The Cardinal Directions

Made with two images from Project Gutenberg and the
CIA's World Factbok via MS Paint.

Like other cultures, the Maya civilization had four cardinal or world directions -- and a fifth one for the center of these directions. These directions had various other things that the Maya connected with them. (For instance, colors. In more modern times, Eduard Seler -- a man who studied cultures in Mesoamerica -- is understood to have been the one who officially realized this specific connection.)

Directions
The directions in the ancient Maya world were north, west, east, center, and south -- when used together, all of these directions make what is called a quincunx. These directions -- in the eyes of the ancient Maya -- followed the sun's "path," which would mean that north was not just north but up as well (aka zenith) and south was down (aka nadir) as well as being south.  Of the directions, the ancient Maya looked at north and south as having less meaning than east and west.

Names of the Directions
Some names for the four directions that you might see are: north or "xaman," west or "chik'in," east or "lak'in" or "lik'in" (lak'in is an older term,) and south or "nohol." (You may also see "nal" for north, "ochk'in" for west, and "el k'in" for east.)

A modified image of the direction glyphs as seen in the Dresden Codex. From a Project Gutenberg upload of a translation of a book written by Ernst Förstemann.

Colors
Red or chak was the color of the east, yellow or k'an was the color of south, white or sak was the color of north and black or ek was the color of west. The color of the center direction was yax, which has been translated as "green," blue-green," "blue." (The Ancient Maya sixth edition says that Mayan languages don't have separate basic words for blue and green.)

Gods
There were gods that had aspects connected with the cardinal directions -- and their colors -- such as Pauahtun (God N,) Kawiil (God K,) Itzamná (God D,) and Chaak (God B.) As for Chaak, his four direction aspects were: Kan Xib Chaak for yellow and south, Ek Xib Chaak for black and west, Chak Xib Chaak for red and east, and Sak Xib Chaak for white and north. (These aspects can be found in the Dresden Codex, and archaeologists have also found Classic Period artifacts that involve the "red" aspect of Chaak.)

Considerations
The Books of Chilam Balam talk about the directions too. And in the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, each direction has several things, a tree and a bird (of that direction's color) as well as a (or an aspect) of the god called Bacab, who kept the sky away from the earth.

Speaking of trees, it was popular in ancient Maya times to draw the center "direction" as a ceiba tree. The ancient Maya are also known to have drawn the center as a crocodile.

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

Google Books: Landscapes of Origin in the Americas: Creation Narratives Linking Ancient Places and Present Communities"; Jessica Joyce Christie (editor); 2009

Google Books: "Death and the Classic Maya Kings"; James L. Fitzsimmons; 2009

Google Books: "Daily Life in Maya Civilization" second edition; Robert J. Sharer; 2009

Google Books: "The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs: Volume 2 The Codical Texts"; Martha J Macri, Gabrielle Vail; 2009

Google Books: "Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities"; Karen Bassie-Sweet; 2008

Google Books: "Maya Calendar Origins: Monuments, Mythistory, and the Materialization of time"; Prudence M. Rice; 2007

Google Books: "The Ancient Maya" sixth edition; Robert J. Sharer; Loa P. Traxler; 2006

"Contributions in New World Archaeology"; volume 5; pages 165 to 196

Image Credits:
Project Gutenberg: Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University VOL. IV. -- No. 2: "Commentary on the Maya Manuscript in the Royal Public Library of Dresden"; Ernst Förstemann, Selma Wesselhoeft, A.M. Parker, Ernst Förstemann (translators); 1906; page 267

Project Gutenberg: Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 57: "An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs"; Sylvanus Griswold Morley; 1915; page 1

The World Factbook: Mexico

Eduard Seler

Eduard Seler was a deep scholar of Mesoamerica who was born in the mid-1800s and lived into the early 1920s. Seler is known for his research and writings on the native cultures of the Americas. His most noted connection to the ancient Maya world is his decipherment of five glyphs.

Birth and Education

Eduard Georg Seler came into this world December 5, 1849, in a place known as Crossen an der Order, located in what was then Prussia -- the second youngest of four children. He went to Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium (in Berlin) from 1863 until 1869, on a scholarship given to teachers' children (Seler's father, Gottlieb Robert Seler, was a teacher). He then went to the university of Breslau, but only for a year as he was in the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 until 1871 (these were the years of the Franco-Prussian War).

Still in 1871, Seler went to the University of Berlin, and in 1875 he passed an exam called the Oberlehrer. In 1876 he took a position at Berlin's Dorothen-stadtischen Realgymnasium where he taught both math and natural science. He had to stop about four years later because of illness.

Seler moved to Trieste, where he took up learning linguistics, and during this time also seems to have started to learn about pre-Columbian archaeology and ethnography. He got a doctorate in 1887 from the University of Leipzig.

From 1904 until the year he died, Seler was the director of the Königlichen Museum Für Völkerkunde's American Division, located in Berlin.

One Mesoamerica in General

In terms of identifying the continuum of Mesoamerican ideology, Seler pointed out how "Mexican" cultures (like the Aztec) shared some ideas with the Maya. His essays on Mesoamerica, when put together make up five volumes.

Seler learned different Mesoamerican languages, including Nahuatl. He found a patron in a man named Duc de Loubat, who gave him money to visit Mesoamerica, and also published Seler's work with color photos.

On the Maya Specifically

Although Seler had much knowledge on Mesoamerica, he did not greatly contribute to the decipherment of the Maya writing system. Seler did not believe that the ancient Maya writing system actually was a writing system. In fact, he and another man, Cyrus Thomas, published papers back and forth at each other in Science (a magazine) from 1892 until 1893, arguing their positions.

Although he was wrong about the Maya writing system, Seler did discover one thing: the glyphs for the world colors. These are the colors connected to the world directions -- with one color being connected to one direction.

Death

Seler died in November 1922 in his home in Berlin. His body was cremated and placed inside an urn in the Aztec style. This urn was then put in a mausoleum in Steglitz that belonged to his wife's family. Later, his wife died and her remains were also placed in the mausoleum.

References:

"Breaking the Maya Code"; Michael D. Coe; 1992

Online Archive of California: Finding Aid for the Eduard Selers Papers, ca. 1884-1922

"Handbook of Middle American Indians"; Howard F. Cline; 1973