Easy Explanation: The Popol Vuh is essentially the “Adam and Eve” story for the Mayan people; it’s the Mayan creation story.
Mayan Creation Story: The story is about Heart-of-Sky, the ‘Maker and Modeler’ who decides to make the earth so people will be able to worship him. Heart-of-Sky simply says the word, “Earth,” and the earth appears. Next come mountains and trees. Heart-of-Sky then makes animals and orders them to worship their creator. But the animals can only howl, so Heart-of-Sky humbles them and makes them subservient, pets to humans. Heart-of-Sky then contemplates what he will try next, and, after failing to make humans form mud, he moves on to wood. The wooden people don’t have anything in their minds and have no respect for Heart-of-Sky. A great flood then forces the animals out of their homes and into the dwellings of the wooden people. The animals, tired of being pushed around by the wooden people, force the wooden people to scatter into the woods. The wooden people become monkeys, and that is why monkeys look like humans: they were the imperfect version of humans created by Heart-of-Sky. Eventually Heart-of-Sky creates people from maize, corn. They are called “True people.”
*Summarization of complete translation by Dennis Tedlock and posted at http://www.jaguar-sun.com/popolvuh.html
Mayan Creation Story #2: There are a pair of other stories I read that strongly resembled the outline of the previous story, but had much more detail and gave more depth to the story. Since I’ve already done one summarization, I will only point out the main differences I noticed. For one, there was more than one person present. In the first story I read it was unclear how many people were present, other than Heart-of-Sky and his grandparents. Heart-of-Sky, or Heart-of-Heaven in one of the other stories, was also nicknamed Huracàn – the Spanish word for hurricane. The first story alluded to him being nicknamed Hurricane, but it was unclear to whether Hurricane was another person or just a nickname. There are also two more god’s present: ChipiCaculhá and Raxa-Caculhá. The combination of the three created Heart-of-Heaven. In the third story I read, the main characters were Hunahpu and Xpalanque, the twin heroes. I wasn’t sure which story to believe, but I’m sure there are multiple translations available to such an old piece of work. The Popol Vuh is the most developed piece of Pre-Columbian literature.
*http://www.jaguarpaw.com/Popol.html
*http://www.oocities.org/athens/academy/7286/popolvuhmain.html#anchor307278
Museo Popol Vuh: The Museum of Popul Vuh is located in Guatemala City. Along with other Mayan trinkets, there are many artifacts related directly to Popul Vuh.
*http://maya-archaeology.org/museums/popolvuh/popolvuh.html
History of Popol Vuh: In the late nineteenth century, a copy of the Popol Vuh was discovered, written in the Mayan language, but the letters were from the Roman alphabet. The copy, soon after being discovered, disappeared, but was dated back to the sixteenth century.
Montezuma (Component B)
Dear Ahuitzotl,
I report to you that today is a glorious day. Quetzalcoatl, our mighty God, returned to us. He arrived on the back of a grand beast, easily over 10 hands high and longer than the tallest man in the Aztec Empire. This beast was stronger and faster than any Aztec man. Quetzalcoatl seemed to shine in His bright sun, reflecting the sunshine and making Him glow. His silver body had a funny shape to it, and seemed to be a heavy figure, but the beast he rode on was strong enough to carry Him. Quetzalcoatl came with a vast army behind him, and promised to protect our Empire. The prophecies have come true, and we will soon conquer all who oppose the Aztec Empire! In order to appease our God, we brought to Him offerings of gold, silver, chocolate, and more. Quetzalcoatl seemed a bit surprised at first, and at first I thought our gifts would satisfy Him. However, he wanted more. Our meager offerings were not enough, so we ordered human sacrifices to commence and last until He was satisfied. My uncle, after succeeding you as Emperor of the Aztec, I’m glad to have succeeded in your passing.
Hugs and kisses,
Montezuma II
Dear Ahuitzotl,
All is not well in the Aztec Empire. The God Quetzalcoatl seems to grow restless and is not happy. I don’t know what our people have done to upset Quetzalcoatl, but his wrath must not be unleashed upon our culture. We must do whatever we can to appease Him. All the sacrifices we have made seem to have no effect on Him, while our offerings of silver and gold make his eyes glow. Quetzalcoatl seems to be more interested in the riches we bring him than the ultimate show of respect: human sacrifice. I will not fail, uncle.
Lots of love,
Monty
Dear Ahuitzotl,
I have been stolen from the Aztec Empire by Quetzalcoatl. His vast army keep me captured, and will not let me return to my people. I wonder why He would want me this way; how can I help my people if I’m enslaved by his army? Why has Quetzalcoatl done this to me, and what does he have in store for our people? Quetzalcoatl seeks not to expand the borders of our territory or annihilate our enemies; Quetzalcoatl is more an enemy to us right now than any of our rivals. We must not give up hope, and must continue to offer as much as we can to his graciousness in an effort to keep him from unleashing his wrath upon us.
XOXOXO,
Montezuma II
