THE CREATION AND ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO THE MAYANS

We invite you to learn in the following article a little more about what the Origin of the Universe was like according to the Mayans. Discover which gods were in charge of human creation and why they had to make several attempts to achieve success.

Origin of the Universe according to the Mayans

In our article today we are going to learn a little about the vision of the origin of the universe according to the Mayan culture, one of the most important cultures in world history. According to the Mayans, before what we know as The Earth existed, there were three Gods: Tepeu, Gucumatz and Huracán. Each of these three gods represented something in particular to the Mayans.

For example, the god Tepeu was considered the God of the sky, Gucumatz was the god of storms and responsible for teaching men how to make fire, while Huracán was identified as the god of air, storm and fire. Each of these gods played a special role in the creation of the universe according to the Mayans.

There are some theories of the origin of the universe according to the Mayans, but one of the most famous is the one that indicates that the first two gods (Tepeu and Gucumatz) believed that in order for the Gods to be remembered, they had to create beings who worshiped them and would remember them forever and it was for that reason that the three Gods begin the creation of the Earth. First they created animals, however, they realized that these animals did not pay attention to the gods.

Seeing that the animals were not paying attention to the Gods, they became angry and forced the animals to fight among themselves. Then there was a second attempt at creation and that is where man comes in. The attempt was to create man but since they did not know how to do it, they carried out several projects: First of all they created a man but he fell apart very quickly.

After that they made another attempt: They created a wooden man, however, he had no feelings or soul, that is, he did not have the ability to worship the Gods. Then the Hurricane God caused, according to the Mayans, a great flood in order to get rid of them. After that came another attempt, on that occasion, they created four men with corn, called Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah and lqi-Balam, but with the help of more Gods, thirteen in total.

The theory of the Mayans says that for these gods the men who had been created were highly intelligent so they had to invent another strategy. The god Hurricane made men’s vision cloudy so that they could not see the sun. Later, there would come the creation of women, who at that time were called Caha-Paluná, Chomiha, Tzunihá, Cakix-há.

Once men and women were created, both beings began to relate to each other and reproduce. They began to have children and each being that was born had to worship the gods, and they also begged them for the Sun to rise so they could see again. This was the origin of the Universe according to the Mayans, however, it is also important to mention the two twin heroes named Xbalanqué and Hunahpú.

The intention of these two twin heroes was to take revenge against the Gods of Xibalbá, known to us as the underworld or hell. The twins lived with their grandmother and their cousins ​​and the latter were envious of the twins. One day when the cousins ​​and the heroes were hunting, the cousins ​​transformed into monkeys and the twins could not find any explanation for what was happening, they went to tell their grandmother but she laughed.

Several days later the twins were playing ball and that made the gods of Xibalbá angry and they ordered them to go down to Xibalbá to play with them. When the twins arrived in the underworld, the Gods tried to kill them but failed. After that, the gods asked the twins if they wanted to play with them and they answered yes and defeated them.

When they were defeated, the gods imposed a series of tests and challenges on the twins. One of the first was to enter the house of knives, where the gods believed that the twins would be torn to pieces, however, they manage to avoid all the knives and get out of there without problems. They are then ordered to enter the jaguar house where they also emerged unharmed after giving the jaguars a bone.

Another test was to take the twins in front of a bonfire and throw them there, thus managing to kill Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, however, they managed to be reincarnated into fish and then into poor men who killed each other and then were resurrected. This is how the twins managed to defeat the gods of Xibalbá and then became the sun and the moon, giving vision to men and women and remembering the gods Tepeu, Gucumatz and Huracán.

Mayan mythology

When talking about Mayan mythology we are referring directly to the various polytheistic beliefs led by the pre-Columbian Mayan civilization. Let us remember that the Mayans were characterized from the beginning by following their religious traditions; some of those traditions are even still told as surprising stories by the modern Mayans.

History tells that the original Mayan texts were burned by the Spanish when they arrived on an expedition to America in their desire to invade these lands. It is for this reason that knowledge about Mayan mythology today was considered quite limited due to the absence of corroborative elements that verify what the traditions of these native peoples were like.

There are texts that can help us understand Mayan mythology, among them, we find the Popol Vuh, being one of the few writings that managed to survive the invasion of the Spanish. There it is told how the creation of the Earth was, the adventures of the twin gods and the creation of the first man on Earth. There are also other writings such as the books of “Chilam Balam” and the Chronicles of Chacxulubchen.

The Popol Vuh

The Popol Vuh is considered one of the writings that managed to survive the Spanish invasion during the conquest of America. This Mayan book completely describes how the origin of the Universe was according to the Mayans. At the beginning we talked about an interesting story of how the Earth was created and that story is described perfectly in this book called Popol Vuh.

According to what was written in the Popol Vuh, man was created from clay without much success, then came the creation of a man from wood with unfavorable results. Then came a third attempt which was the creation of man from corn and he was assigned tasks that praised gods such as cutting gems, carving stones, among other tasks.

The Popol Vuh also tells the interesting story of the so-called legendary twin heroes such as Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué, who after facing many challenges, managed to defeat the gods of Xibalbá, from the underworld. The prize of their victory was to become deities, the moon and the sun, restoring vision to the men of the Earth.

Creation according to the Mayans

In the first part of our article we talked a little about what the origin of the Universe was like according to the Mayans. Mayan history tells that Tepeu and Kukulkan are identified as the creators, manufacturers and ancestors. They were two of the first beings to exist. There was also the god Huracán, or the “heart of the sky” who is given less personification.

The story tells that the gods Tepeu and Kukulkan had a meeting and after their desire to preserve their heritage, they decided that it was necessary to create a race of beings that could worship them. Huracán was in charge of carrying out the creation process while Tepeu and Kukulkan were in charge of directing the process. This is how the Earth was created along with the animals. Then came the creation of man, first from clay, then from wood and finally man from corn after the first two attempts at human creation failed.

Since there is a lack of writings that prove how the creation of the Earth truly was, it has given rise to many legends, in addition to a great myth of the origin of the universe according to the Mayansa myth that has gone from generation to generation and that has remained just there as there is no explanation.

Notable gods

The origin of the Universe according to the Mayans had the intervention of several gods who are attributed the responsibility of having created the Earth and everything on it. These gods had the task of first creating the animals and after that, as we have learned throughout the article, came the creation of man, first from clay, then from wood and finally from corn.

It is important to mention that there are several beliefs of the origin of the universe according to the Mayanseven more so because there are no clear writings that can verify what the creation of the Earth was actually like according to this culture.

The first three creator gods

According to Mayan mythology, the creation of the universe had the direct intervention of three gods, identified as the first three gods created: Kukulkan, Hurakán and Tepeu. They were the ones in charge of carrying out the first attempt to create man from clay, however, it was an attempt that did not achieve favorable results because the clay was very weak and faded.

Kukulkan: Feathered serpent in the Mayan language. He is known as the god of storms. He created life through water and was responsible for teaching men to produce fire. He is also known as the god Kukulcán. Hurricane: God of wind, storm and fire, he is also known as “heart of the sky.” He is identified as one of the creator gods who helped build humanity during the third attempt and it was he who caused the flood after the first creator men angered the gods. Tepeu: This was the god of the sky and one of the creator gods who participated in the three attempts to create humanity.

The seven second creator gods

After the first failed attempt to create man through clay, the gods had to make a second attempt to create man, this time they did it from wood, however, it turned out to be another failed attempt due to that the gods wanted man to worship them but being made of wood, he did not have any soul or feeling. These seven second creator gods were:

Alom Bitol Kukulkan Hurakan Qaholom Tepeu Tzacol

The last creator gods

After the second failed attempt to create Man, the gods decide to try a third time. This time the construction of humanity would be from corn and they finally managed to achieve success where the other gods had failed. The gods who participated in the third attempt were:

Xlitan Ajtzak Akaime Bitol Chirakata-Ixminasune Kukulkán Hunahpu-Gutch Ixmucane

The lords of Xibalbá

On other occasions we have been able to hear talk about…