Cabrakan (also known as Caprakan, Cabracan, and Kab'raqan) was a Maya god of earthquakes and mountains. Cabrakan is a son of

Vucub-Caquix Vucub-Caquix (, , possibly meaning 'seven-Macaw') is the name of a bird demon defeated by the Hero Twins of an ancient Maya myth preserved in an 18th-century K'iche' document, entitled ʼPopol Vuhʼ. The episode of the demon's defeat was already ...

and the brother of

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 cha ...

. He serves as a minor character in the

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people of Guatemala, one of the Maya peoples who also inhabit the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, ...

, where 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 Kʼ ...

defeat him. He has been called the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

equivalent to

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 S ...

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,

(father) and Chimalmat (mother). His brother is

, 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 not be felled. Cabrakan took the bait, and boasted that no mountain could stand before him. The Hero Twins both sat on each of his shoulders, and shot birds with their blowguns on the way. Upon killing one, they coated the bird with magic earth, and cooked the bird underground. Cabrakan, arrogant and ravenous with hunger, ate it. After eating the bird, he became weaker, until they arrived at the mountain. In his weakened state, he attempted to destroy the mountain to no avail. Cabrakan collapsed, and the Hero Twins threw earth down upon him and buried him, ending his destruction.

Geophagy

The practice of

geophagy Geophagia (), also known as geophagy (), is the intentional practice of consuming 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 i ...

, or the process of eating earth, is an interesting topic of discussion for Cabrakan's ultimate defeat. It is the practice of geophagy, combined with the fact that the earth itself was magic, which defeats Cabrakan, a god of earthquakes. Using earth to weaken and destroy an earthquake god certainly possesses qualities of mysticism and irony that was certainly not lost on the ancient Maya.

References

Maya gods Earthquake myths Characters from the Popol Vuh {{Myth-stub