Like other Mesoamerican peoples, the traditional Mayas recognize in the maize a vital force with which they strongly identify. This is clearly shown by their mythological traditions. According to the Popol Vuh, the Hero Twins have maize plants as alter egos and man himself is created from maize. The discovery and opening of the Maize Mountain - the place where the corn seeds are hidden - is still one of the most popular of Mayan tales. Classic Period iconography betrays a remarkably differentiated theological reflection on the role of the maize crop.
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Female and male maize deities
In Maya oral tradition, the maize is usually personified as a woman - not unlike the rice in Southeast Asia, or the wheat in ancient Greece and Rome. The acquisition of this woman through bridal capture or bridal service constitutes one of the basic Maya myths. In contrast to this, the pre-Spanish Mayan aristocracy appears to have primarily conceived the maize as male. A male maize deity (labeled God E) is present in the three extant Maya books of undisputed authenticity. The Classic period distinguished two male forms: A Foliated and a Tonsured Maize God (K. Taube). The Foliated Maize God is present in the so-called Maize Tree (Temple of the Foliated Cross, Palenque), its cobs being shaped like the deity's head. Whereas the Foliated Maize God is a one-dimensional vegetative spirit, the Tonsured Maize God's functions are diverse. On stelas, the ritual representative of the Tonsured Maize God tends to be a queen rather than a king. The queen thus appears to have become a maize goddess, in accordance with the Mayan narrative traditions mentioned above.
Functions of the Tonsured Maize God
The Tonsured Maize God personifies precious substances: maize, jade, and also cacao. The Popol Vuh has Xquic imploring a 'Cacao Woman', but the Classical Mayas preferred to depict the cacao god as a male. The Tonsured Maize God doubles as a Tonsured Cacao God, with cacao pods growing from his body.[1] More directly, the Tonsured Cacao God's body can be shown as a tree, with his head representing the cacao pod growing on its stem. A Classical Mayan vase in the Popol Vuh Museum seems to show a trophy head suspended in such a personified cacao tree.
In addition to being the deity of maize and cacao, the Tonsured Maize God is also a patron of dancing and feasting. As a ceremonial dancer, he often carries a specific 'totemic' animal in his backrack. Together with the Howler Monkey Gods, he is a patron of the scribal arts (see fig. 1). In this, as in some other respects, the Tonsured Maize God is a juvenile form of the upper god, God D (Itzamna).
Classic Maya maize mythology
Many Classic Maya paintings, particularly on vases, testify to the existence of a rich maize mythology centered on the Tonsured Maize God. The murals of San Bartolo demonstrate its great antiquity.[2] In many scenes, the aquatic environment strongly comes to the fore (see fig. 2), most famously in the maize deity's resurrection from the carapace of a turtle that is floating on the waters. An influential theory makes the resurrected Tonsured Maize God of the Classic Period correspond to the father of the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh, Hun-Hunahpu.[3] The Tonsured Maize God is also shown interacting with the aged jaguar deity of trade, god L.[4]
It is not unlikely that, together with the Maya Hero Twins (and also, in certain traditions, the Howler Monkey Gods), the maize deity helped to give the world its present appearance. Such a transformative process is described in an important maize myth shared by many ethnic groups (such as Huaxtecs, Nahuas and Zoque-Popolucas) inhabiting Mexico's Gulf Coast. Especially the fact that this myth focuses on a male, rather than a female maize deity, while at the same time establishing an intimate connection between the maize god and the turtle, suggests that the Classic Mayas may have participated in this narrative tradition.[5]
Names and calendrical functions
Several designations for the pre-Spanish maize god occur in the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. They include ah mun 'tender green shoot' [6] and zac uac nal 'white-six-new corn' (or uac chuaac nal 'six-tall-new corn').[7] The Classic name of the Tonsured Maize God (which usually includes the numeral 'One') is not known, although various suggestions have been made ('Hun-Nal-Ye', 'Ixim'). In a speculative context, the Tonsured Maize God (again equated with Hun-Hunahpu) has often been nicknamed 'First Father'.
The appearance of the Tonsured Maize God is connected to the base date of the Long Count, 4 Ahau 8 Cumku. Calendrically, the maize is associated with the day Q'an 'Ripe(ness)'; the head of the Foliated Maize God serves to denote the number Eight. The Tonsured Maize God is sometimes found associated with the lunar crescent and may therefore have played a role in the divisions of the lunar count; his head seems to occur in glyph C of the Lunar Series (see also Maya moon goddess).
Notes
References
- Bassie, Karen (2000). "Corn Deities and the Complementary Male/Female Principle" (PDF). Mesoweb Articles. Mesoweb. http://www.mesoweb.com/features/bassie/corn/. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
- Bierhorst, John (2002). The Mythology of Mexico and Central America (new and revised edition, with new Afterword ed.). London and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-195-14621-2. OCLC 48390956.
- Braakhuis, H.E.M. (2009). "The Tonsured Maize God and Chicome-Xochitl as Maize Bringers and Culture Heroes: A Gulf Coast Perspective" (PDF). Wayeb Notes No. 32. http://www.wayeb.org/notes/wayeb_notes0032.pdf.
- Chinchilla Mazariegos, Oswaldo (2003). Los dioses del Popol Vuh en el arte maya clásico = Gods of the Popol Vuh in Classic Maya Art. Guatemala City: Museo Popol Vuh, Universidad Francisco Marroquín. ISBN 99922-775-1-3. OCLC 54755323. (Spanish) (English)
- Martin, Simon (2006). "Cacao in Ancient Maya Religion: First Fruit from the Maize Tree and other Tales from the Underworld". in Cameron L. McNeil. Chocolate in Mesoamerica. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. pp. 154–183.
- Miller, Mary; and Karl Taube (1993). The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05068-6. OCLC 27667317.
- Quenon, Michel; and Genevieve Le Fort (1997). "Rebirth and Resurrection in Maize God Iconography". in Justin Kerr (ed.). The Maya Vase Book Vol. 5: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases. New York: Kerr and Associates. pp. 884–902. ISBN 0-962-42084-0.
- Roys, Ralph L. (trans.) (1967). The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Saturno, William; David Stuart and Karl Taube (2005). The Murals of San Bartolo, El Petén, Guatemala, Part I: The North Wall. Ancient America 7.
- Taube, Karl A. (1985). "The Classic Maya Maize God: A Reappraisal". in Virginia M. Fields (volume ed.) (PDF). Proceedings of the Fifth Palenque Round Table Conference, June 12–18, 1983, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983. Merle Greene Robertson (general ed.) (PARI Online publication (November 2003) ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute. OCLC 12111843. http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT07/Maize.html. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
- Taube, Karl A. (1993). Aztec and Maya Myths (1st University of Texas edn. ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press; in cooperation with British Museum Press. ISBN 0-292-78130-X. OCLC 29124568.
- Tedlock, Dennis (trans.) (1985). Popol Vuh: the Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-45241-X. OCLC 11467786.
- Thompson, J. Eric S. (1970). Maya History and Religion. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
See also
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