Mayan Gods

[Nirmit Kumar]

MAYAN GODS

The ancient Maya had a complex pantheon of deities whom they worshipped and offered human sacrifices. Rulers were believed to be descendants of the Mayan gods and their blood was the ideal sacrifice, either through personal bloodletting or the sacrifice of captives of royal blood.

The Maya vision of the universe is divided into multiple levels, above and below earth, positioned within the four directions of north, south, east and west. After death, the soul was believed to go to the Underworld, Xibalba (shee bal bah), a place of fright where sinister gods tested and tricked their unfortunate visitors.

As with all Myths about Mayan Gods and Goddesses - Mayan Myths discuss connections with being from other realms who came to Earth to seed the planet.

Many people see the story of the Popol Vuh is the story of extraterrestrial Gods who came down and made man in his own image. When they first made man he was so perfect - living as long as they did - he could see far and wide - clairvoyant - and was as perceptive as they were.

They realized that they had made a competitor who was as wise as the Gods themselves. So they destroyed him and started over creating present day man. Modern man lives shorter lifetimes, is not as smart, and is here to act as a servant race to the Gods.

Within their culture they have legends of visiting Gods from outer space. In the last thousand years the being known as Quatzequatl the Great Feathered Serpent was a God who brought the teaching of peace to this part of the world and appeared as a white God with a beard. The drawings of him look almost identical to the drawings of the being known as Ea or Enki in the ancient Sumerian teachings.

In fact they looked like the images we see of Reptilians.

Quatzequatel: Winged God

Mayan god Thoth and Quetzacotal were the same person, Thoth was identified to Atlantis, Egypt, Sumer, then later was identified to Meso America and Peru as Quetzacoatal.

His pyramid was the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan

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Chac

Mayan god Chac was the god of rain. He was a benevolent god for the Mayans who often sought his help for their crops. Chac was associated with creation and life. Chac was also considered to be divided into four equal entities. Each division represented the North, South, East, and West. Chac was also apparently associated with the wind god, Kukulcan. Some debate persists as to whether or not Kukulcan was just a variotion of Chac.

Another Sun God - Kinich Ahau

Kinich Ahau was the Sun god. He was the patron god of the city Itzamal. Supposedly, he visited the city at noon everday. He would descend as a macaw and consume prepared offerings. Kinich Ahau is usually shown with jaguar-like features (ex. filed teeth). Kinich Ahau also wears the symbol of Kin, a Mayan day. Kinich Ahau was also know by the name Ah Xoc Kin, who was associated with poetry and music.

Yumil Kaxob

The Maize god is representative of the ripe grain which was the base of the Mayan agriculture. In certain areas of Mesoamerica, like Yucatan, the Maize god is combined with the god of flora, Yumil Kaxob. The Maize god is principally shown with a headdress of maize and a curved streak on his cheek. He is also noticeable from other gods throug his youth. Despite this youth, the Maize god was powerless by himself. His fortunes and misfortunes were decided by the control of rain and drought. The Rain god would protect him. However, he suffered when the Death god exercised drought and famine.

Yum Cimil

The death god was called Yum Cimil. He also could be called Ah Puch, the god of the Underworld. His body is predominantly skeletal. His adornments are likewise made of bones. Yum Cimil has also been represented with a body covered with black spots (decomposition). He also wears a collar with eyeless sockets. This adornment was the typical symbol for the Underworld.

Ixtab

The suicide goddess was called Ixtab. She is always represented with a rope around her neck. The Mayans believed that suicides would lead you to heaven. Hence, it was very common for suicides to happen because of depression or even for something trivial.

Kukulcan

The wind god was also known as the feathered-serpent god Kukulcan.

The ancient Mayans used the doorways and windows of their buildings as astronomical sightings, especially for the planet Venus.

At Uxmal, all buildings are aligned in the same direction. Surprisingly, Mayans knew the motions of Venus with much accuracy.

Venus, the morning star, was the patron planet of warfare. Many offerings were made to Venus and the Sun.We know from a historian that people would stop up their chimneys so that no light from Venus could enter their houses and cause harm.

Ix Chel

Ix Chel, the "Lady Rainbow," was the old Moon goddess in Mayan mythology. The Maya people lived around 250 AD in what is now Guatemala and the Yucatan in Mexico. Mayans associated human events with phases of the moon.

Ix Chel was depicted as an old woman wearing a skirt with crossed bones, and she had a serpent in her hand. She had an assistant sky serpent, whom they believed carried all of the waters of the heavens in its belly. She is often shown carrying a great jug filled with water, which she overturns to send floods and powerful rainstorms to Earth.

Her husband was the benevolent moon god Itzamna. Ix Chel had a kinder side and was worshipped as the protector of weavers and women in childbirth.

Ah Kinchil: the Sun god.

Ah Puch: the god of Death.

Ahau Chamahez: one of two gods of Medicine.

Ahmakiq: a god of Agriculture who locks up the wind when it threatens to destroy the crops.

Akhushtal: the goddess of Childbirth.

Bacabs: the bacabs are the canopic gods, thought to be brothers, who, with upraised arms, supported the multilayered sky from their assigned positions at the four cardinal points of the compass. (The Bacabs may also have been four manifestations of a single deity.) The four brothers were probably the offspring of Itzamn , the supreme deity, and Ixchel, the goddess of weaving, medicine, and childbirth. Each Bacab presided over one year of the four-year cycle. The Maya expected the Muluc years to be the greatest years, because the god presiding over these years was the greatest of the Bacab gods. The four directions and their corresponding colours (east, red; north, white; west, black; south, yellow) played an important part in the Mayan religious and calendrical systems.

Mayan god of rain, especially important in the Yucatan region of Mexico where he was depicted in Classic times with protruding fangs, large round eyes, and a proboscis-like nose. In post-Classic Mayan and Toltec ruins, reclining figures known as the Chacs Mool are thought to represent the rain god. Following the Spanish conquest, the Chacs were associated with Christian saints and were often depicted on horseback.

Cit Bolon Tum: a god of Medicine.

Cizin (Kisin): "Stinking One"; Mayan earthquake god and god of death, ruler of the subterranean land of the dead. He lives beneath the earth in a purgatory where all souls except those of soldiers killed in battle and women who died in childbirth spend some time. Suicides are doomed to his realm for eternity. He may possibly have been one aspect of a malevolent underworld deity who manifested himself under several names and guises (e.g., Ah Puch, Xibalba, and Yum Cimil). In pre-Conquest codices, or manuscripts, the god of death is frequently depicted with the god of war in scenes of human sacrifice. One aspect of the dualistic nature of the Mayan religion is symbolically portrayed in the existing codices, which show Cizin uprooting or destroying trees planted by Chac, the rain god. Cizin is often depicted on pottery and illustrated in the codices in the form of a dancing skeleton, holding a smoking cigarette. He is also known by his death collar, the most prominent feature of which consists of disembodied eyes dangling by their nerve cords. After the Spanish Conquest, Cizin became merged with the Christian devil.

Ekahau: the god of Travellers and Merchants.

Itzamn : "Iguana House";, principal pre-Columbian Mayan deity. The ruler of heaven, day, and night, he frequently appeared as four gods called Itzamn s, who encased the world. Like some of the other Mesoamerican deities, the Itzamn s were associated with the points of the compass and their colours (east, red; north, white; west, black; and south, yellow). Itzamn was sometimes identified with the remote creator deity Hunab Ku and occasionally with Kinich Ahau, the sun-god. The moon goddess Ixchel, patroness of womanly crafts, was possibly a female manifestation of the god. Itzamn was also a culture hero who gave humankind writing and the calendar and was patron deity of medicine. See also Bacab.

Ix Chel (Ixchel): the goddess of the Moon.

Ixtab: the goddess of the Hanged. She receives their souls into paradise.

Kan-u-Uayeyab: the god who guarded cities.

Kinich Kakmo: the Sun god symbolised by the Macaw.

Kisin: see Cizin

Kukulcan: the Wind god, who is recognizable in Classic reliefs is the Feathered Serpent, known to the Maya as Kukulcan (and to the Toltecs and Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl). Probably the most ubiquitous of all is the being known as Bolon Tzacab (first called God K by archaeologists), a deity with a baroquely branching nose who is thought to have functioned as a god of royal descent; he is often held as a kind of sceptre in rulers' hands.

Mitnal: Mitnal was the underworld hell where the wicked were tortured.

Nacon: Nacon was the god of War.

Tzultacaj (Tzuultaq'ah): For the Mayan Indians of central Guatemala, known as Kekch , this was the god of the mountains and valleys.

Yaxche: Yaxche is the Tree of Heaven under which good souls rejoice.

Yum Kaax: the Maize god.

[Nirmit Kumar]

Yes indeed. The Gods r just amazing. Especially, Quetzalcoatl  n Kukulkan n they r supposed to be the same. There r other gods too that belong to southern American region of Andes named Verakocha which is a very popular Pre-Incan creator god.

Well, there is so much related to Maya n the other native American tribes to explore n understand about. I hope u r enjoying the group n learning about this extraordinary civilization.

Namaste..!!