Ancient Maya Life: Itzamná

Showing posts with label Itzamná. Show all posts

Friday, March 2, 2018

The Milky Way

A composite of an image from the CIA World Factbook
and an image by Lian Law from the Joshua Tree National Park's Flickr.

The Milky Way Galaxy or the Milky Way for short, is our galaxy -- a "barred spiral" galaxy to be specific. When the night sky is dark enough, you see part of the Milky Way as a band of light, which people also call the Milky Way. To the ancient Maya, what was this band of light? So far it looks like it was a variety of things, from a supernatural road, symbol of the World Tree, and a crocodile-deer creature, to an aspect of the god Itzamná. Let's learn more.

The Starry Deer Crocodile
One of the "composite" beings that the ancient Maya would carve and draw was a being that you may see called the Starry Deer Crocodile. Among its notable features, this being was a crocodile except for its feet, which were deer hooves, and its ear, which was a deer ear. (Another one of its notable features was that its eyes had Venus/star signs.)

This being has connections to different things, including the Milky Way. There are a few ideas out there on the Starry Deer Crocodile -- one is that it was an aspect of another being called (among other names) the Cosmic Monster and was the Milky Way at night.

Connection to the World Tree

There was a belief among the ancient Maya that the "World Tree" -- the tree that was the center of everything -- was a ceiba. (It went through all three levels of reality. It grew out of the underworld, Xibalbá, and up into the upperworld.) But in the ancient Maya's minds, they connected the World Tree with the Milky Way and used it as a symbol of the tree.

Supernatural Road

It's possible that the ancient Maya thought that the Milky Way was a path on which people who had died traveled. This same theory thinks that the ancient Maya may have even had a travel-related term for death: och bih, which means "entering the road." However, it's still not clear.

There's a theory that the south and north sky-eagles represent the sky at night -- maybe the Milky Way too or some kind of path at night. A tomb that might be evidence that this theory is right is Tomb 12 at the site of Rio Azul. The tomb has four walls, and on every wall there is one of the four direction glyphs (north, west, south, and east.) The "south" sky-eagle has a star sign (ek') as part of it. The "north" sky-eagle has the sign for moon as part of it. The two of them might be referencing a path in the sky at night.

On a related note, the Popol Vuh, a religious text of the Quiché (also spelled K'iche',) one of the various groups of Maya today, says that a dark part of the Milky Way is the road to the underworld, Xibalbá.

As an Aspect of Itzamná (God D)
To the ancient Maya, Itzamná (God D) was a god of different things, including foretelling the future and scribes, and was also a creator god. One of his aspects of the Milky Way.

References:
Google Books: "Philosophy of the Ancient Maya: Lords of Time"; Alexus McLeod; 2018

Google Books: "Astronomy in the Ancient World: Early and Modern Views on Celestial Events"; Alexus McLeod, Butler Burton (series editor); 2016

Google Books: "Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul"; Andrew K. Scherer; 2015

Google Books: "Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica"; Anne S. Dowd, Susan Milbrath (editor); 2015

Google Books: "Astrology in Time and Place: Cross-Cultural Questions in the History of Astrology"; Nicholas Campion, Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum (editors); 2015

The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Scholar Works: University of Texas Libraries: "Sacrificing the Jaguar Baby : understanding a classic Maya myth on codex-style pottery"; Penny Steinbach; May 2015 (Click on the PDF icon for it to download.)

Google Books: "The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous"; Asa Simon Mittman, Peter J. Dendle (editors); 2013

Google Books: "Re-Creating Primordial Time; Foundation Rituals and Mythology in the Postclassic Maya Codices"; Gabrielle Vail, Christine Hernandez"; 2013

The Free Dictionary: Bicephalic

The Free Dictionary: Milky Way

NASA: Imagine The Universe!: The Milky Way Galaxy

Image Credits:
CIA World Factbook: Mexico (image 12)

Flickr: Joshua Tree National Park: Night Sky InstaMeet 5.23.15; Lian Law

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Ix Chel (Goddesses I and O)

Author's note: It is not entirely clear what Ix Chel was like before the arrival of the Spanish. The Early Colonial period version of Ix Chel is more understandable. Also, to see the overview post on the gods and goddesses of the ancient Maya, go here.

A female deity of the ancient Maya was a goddess known as Ix Chel, (also known as Lady Rainbow), who was either the companion or wife of Itzamná (God D). So far as it is understood, Ix Chel seems to have two forms: one that is also known as the old (or aged) moon goddess (Goddess O) -- called either Chac Chel (Chak Chel) or Chakal Ix Chel -- and one that is known as the young moon goddess.

Appearances
The apperance of Ix Chel varies depending on the aspect. Maya scribes drew the young aspect of Ix Chel was a young and beautiful woman who has a large nosepiece, and was seen with a rabbit and a crescent moon. The aged aspect of Ix Chel was depicted as an old woman with snakes in her headdress and jaguar paws for hands, who often is pouring water out from a jar.

Function
Ix Chel seems to have both positive and negative functions. Her positive functions included being the goddess of divination and weaving as well as a medical goddess of healing, childbirth and medicine. Her negative functions included being a goddess of floods and destruction (and at times war), as well as of snakes. However she does not bring sickness.

This goddess was important along the Carribbean coast. A shrine to Ix Chel can be found on Cozumel Island, in which a statue may have been designed so that a priest could make it seem like the statue "talked".

Moon Goddess?
Sources including Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World (published by Oxford University Press) and Dr. Chuchiak -- say that Ix Chel was a moon goddess. However, in Mesoamerican Mythology:

A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of Mexico and Central America (also published by Oxford University Press) states that Ix Chel may have been a moon goddess.

Goddess I and the Tonsured Maize God
Goddess I may have been connected connected to the Tonsured Maize God. There are images that show her looking somewhat like the Tonsured Maize God, wearing his costume, hairstyle and having his facial markings. Another possible piece of evidence for the connection is an image showing a crescent moon in connection to the Tonsured Maize God.

Who was Ix Chel Really Married To?
In Yaxchilán there is a depiction of a ruler's parents in which an image of his father has a sun glyph in it while an image of the ruler's mother has a lunar sign in it. This is what, according to Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya Word, gives evidence to a theory that Ix Chel was the wife of the sun god.

Other Possible Aspects
Dr. John F. Chuchiak IV -- the Assistant Professor of Colonial Latin American History at the Department of History at SMSU -- states that Goddess I was confused with another goddess (who he designates as I'). This other goddess, named Sakal Ix Chel that was was similar in appearance with Chac Chel. Though he is not entirely sure, he thinks it is possible that Sakal Ix Chel is the same as Chac Chel.

Also, there is a theory that states that Blood Woman -- or Blood Moon -- (called Xkik in Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World) could be an aspect of Ix Chel. Blood Woman was the mother of the Hero Twins.

References:

Missouri State University: MAYA GODS AND GODDESSES

"Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of Mexico and Central America"; Kay Almere Read, Jason J. Gonzalez; 2002

"Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World"; Lynn V. Foster; 2005

"The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather Irene McKillop; 2004

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Sak Nik (God H)

Author's note: to see the overview post on Maya gods and goddesses, go here.

God H -- Sak Nik (literally "white flower" a term used for the soul) -- is a god who may the god of a diversity of things. He used to be confused with another god (either termed God CH or God J), a god now understood to be the Hero Twin Xbalanque (Yax Balam).

Appearance
The appearance of Sak Nik is of a young man. In the codices, he has a headband with flowers on it.

Function
Sak Nik could be a god of music, the soul and/or the wind -- he is thought to be connected to the day Ik (meaning "wind"). Sak Nik may also be the god depicted in the "head glyph" variant for the number three (numbers could be written several ways, including with heads of gods). Another thing he may have been connected to is the Water-lily serpent -- a creature with a bird's head and snake's body with a headdress made of a lily and lily pad.

Beyond these things it is possible that Sak Nik was also god of music. In scenes found in the codicies in which the gods are making music, one of the most common gods in those scenes is Sak Nik.

Consideration
In the codices, Sak Nik is possibly connected somehow with Itzamná (God D). Examples used as evidence include sections 12c and 15c of the Dresden Codex.

References:

"Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 2000

"Prehistoric Mesoamerica"; Richard E.W. Adams; 2005

"The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction"; Geoffrey E. Braswell; 2004

"Of Macaws and Men: Late Preclassic Cosmology and Political Ideology in Izapan-Style Monuments"; Julia Guernsey Kappelman; 1997

"To Be Like Gods: Dance in Ancient Maya Civilization"; Matthew G. Looper; 2009

"The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather Irene McKillop; 2004

Monday, October 22, 2012

Kinich Ahau (God G)

God G was the sun god of the ancient Maya. In the Classic period and the Postclassic period, he was referred to either as Ahau Kin (Ahaw K'in) or Kinich Ahau (K'inich Ahau, K'inich Ajaw). One of the most famous pieces of jade found in the ancient Maya land is a jade head bearing his appearance, from Altun Ha. His head has also been used to decorate temples.

Appearance
There are variances in how Kinich Ahau was drawn. In Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of f Mexico and Central America he is described as having several distinguishing features: a hooked nose (a spiral often heading out from it in profile drawings); eyes that looked like crosses in full view but with an eye that looked like a square in profile; and sometimes a beard that had sections curling at the corners of his mouth.

Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars says some similar things but also says some different things. It uses examples of Kinich Ahau found in the codices: in the Madrid Codex he is depicted as a aged being with crooked teeth; but in the Dresden Codex he is depicted to be around middle age, though on a table concerning eclipses he is drawn with a beard. The book also says that during the Postclassic period, Kinich Ahau was drawn with the glyph for the day Kin on his head or body. Sometimes, he was drawn with fangs or with one tooth.

Function
Kinich Ahau was the sun, and was believed to turn into a jaguar as he went through Xibalbá each night. He was the patron of the day Muluc (also spelled Muluk), and was associated with Maya rulers and warriors as well as jaguars.

Change of Kinich Ahau's Patronage of Kings
The association of Kinich Ahau with kings changed over time. In the Classic period it was very common for a ruler to say he had a connection with the god. However this changed to become less common in the Postclassic period, as did the prominence of Kinich Ahau.

A God or an Aspect?
Kinich Ahau might not actually be a god by himself. There is a possibility that he is only an aspect of Itzamná (God D), a creator god (Itzamná has been identified as having an aspect named Kinich Ahau Itzamná).

References:

"The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives"; Heather Irene McKillop; 2004

"The Ancient Maya"; Robert. J Sharer, Loa P. Traxler; 2006

"Prehistoric Mesoamerica"; Richard E. W. Adams; 1991

"Star Gods of the Maya: Astronomy in Art, Folklore, and Calendars"; Susan Milbrath; 2000

"Mesoamerican Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs of f Mexico and Central America"; Kay Almere Read, Jason J. Gonzalez; 2002

Friday, October 12, 2012

Itzamná (God D)

In the Postclassic Period codices, this god used to be called (and in some books still is) god D. Worshiped at least as far back as the Preclassic Period, Itzamná -- a name spelled various ways -- was a god whose name translates as "one who does itz." ("Itz" seems to be a word that means any sacred liquid -- such as water, sap, and blood.)

Itzamná was the first shaman and a creator god (though some books say that he was an aspect of a creator god or one-half of a god.) He had a lot of avatars, was connected with various things such as rulers, writing and possibly god N. He also seems to have connections to the gods of rain, corn, and the sun as well as the world tree.

History of Importance
As history passed, Itzamná became a very important god to the ancient Maya. Then the Classic Period collapse happened, and he became less important. His importance went down because the Maya had begun to stop believing in rulers that were connected to the gods -- they were switching to councils. Later on, in the Yucatan Peninsula, Itzamná's importance increased again.

Appearance
Itzamná appears to be elderly and male. His nose is big, and a description you may see of it is "Roman." The shape of his eyes was drawn either square or round, depending on the artifact.There are also certain things the ancient Maya tended to draw as part of their depictions of Itzamná. One is his headdress, which has a flower with an ak'bal symbol (ak'bal means dark/night) in it. Another thing they tended to show him wearing was a necklace made of shell.

Art with Itzamná in it shows him doing things like creating the sky or being a ruler that's managing a ritual. Also, it was common for the ancient Maya to draw him sitting on a throne.

Function
Among other gods, rulers may have looked to Itzamná's supernatural court as something to imitate as a form of 'correct' behavior. If true, this included how they set up their cities as well as how they acted themselves. (It seems that other gods' lives were possibly imitated as well.)

Quirigua's Stela C appears to be an example of the belief that Itzamná helped make the current world. It seems like the stela says that Itzamná -- which the stela calls Six Sky Lord -- and three other gods set three "throne stones" for a hearth in the sky. (Itzamná's throne stone was the water or waterlily throne stone.) Part of this stela also shows Quirigua's Ruler I in a ceremony, dressed up as Itzamná -- dressing up as gods as part of rituals was something the Maya did, and one of the gods they're known to have imitated in rituals was Itzamná. (There's a theory that rulers used quetzal feathers as part of their headdresses to copy the Principal Bird Deity, one of Itzamná's aspects.)

The ancient Maya in the Postclassic Period went to him (among certain other gods) when the coming year was predicted to be an unfortunate year, with disasters such as crop failure. They would ask him to keep the year from having disasters.

Itzamná was a god of scribes -- and he was a scribe himself. He was also a god of knowledge.

This god was also connected to some more pointedly mystical things. One of these was foretelling the future. The other was the ability to look at things that you couldn't normally see as a person.

Curiously, it seems Itzamná had a bad side too. This negative part of him would destroy crops.

Aspects
Four aspects of Itzamná are a peccary, a turtle with a k'an sign on its shell, a possum, rattlesnake and the crocodile-like creature that makes up the earth -- that is, the part that people live on, in between the upperworld and underworld. (There is a theory though that Maya art that shows animals as being the land on which people walk should not be taken literally.) Itzamná also has a group of four aspects, each connected to one of the four cardinal directions and a color. And another aspect of his was the Milky Way.

The goddess Chak Chel (you might come across books that refer to her as Ix Chel) may be an aspect of Itzamná, or perhaps they were two parts of one deity. The ancient Maya may have given Itzamná and Chak Chel credit for being the creators of people as well as time. The two may have been seen as the gods of healing as well.

In the Classic and Postclassic Period at least, another aspect -- or perhaps spirit animal companion -- of Itzamná was a supernatural bird that has the same headdress as him. Images of the bird also tend to have it holding a snake in its beak. Archaeologists sometimes call this bird the Principal Bird Deity (PBD for short) or the Itzamná bird. Because of how it looks, there's a theory that this bird's appearance may have been based off of a real species of bird called the laughing falcon or guaco (Herpetotheres cachinnans) -- but not everyone agrees on what bird the Principal Bird Deity is supposed to be like though.

(There's a also theory that Itzamná (god D) is actually a a mix of of Pauahtun (god N) and the Principal Bird Deity.)

Consideration
Itzamná tends to be drawn with a hummingbird. In these images, the hummingbird is giving him things. This may mean that the hummingbird was Itzamná's messenger. It's not the only possible messenger of this god's though. Archaeologists have found evidence that there were times where the Principal Bird Deity delivered messages for Itzamná. The name for the Principal Bird Deity as a messenger could be Muut Itzamnaaj.

References: