Maya mythology

by admin on Sep.26, 2010, under Maya mythology and religion

Maya mythology is part of Mesoamerican mythology and comprises all of the Mayan tales in which personified forces of nature, deities, and the heroes interacting with these play the main roles. Other parts of Maya oral tradition (such as animal tales and many moralising stories) do not properly belong to the domain of mythology, but rather to legend and folk tale.

Sources

The oldest myths date from the 16th century and are found in historical sources from the Guatemalan Highlands. The most important of these documents is the Popol Vuh or ‘Book of the Council’, which contains Quichean creation stories and the adventures of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

Yucatán is an equally important region. The Books of Chilam Balam contain mythological passages of great antiquity, and mythological fragments are found scattered among the early-colonial Spanish chronicles and reports, chief among them Diego de Landa’s Relación, and in the dictionaries compiled by the early missionaries.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, anthropologists and local folklorists have committed many stories to paper. Even though most Maya tales are the results of an historical process in which Spanish narrative traditions interacted with native ones, some of the tales reach back well into pre-Spanish times. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the transmission of traditional tales has entered its final stage. Fortunately, however, this is also a time in which the Mayas themselves have begun to salvage and publish the precious tales of their parents and grandparents.

Bibliography and References

John Bierhorst, The Mythology of Mexico and Central America. Oxford U.P. 2002.

John Bierhorst (ed.), The Monkey’s Haircut and Other Stories Told by the Maya. New York: William Morrow 1986.

Didier Boremanse, Contes et mythologie des indiens lacandons. Paris: L’Harmattan. 1986. (Also in Spanish: Cuentos y mitología de los lacandones. Tradición oral maya. Editorial: Academia de Geografia e Historia de Guatemala.)

Gary Gossen, Chamulas in the World of the Sun.

Calixta Guiteras Holmes, Perils of the Soul. The World View of a Tzotzil Indian. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe. 1961.

Robert Laughlin, Of Cabbages and Kings.

Mary Miller; and Simon Martin (2004). Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05129-1. OCLC 54799516.

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.

Irene Nicholson, Mexican and Central American Mythology. London: Paul Hamlyn. 1967.

Kay Almere Read, Jason J. Gonzalez, Mesoamerican Mythology. A guide to the gods, heroes, rituals, and beliefs of Mexico and Central America. Oxford 2002.

Ralph L. Roys, The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1967.

Karl Taube, The Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan. Dumbarton Oaks 1992.

Karl Taube, Aztec and Maya Myths. British Museum 1993.

D. Tedlock, Popol Vuh. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Thompson, J. Eric S. (1970). Maya History and Religion. Civilization of the American Indian Series, No. 99. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-0884-3. OCLC 177832.