by Mildred Boyd

     Thanks to book-burning priests like Bishop Diego de Landa, the little we know of the Lowland Maya deities is extremely confusing. We do know that they were many and varied. The Greeks may have had a word for it but the Maya had one better; they had a god for it.
    Each deity could be benign or malevolent as the mood suited. Each demanded elegant housing, blood sacrifice, constant entertainment and, above all, unquestioning adoration. Denied any of these, they were given to childish tantrums to the dismay of their worshippers.
    Indeed, the Creator gods, Maker, Modeler, Bearer and Begetter, had fashioned mankind for this one purpose. When, after three unsatisfactory tries, they finally created the Maize men, Jaguar with the Sweet Smile, Night Jaguar, Moon Jaguar, Distinguished Name, they found that they had succeeded only too well.
    These creatures not only walked and talked, cultivated the earth and worshipped the gods but were able to see to the ends of the world and were omniscient. Fearing they had created rivals for themselves, the gods hastened to dim their sight and limit their knowledge. For consolation they gave them women; Falling Water, Beautiful Water, Water of Parrots and House of the Water who became their respective wives.
    Most of the gods had at least four aspects, one for each of the cardinal directions and its color. The Bacabs, placed by the creators at the four ends of the earth to support the heavens, are a good example. Chac-Xibchac supported the east and his color was red. Sac-Sini, white, took the north, Ekel-Bacab, black, the west and Hobnil, yellow, the south. Each Bacab presided over one year of the four-year cycle.
    These four were probably the offspring of Itzamna (Iguana House), the sun god and supreme deity, the ruler of heaven, day, and night, and Ixchel, (The Lady Rainbow), goddess of the moon, weaving, medicine, and childbirth. She was said to pay special attention to the pilgrims who visited Isla Mujeres and Cozumel. Solar and lunar eclipses were thought to be caused by the violent marital quarrels of the pair. In fact, the moon shone as brightly as the sun until he poked out her eye during one of their spats.
    Itzamna frequently appeared as four gods, who encompassed the world and, again, were associated with the cardinal directions and their colors. Itzamna was also a culture hero who gave humankind writing and the calendar and was patron deity of medicine. Ixchel was possibly a female manifestation of Itzamna.
    Chac, the Rain god had a dozen or more aspects. As chief god of the milpas, Kunku Chac (The Kindly God) gave the rainfall so vital to an agrarian society. As Ah Ch’aelem Chac (Lightning Bringer) he could kill individual offenders with a bolt. In other guises he could wipe out whole villages with floods, blow them away with savage winds or starve entire populations by prolonged droughts. Frogs and toads, harbingers of rain, were said to be the children of Chac’s wife.
    Kinich Ahau, the Sun god was patron of the city Itzamal, which he visited daily as a macaw to consume prepared offerings. He is usually shown with jaguar- like features (ex. filed teeth). He was also known by the name Ah Xoc Kin, and was associated with poetry and music.

    Kukulcan, Feathered Serpent, was god of the Winds and the Morning Star, Gukumatz was a god of the four elements, each one associated with a divine animal or plant: Air with the Vulture, Earth with Maize; Fire with the Lizard and Water with Fish.
    The Maize god represented of the ripe grain which was the basic food of the Maya. He is shown with a headdress of maize and a curved streak on his cheek and is noticeably younger than the other gods. Though very important, the Maize god was powerless by himself. His fate was in the control of rain and drought. The Rain god would protect him but he suffered when the Death god brought drought. In Maya mythology, Yum Caax (Lord of the Woods) was the personification of maize and a god of agriculture and nature. In Yucatan, the Maize god was also identified with the Flower god, Yumil Kaxob.
    Ah Puch, ruler of the Underworld was the Death God. His body was predominantly skeletal and his adornments made of bones. Under the name Yum Cimil was represented with a body covered with black spots of decomposition and wearing a collar with eyeless sockets, a symbol for the Underworld. Cizin Kisin, (Stinking One), Earthquake god and another god of Death, was ruler of the subterranean land of the dead where all souls except those of soldiers killed in battle and women who died in childbirth spend some time. Suicides, except those who died by hanging, were doomed to his realm for eternity.
    Ixtab, the Suicide goddess, was always represented with a rope around her neck. The Mayans believed that suicides by hanging would lead directly to heaven, so suicides were common. Ixtab, as goddess of the Hanged, received their souls into eternal paradise.
    Yaxche is the Cieba Tree which grows at the center of the earth with roots reaching down through the nine levels of the underworld and branches climbing to the highest of the thirteen levels of heaven. This is by no means the same as the Christian concept of heavenly rewards and hellish punishments. With the exceptions already noted, every soul had to spend some time in each level in order to be reborn and start allover again.
    There were numerous, less powerful deities. Ahau Chamahez and Cit Bolon Tum were the two gods of Medicine. Ahmakiq, a god of Agriculture, locked up the wind when it threatened to destroy the crops. Akhushtal was another goddess of Childbirth. Kan-u-Uayeyab was chief guardian of cities, although each community had its own patron as well. Kinich Kakmo was another Sun god symbolized by the Macaw. Mayahuel was goddess of Pulque. Nacon, the god of War, was not as important here as in other cultures. Tzultacaj was the god of the mountains and valleys though, again, each mountain had its own deity.
    Add the 365 Day gods, the Bat, Crocodile, Jaguar, Coyote and Bee gods, the Merchant’s god and the four Balams (jaguars) who were guardians of each village and milpa and you have a cast thousands, each demanding his or her rites at the proper time. No wonder the Maya were so obsessed with the necessity of keeping an accurate calendar!