encompassing themes ...
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Geophagia
Geophagia (), also known as geophagy (), is the intentional practice of eating earth or soil-like substances such as clay, chalk, or termite mounds. It is a behavioural adaptation that occurs in many non-human animals and has been documented in more than 100 primate species. Geophagy in non-human primates is primarily used for protection from parasites, minerals supplements and helps metabolize toxic compounds from leaves. Geophagy also occurs in humans and is most commonly reported among children and pregnant women. Human geophagia is a form of pica – the craving and purposive consumption of non-food items – and is classified as an eating disorder in the '' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM) if not socially or culturally appropriate. Sometimes geophagy is a consequence of carrying a hookworm infection. Although its etiology remains unknown, geophagy has many potential adaptive health benefits as well as negative consequences. Animals Geophagi ...
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