Mayan Gods

God of the woods, of wild nature, and of the hunt; invoked before carving out a maize field from the wilderness. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wikipedia list article. Maize god and Itzamna. Alphabetical name listing. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. Retrieved 9 May Lists of mythological figures.

Portal Category. Categories : Maya mythology and religion Maya gods Maya goddesses Mesoamerican deities Lists of deities Mythology-related lists.

Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata CS1 Spanish-language sources es CS1: long volume value.

According to the mythological saga, the lords of the underworld send the Twins to the House of Bats. The Twins shrink themselves and hide in their own blowguns.

When one of them looks out, Camazotz cuts his head and takes it to the underworld lords. Mayan god Chin was associated with homosexual relationships.

According to the Spanish monks who accompanied the conquistadors, it was customary among the Mayans to allow sexual relationships between young men and young boys.

Such relationships were encouraged by the fathers who saw this as a fulfillment of a tradition set by the deity, Chin.

In Mayan mythology, the god Chin had a similar relationship with a demon. This was seen as a religious acceptance of homosexual relationships among the Mayans.

Hunab Ku in Mayan means the Sole God. This deity has been at the center of a scholastic dispute that has been ongoing for centuries. Incredibly enough, given the diversity of cultures in Mesoamerica and the ever-evolving nature of myths and lore, Kukulkan was also portrayed in forms that went beyond the morphology of serpents.

For example, dating from circa — AD, there are a few representations of Kukulkan, especially from the site of Xochicalco a pre-Columbian site that was settled by Mayan traders that are distinctly human in form.

A few of them were possibly even inspired by human rulers who were carved their legacy by influence and conquests. Its center of worship probably pertained to Teotihuacan, the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, by circa 1st century AD.

The question can be raised — why was the deity particularly associated with a serpent. Well, according to some scholars, the snake in its most basic form in Mesoamerican culture might have represented the earth and the vegetation.

However, in Popol Vuh, Camazotz is the name attributed to humanoid bat-like creatures or rather vampire-like entities that are downright dangerous and vicious — so much so that one of them lops off the head of a mortal hero, which is then played with, in a gruesome ball game.

Interestingly enough, in terms of conventional zoology, all of the three known species of vampire bats are actually native to the New World.

In that regard, some narratives do describe Camazotz as a purely evil entity with the sole aim to cause terror.

Similarly, in the myths of the Zapotec people, who ruled over the Oaxaca region, in Mexico, circa AD, bats were the harbingers of night, death, and sacrifice.

This macabre association probably comes from the fact that the bats were known to inhabit the darker parts of caves around the cenotes. Unsurprisingly, in some depictions, Camazotz was represented as holding a sacrificial knife in one hand and a human heart or victim in the other.

About Submit a tip Contact Us. Source: Britannica. Introduction — As we have discussed previously in many of our mythology-covering articles , the pantheons of most historical cultures entailed a dynamic scope rather than a static capacity, wherein deities and their narratives evolved with time.

The Maya thought the world was divided into three parts the Heavens, the Earth, and the Underworld, which were linked together by a giant World Tree.

Mayan kings were also thought to become gods after death. The rainmaker god, Chac was often shown covered in scales and with fangs and a hooked snout.

Itzamna is sometimes identified with the high god Hunab Ku and the sun god Kinich Ahau. A nature god, Yum Kaax is the god of wild plants and animals, the god of the woods.

He is the god venerated by hunters and by farmers, who hunt wild animals or carve their fields out of his forest. The Mayans had both a female and a male maize god and both a simple vegetative god and a more powerful, tonsured male maize god.

The tonsured maize god personifies maize, cacao beans and jade. He is a patron god of the scribal arts, dancing and feasting.

Mayan kings often dressed as the maize god during rituals of his life, death and regeneration. Hunab Ku is a pre-Columbian god whose name translates as the only God or the one God.

Scholars are still debating whether Hunab Ku is an indigenous god or a creation of the Spanish. Most think he is indigenous. Kinich Ahau is the sun god of the Mayans, sometimes associated with or an aspect of Itzamna.

During the Classic period, Kinich Ahau was used as a royal title, carrying the idea of the divine king.