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 traditional Maya or Mayan religion of the extant Maya peoples of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and the Tabasco, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán states of Mexico is part of the wider frame of Mesoamerican religion. As is t ...
. 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
Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...
or
Kʼicheʼ. The
Classic Period
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – ...
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-carrier, fourfold.
Baalham
The jaguar god of the underworld. Also any of a group of jaguar gods who protected people and communities.
Bitol pv*
A sky god. One of the creator and destroyer deities who participated in the last two attempts at creating humanity.
Bolon Tzʼakab Bolon may refer to:
* Bolon, name of several gods in Mayan mythology
* Bolon (eyewear brand), a Chinese eyewear brand
* Bolon (flooring company), a flooring company in Sweden
* Bolon of Macedon (''fl.'' 330 BC) soldier who gave a speech against P ...
(Dzacab) *L*
god K ">god_K.html" ;"title="god K">god K /h2>
''Ah Bolon Dzacab'' "Innumerable Generations", the lightning god, patron of the harvest and the seeds.
Bolontiku *CHB*
A group of nine underworld gods.
Bolon Yokteʼ
"Nine Strides", mentioned in the Books of Chilam Balam and in Classic inscriptions; functions unknown.
Buluc Chabtan (Deity), Buluc Chabtan [ god F ]
The god of war, violence, sacrifice and gambling.
C
Cabrakan
A god of mountains and earthquakes. He was a son of Vucub Caquix and Chimalmat.
Cacoch *LAC*
A creator
Camazotz
In the Late Post-Classic Maya mythology of the Popol Vuh, Camazotz ( from Mayan ) (alternate spellings Cama-Zotz, Sotz, Zotz) is a bat spirit at the service of the lords of the underworld. Camazotz means "death bat" in the Kʼicheʼ language. In ...
*PV*
A bat and death god.
Can Tzicnal
Can may refer to:
Containers
* Aluminum can
* Drink can
* Oil can
* Steel and tin cans
* Trash can
* Petrol can
* Metal can (disambiguation)
Music
* Can (band), West Germany, 1968
** ''Can'' (album), 1979
* Can (South Korean band)
Other
* Can ...
*L*
The Bacab of the north, associated with the color white, and the Muluc years. Son of
Itzamna and
Ixchel.
Chaac
Chaac (also spelled Chac or, in Classic Mayan, Chaahk ) is the name of the Maya god of rain, thunder, and lighting. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds, causing them to produce thunder and rain. Chaac corresponds to Tlaloc among ...
*L*
The god of rain, thunder, and lightning, wields an axe of lightning, brother to Kinich Ahau.
Chaac Uayab Xoc
Chaac (also spelled Chac or, in Classic Mayan, Chaahk ) is the name of the Maya god of rain, thunder, and lighting. With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds, causing them to produce thunder and rain. Chaac corresponds to Tlaloc among ...
*L*
A fish god and the patron deity of
fishermen.
Chiccan
A group of four Chorti rain gods who live in lakes and make rain clouds from the water in them. As with the Bacabs, each of the rain gods was associated with a
cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...
. Chiccan was also the name of a day in the Tzolkin cycle of the calendar.
Cit-Bolon-Tum
A god of medicine and healing
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 ...
A giant who was, by Vucub Caquix, the mother of Cabrakan and Zipacna.
Chin
The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm.
Evolution
The presence of a we ...
The main god of homosexual relationships.
Cizin
A god of earthquakes and death who lived in
Metnal
(), roughly translated as "place of fright", is the name of the underworld (or quc, Mitnal) in Maya mythology, ruled by the Maya death gods and their helpers. In 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a c ...
. He is often depicted as a dancing human skeleton smoking a cigarette.
Colel Cab
Goddess of the bees.
Colop U Uichkin *RITUAL OF THE BACABS*
An eclipse deity.
Coyopa
The god of thunder. Brother of Cakulha.
E
Ek Chuaj
Ek Chuaj, also known as Ek Chuah, Ekchuah, God M according to the Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube classification of codical gods, is a Postclassic Maya merchant deity as well as a patron of cacao. Ek Chuaj is part of a pantheon of Maya deities tha ...
*M* (God M)
Ek Chuaj, the "black war chief" was the patron god of
warrior
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have been p ...
s and
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
s. He was depicted carrying a bag over his shoulder. In art, he was a dark-skinned man with circles around his eyes, a scorpion tail and dangling lower lip.
G
GI, GII, GIII
The three patron deities of the
Palenque kingdom, made up of a sea deity with a shell ear, GII a baby lightning god (
god K
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
), and GIII the
jaguar god of fire, also patron of the number seven.
Gukumatz > Qʼuqʼumatz *PV*
A feathered snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Gukumatz of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is closely related to the god
Kukulkan of
Yucatán and to
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nahu ...
of the Aztec. God of the seas, oceans, wind, and storms.
H
Hachäkʼyum *LAC*
Patron deity of the
Lacandon.
Hobnil *L*
Bacab of the east.
Hozanek *L*
Bacab of the south.
Hum Hau
A god of death and the underworld.
Hun-Batz *PV*
"One Howler Monkey", one of two stepbrothers of the
Hero Twins, one of the
Howler Monkey Gods
Among the Classic Mayas, the howler monkey god was a major deity of the arts—including music—and a patron of the artisans, especially of the scribes and sculptors. As such, his sphere of influence overlapped with that of the Tonsured Maize God ...
and patron of the arts.
Hun-Came
The Maya death gods, (also Ah Puch, Ah Cimih, Ah Cizin, Hun Ahau, Kimi, or Yum Kimil) known by a variety of names, are two basic types of death gods who are respectively represented by the 16th-century Yucatec deities Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau ment ...
*PV*
"One-Death", a lord of the underworld (Xibalba) who, along with Vucub-Came "Seven-Death", killed Hun Hunahpu. They were defeated by the latter's sons the Hero Twins.
Hun-Chowen *PV*
One of the two stepbrothers of the
Hero Twins, one of the
Howler Monkey Gods
Among the Classic Mayas, the howler monkey god was a major deity of the arts—including music—and a patron of the artisans, especially of the scribes and sculptors. As such, his sphere of influence overlapped with that of the Tonsured Maize God ...
and patron of the arts.
Hun-Hunahpu Hun Hunahpu (pronounced ), or 'Head- Apu I' (a calendrical name) is a figure in Mayan mythology. According to ''Popol Vuh'' he was the father of the Maya Hero Twins, Head-Apu and Xbalanque. As their shared calendrical day name suggests, Head-Apu I w ...
*PV*
The father of the Maya Hero Twins Ixbalanque and Hun-Ahpu by a virgin. Beheaded in Xibalba, the underworld, by the rulers of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vucub Came.
Hunab Ku
"Sole God", identical with Itzamna as the highest Yucatec god; or a more abstract upper god. *Current research now indicates this 'Maya' symbol is not of Maya origin and rather an invention by a Catholic missionary to more easily introduce one-god concept into the Maya culture.
Hun-Ahpu
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 Kʼic ...
*PV*
One of the
Maya Hero Twins.
Hunahpu-Gutch *PV*
One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity.
Hunahpu Utiu *PV*
One of the thirteen creator gods who helped to create humanity.
Hun-Ixim
"One-Maize", a reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period
Tonsured Maize God
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya civilization, Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century P ...
Hun-nal-ye
A now-obsolete reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period
Tonsured Maize God
Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Maya civilization, Maya recognize in their staple crop, maize, a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the 16th-century P ...
Hunraqan *PV*
"One-Leg", one of three lightning gods together called "Heart of the Sky", and acting as world creators. God of the
weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
,
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
,
storms, and
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
.
I
;
Itzamna
:The founder of maize and
cacao
Cacao is the seed from which cocoa and chocolate are made, from Spanish cacao, an adaptation of Nahuatl cacaua, the root form of cacahuatl ("bean of the cocoa-tree"). It may also refer to:
Plants
*''Theobroma cacao'', a tropical evergreen tree
** ...
, as well as writing, calendars, and medicine. Once mentioned as the father of the Bacabs.
;
Itzananohkʼu
:A patron god of the Lacandon people.
;
Ixbalanque
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 Kʼic ...
> Xbalanque
;
Ixchel *L*
oddess O:Jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine.
;
Ixmucane
In Maya mythology, Chriakan-Ixmucane was a creator goddess formed out of four earlier creator god
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, ...
*PV*
:One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity, grandmother of the Hero Twins.
;
Ixpiyacoc
In Maya mythology, Ixpiyacoc was one of the thirteen creator gods who helped construct humanity.
See also
* Xmucane and Xpiayoc
Creator gods
Maya gods
{{Mesoamerica-myth-stub
es:Ixpiyacoc ...
*PV*
:A creator god who helped create humanity.
;
Ixtab
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán (1527–1546), Ix Tab or Ixtab ( ʃˈtaɓ "Rope Woman", "Hangwoman") was the indigenous Maya goddess of suicide by hanging. Playing the role of a psychopomp, she would accompany such suicides to hea ...
*L*
:Goddess of suicide, represented with a rope around her neck.
J
Jacawitz *PV*
mountain god of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ Maya
K
Kʼawiil
Kʼawiil, in the Post-Classic codices corresponding to God K, is a Maya deity identified with lightning, serpents, fertility and maize. He is characterized by a zoomorphic head, with large eyes, long, upturned snout and attenuated serpent foot. A ...
(Kawil, Kauil)
Assumed to have been the Classic name of God K (Bolon Dzacab). Title attested for Itzamna, Uaxac Yol, and Amaite Ku; family name; probably not meaning "food", but "powerful".
K'inich Ahau
The solar deity.
Kisin
Cizin is a Mayan god of death and earthquakes. He is the most important Maya death god in the Mayan culture. Scholars call him God A.
To the Yucatán Mayas he was Hun-Came and Vucub-Came. He also has similarities to Mictlāntēcutli.
Name an ...
(Cisin)
The most commonly depicted god of death.
Kukulkan
"Feathered Serpent". Although heavily Mexicanised, Kukulkan has his origins among the Maya of the Classic Period, when he was known as Waxaklahun Ubah Kan (/waʃaklaˈχuːn uːˈɓaχ kän/), the War Serpent, and he has been identified as the Postclassic version of the Vision Serpent of Classic Maya art.
M
Mam
A title of respect meaning "Grandfather" and applied to a number of different Maya deities including earth spirits, mountain spirits, and the four Bacabs.
Maximon
A god of travelers, merchants, medicine men/women, mischief and fertility, later conflated with
Saint Simon and in modern times part of the celebrations surrounding
Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
.
N
Nakon
The god of
war.
A Powerful god, claimed to be stronger than all the other gods of war in every other religion.
Nohochacyum
A creator-destroyer deity, the brother of the death god Kisin (or possibly another earthquake god also known as Kisin). He is the sworn enemy of the world serpent
Hapikern and it is said that, in the end of days, he will destroy Hapikern by wrapping him around himself to smother him. In some versions, this will destroy life on Earth. He is related, in some stories, to Usukan, Uyitzin, Yantho and Hapikern, all of whom wish ill to human beings. Brother of Xamaniqinqu, the patron god of travelers and merchants.
Q
Qaholom
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 reconstructe ...
*PV*
One of the second set of creator gods.
Qʼuqʼumatz *PV*
Feathered Snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Qʼuqʼumatz of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is closely related to the god
Kukulkan of
Yucatán and to
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (, ; Spanish: ''Quetzalcóatl'' ; nci-IPA, Quetzalcōātl, ket͡saɬˈkoːaːt͡ɬ (Modern Nahuatl pronunciation), in honorific form: ''Quetzalcōātzin'') is a deity in Aztec culture and literature whose name comes from the Nahu ...
of the Aztecs.
S
Sip
A hunting god of the Yucatec Maya arguably corresponding, in the Classic period, to an elderly human with deer ears and antlers.
T
Tepeu Tepeu is a word of the K'iche' Maya language meaning "sovereign" (also "one who conquers" or "one who is victorious"). The title is associated with the god Q'uq'umatz of the K'iche'-Maya, one of the creation gods of the Popol Vuh; his whole name ...
*PV*
A sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity.
Tohil *PV*
A patron god of the Kʼicheʼ, to whom a great temple was erected at the Kʼicheʼ capital
Qʼumarkaj.
Tunkuruchu *PV*
An ancient owl, one who foretells death. At a party held by all birds, he was humiliated by some humans, and as revenge, he would visit them announcing their deaths.
V
Vatanchu
"Straight God", a mountain god of the Postclassic
Manche Chʼol
The Manche Chʼol were a former Chʼol-speaking Maya people inhabiting the extreme south of what is now the Petén Department of modern Guatemala, the area around Lake Izabal (also known as the ''Golfo Dulce''), and southern Belize. The Manche C ...
.
Votan
Votan is a legendary or mythological figure mentioned in early European accounts of the Maya civilization.
Origins of the Votan story
The story of Votan in Mexico dates back to at least the late 17th century. It was first published in ''Constit ...
Legendary ancestral deity, Chiapas.
Vucub-Caquix *PV*
A bird being, whose wife is Chimalmat and whose sons are the demonic giants Cabrakan and Zipacna.
X
Xaman Ek
The god of travelers and merchants, who gave offerings to him on the side of
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
s while traveling.
Xbalanque *PV*
od CH
OD or Od may refer to:
Education
* Old Diocesan, a former pupil of Diocesan College
* Old Dunelmian, a former pupil of Durham School
Medicine
* OD or o.d., an abbreviation used in medical prescriptions for or "once daily" both meaning "take on ...
/h2>
One of the
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...
or War Twins and companion to Hunahpu.
Xcarruchan
A mountain god of the Postclassic Manche Chʼol.
Xmucane and Xpiayoc
Xmucane () and Xpiacoc (), alternatively Xumucane and Ixpiyacoc, are the names of the divine grandparents of Maya mythology of the Kʼicheʼ people and the daykeepers of the ''Popol Vuh''. They are considered to be the oldest of all the deity, gods ...
*PV*
A creator god couple which helped create the first humans. They are also the parents of Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. They were called Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light and Bearer twice over, begetter twice over and given the titles midwife and matchmaker.
Xquic
Xquic (or Ixquic , ALMG: Xkikʼ, sometimes glossed as ''"Blood Moon"'' or ''"Blood Girl/Maiden"'' in English) is a mythological figure known from the 16th century Kʼicheʼ manuscript ''Popol Vuh''. She was the daughter of one of the lords of ...
She was the daughter of Cuchumaquic, one of the lords of the underworld,
Xibalba. She is noted for being the mother of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque and is sometimes considered to be the Maya goddess associated with the waning moon.
Y
Yaluk
One of four Mopan "Grandfathers" of the earth and chief lightning god.
Yopaat
An important rain god at Copán and Quiriguá in the southern Maya area.
[Gutiérrez González 2012, p. 1061.]
Yum Cimil
God of death, disease, and the underworld.
Yum Kaax Yum Kaax (Mayan pronunciation: um kaːʃ "Lord of the forest") is a Yukatek Maya name for the god of the wild vegetation and guardian of its animals.
In the past, this god has wrongly been described as an agricultural deity or even as the Maya mai ...
God of the woods, of wild nature, and of the hunt; invoked before carving out a maize field from the wilderness.
Z
Zac Cimi
Zac is a masculine given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Zachary or Zechariah. It may refer to:
People:
* Zac Alexander (born 1989), Australian professional squash player
* Zac Brooks (born 1993), American National Football League play ...
*L*
The
Bacab of the west.
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 charact ...
*PV*
A demonic personification of the earth crust.
See also
*
Maya death gods
The Maya death gods, (also Ah Puch, Ah Cimih, Ah Cizin, Hun Ahau, Kimi, or Yum Kimil) known by a variety of names, are two basic types of death gods who are respectively represented by the 16th-century Yucatec deities Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau ment ...
Notes
References
*
* Knowlton, Timothy W., ''Maya Creation Myths: Words and Worlds of the Chilam Balam''. University Press of Colorado, Boulder 2010.
* Taube, Karl, ''The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatán''. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington 1992.
* Mark, Joshua (2012)
"The Mayan Pantheon: The Many Gods of the Maya" ''worldhistory.org''.
*
* Thompson, J. Eric S. ''Maya History and Religion''. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1970.
*
*
{{List of mythological figures by region
*
Maya gods
Maya goddesses
Mesoamerican deities
Maya gods and supernatural beings
Maya gods and supernatural beings