Thank you for visiting. This article is the third installment in a series explaining the original texts of Maya mythology.
So far, I have looked at the creation (Article 1) and the hero twins (Article 2) of the “Popol Vuh.” In fact, the “Popol Vuh” does not end here. There is a long latter half, telling how the humans born from maize received gods, awaited the dawn, and in time built the K’iche’ kingdom. It is an important part unique to this original text, where myth connects to real history.
For an overview map of the original texts of Maya mythology as a whole, please see this summary article.
Let me show the flow traced in this latter half in a diagram.
The First Four, and the Increasing People
As seen in Article 1, the gods made, from maize powder, four men as the first humans: Balam Quitze, Balam Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui Balam.
They were, unlike the previous failures, wise and devout. They deeply thanked the gods who made them and offered prayers. The gods made four women for them as wives, and from here humans bore children and increased. In time their descendants divided into several tribes (peoples). The ancestors of the K’iche’ (K’iche’ Maya) people too are held to have begun from the family of these first four.
But the world of this age was still wrapped in the darkness before dawn. The sun had not yet risen, and people, in the twilight, longed for the coming dawn.
World Mythology for Beginners (illustrated)View on Amazon →
An Illustrated Introduction to the World’s 5 Great MythologiesView on Amazon →
Receiving Gods and Language at Tulan
The increased people, seeking a guardian god to protect them, set out for the far eastern holy land “Tulan Zuiva (the seven caves, the seven canyons).”
At this Tulan, two fateful events occurred. One is that the people’s language, until then one, divided into several languages. By this, the tribes came to no longer understand one another’s words — it well shows how the Maya people explained the origin of language diversity. It is a passage resonating with the Bible’s “Tower of Babel.”
And the other is that each tribe received a guardian god. The K’iche’ ancestors carried their own god on their backs and brought it home from here.
| First father | God received |
|---|---|
| Balam Quitze | Tohil (the K’iche’s supreme guardian god) |
| Balam Acab | Avilix |
| Mahucutah | Hacavitz |
| Iqui Balam | (received his own god, but is held to have left no descendants) |
Among them, what became the center of the K’iche’ people was the guardian god “Tohil.” This Tohil was the very god who would greatly sway the K’iche’s fate hereafter.
Tohil’s Fire — In Exchange for What Was It Given?
The road home from Tulan was tormented by freezing cold and rain. What the people most needed was “fire” to take warmth and cook food.
At this time, the only ones who had fire were the K’iche’ people, who had received Tohil. Tohil is held to have produced fire by striking his own footwear (sandals) together. Meanwhile, the other tribes had their fire put out by hail and rain and froze in the cold.
Seeking fire, the messengers of the other tribes came to the K’iche’. Here, the god Tohil put forth a heavy “price.” “I will share fire. But in exchange, you must submit yourselves to me and be embraced at my side (= acknowledge me as lord and offer sacrifice).” This was to make them promise, in exchange for fire, submission to Tohil and blood sacrifice (human sacrifice).
Here is told the origin of the law of “offering blood to the god,” one of the cores of Maya religion. The blessing of civilization (fire) is paid for by the price of sacrifice to the god — this idea resonates deeply with the worldview of the neighboring Aztec.
Awaiting the Dawn — the Morning Star and the First Sunrise
The people, carrying their god and having gained fire, still journeyed in the continuing darkness and at last reached the top of the mountain “Hacavitz.” And they longed for the dawn, awaiting it eagerly.
The people fasted, burned incense, and, praying intently, kept gazing at the eastern sky. In time, the “morning star (Venus)” announcing the dawn glittered and rose. And at last the time came. The world’s first sun (the true sun) rose from the eastern sky. The people rejoiced, burned incense, and danced to greet the sun.
But the first sun was far hotter and more dazzling than the present sun. By its heat, the muddy earth at once dried and hardened. And astonishingly, the guardian gods Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, and the fierce animals of the fields and mountains (pumas, jaguars, serpents), bathed in the light of the first day and turned to stone. The gods remained on earth as visible stone images (sacred objects) — here is told the origin of the Maya people enshrining gods as stone images. Thus the long age of darkness ended, and the age of humans lit by the sun began.
The Establishment of the K’iche’ Royal Line — Myth Becomes History
From here, the “Popol Vuh” at last begins to tell the very history of the K’iche’ kingdom. It is the scene where myth and real history connect in a single line.
The god Tohil, who became stone, still kept demanding blood sacrifice. The first fathers, for Tohil, captured people of other tribes and offered them as sacrifices. The other tribes, suffering from this, tried to destroy the K’iche’ by sending beautiful women or attacking with armies, but all failed by Tohil’s protection. Thus the K’iche’ people grew into a mighty power.
The aged first four fathers bade farewell to their descendants and, leaving the sacred bundle (the sign of kingship) called the “Pizom Kakal (the bundle of flame),” suddenly vanished. The remaining sons, to receive the legitimacy of kingship, journeyed to the far eastern land (Tulan), to the ruler “Nacxit,” and received the symbols of the throne and returned.
And the story closes with the genealogy of the successive K’iche’ kings (the royal line). The bloodline beginning with the first father Balam Quitze divided into powerful houses such as the Cawek house, the Nihaib house, and the Ahau-K’iche’ house, passing through many generations of kings, connecting down to the lords of the time the “Popol Vuh” was written. To tell, in a single book, from the creation of heaven and earth to the genealogy of a real royal house — this is the grand scale of the original text, the “Popol Vuh.”
Why Are Myth and History One?
The reason the “Popol Vuh” gathers the creation myth and the royal genealogy into one book lies in this book’s role. “Popol Vuh” means “the Book of Council (the Book of the Community),” and was originally a fundamental royal scripture, so to speak, used by the K’iche’ kings and rulers to confirm the legitimacy of their rule.
“Our royal house inherits its blood straight from the gods who created the world, through Tohil” — by telling this, the K’iche’ rule was mythically backed up. As Chinese mythology incorporated the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors at the start of history, and as Japan’s Kojiki and Nihon Shoki connected the bloodline from the gods to the emperor, the undertaking of supporting real kingship by myth can be clearly seen here in the Maya too. Precisely for this, the “Popol Vuh” is a special original text in reading out the world’s mythologies as well.
To Learn More
Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.
An Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Myths and LegendsView on Amazon →
An Anatomical Illustrated Guide to the Myths That Make StoriesView on Amazon →
Conclusion
In this article, I explained in detail the story of the dawn and the origin of the people in the latter half of the “Popol Vuh,” following the original text. How was it?
The first four born from maize received the guardian god Tohil at Tulan, took on the law of blood sacrifice in exchange for fire, greeted the first sunrise with the morning star (the gods turning to stone), and in time built the K’iche’ royal line — I think you have felt the grand scale of this original text, in which myth flows into real history.
In the next Article 4 (the final installment), I will explain the Maya gods, the precise calendar and worldview, and the codices behind such stories.
I hope you’ll read the next article too.
📚 Series: The Original Texts of Maya Mythology (4/5)
