grupo de deidades

The messengers of Xib'alb'a, or “vzamahel Xib'alb'a” are a group of four owls, each with distinct, surreal features. The text introduces them when the Lords of Xib'alb'a first summon Jun Junajpu and Wuqub’ Junajpu to play with them in Xib'alb'a, and they serve the Lords of Xib'alb'a several times in the text thereafter. According to Ximénez, the messengers are named “chabi tucur” or “saeta tecolote”; “huracan tucur” or “tecolote de vna pierna”; “caquix tucur” or “guacamaya tecolote”; and “holom tucur” or “tecolotecabeza” (13v).

Jun Kame' (One Death) and Wuqub’ Kame' (Seven Death) are the principal deities of the realm of Xib'alb'a. Their names represent the K’iche’ calendar dates of Kame', a day generally associated with the word for death (kämikal). They are first introduced in Popol Wuj when they are disturbed by the ball playing of Jun Junajpu and Wuqub’ Junajpu. Their most important moment in the text is arguably their defeat by the Hero Twins Junajpu and Xb’alamq'e, marking the end of their powerful rule over the existing world.

When the first four K’iche’ men, B'alam K’itze’, B'alam Aq’ab, Majuk’utaj and Iq’i B'alam, begin their sacrificial killings to the gods Tojil, Awilix, and Jakawitz, the enemies of the K’iche’ plan to defeat the K’iche’ and thus avenge the deaths of their people. Their plan involves sending two of their best maidens, Xtaj and Xpuch’, who will wash their clothes in the river where the gods are, and thus offer themselves and their bodies to the gods.

Lady Blood, or Ixkik’ as she is called in K'iche', is the daughter of the lord of Xib'alb'a Gathered Blood (Kuchuma Kik’). She becomes impregnated by the skull of One Junajpu (Jun Junajpu) in the ballcourt where he and his brother Seven Junajpu (Wuqub’ Junajpu) lost to the Lords of Xib'alb'a. As a result of this pregnancy, she escapes Xib'alb'a to avoid facing sacrifice by the Lords.

The importance of maize to Mayan cultures is well represented in the Popol Wuj. Below we provide insights from other primary and secondary sources so that readers may appreciate the profound technological and sociohistorical implications of maize cultivation in daily life and spiritual paths, including the creation of the first human beings -- "las primeras gentes creadas y formadas," B'alam Ki'tze', B'alam Aq'ab', Majuk'utaj, e Iq'i B'alam (Colop 2011: 130).

Jun B’atz’ y Jun Chowen son hijos gemelos de Xbaquiyalo y Jun Junajpu, pero son mejor conocidos como los Hermanos Artesanos, destacados por su sabiduría y sus habilidades en varias áreas artesanas, conforme al historiador Adrián Recinos (1976: 60). Los sabios abuelos les enseñaban "las artes y el trabajo," tal como el lingüista k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 62) traduce la expresión del idioma k'iche' al castellano.

The lords of Xib'alb'a are a group of deities. Within the group, each deity is paired with another lord, both having a specific combined way of killing or torturing humans. In turn, the pairs are ruled by two main deities: Wuqub’ Kame and Jun Kame. Anthropologists Dennis Tedlock (1996: 136) and Allen J. Christenson (2007: 162-63) maintain the parallelism of the naming of the lords of Xib'alb'a in a critical scene in which a mosquito, named X'an, bites all the lords on the Black Road.

“Dos muchachos” es la traducción literal de Ximénez de la frase K’iche’ caib qaholab (que corresponde a kaib k’ajolab’ en la ortografía contemporánea), la cual corresponde a los hermanos Junajpu y Xbalanke. Los términos se pueden entender de esta manera: Keb’ quiere decir “dos”, k’ajol se entiende como “hijo del padre”, y -ab indica un sustantivo plural. La combinación textual de los hermanos en una sola frase se puede interpretar acerca de su naturaleza divina.

Uk'u'x' Kaj ("Corazón del Cielo") es lo que el investigador k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 28n26) llama la contraparte de Uk'u'x Ulew ("Coraz´ón de la Tierra"). Proporcionamos mayores informaciones sobre cada deidad en las páginas individuales.

Uk'u'x Kaj is the first of the two-part deity group Uk'u'x Kaj, Uk'u'x Ulew, meaning "Heart of Sky" and "Heart of Earth" (Christenson 2003: ll. 263-264). We provide more information on the deities on their individual pages.