Principal Maya Gods and Deities

The Maya pantheon comprised hundreds of named deities, ranging from great creator gods to minor household spirits (Miller & Taube 2001). Some, like Itzamna and the maize god, were venerated across the entire Maya area for three millennia. Others, like the merchants’ god Ek’ Chuaj, had more local followings. The most important gods and goddesses can be grouped by domain: creator, solar, agricultural, underworld, royal-lineage, lunar, and funerary. Many of them are described in the Popol Vuh, depicted on the lintels of Yaxchilan, and named in the Dresden Codex.

Itzamna — lord of the heavens

Itzamna was the supreme deity of the Yucatec Maya and one of the most important gods of the Classic period. Usually depicted as a peaceful, elderly man with a large nose, a single tooth, and a hat or headband, Itzamna was credited with inventing writing, the 260-day Tzolk’in calendar, and medicinal herbalism. The Books of Chilam Balam call him the elder of the daykeepers and the patron of the priesthood. He is often paired with Ixchel as the divine couple of the sky, and his four sons — the Pawahtun — were the four-fold creators of the cardinal directions.

Itzamna was the focus of a major Postclassic cult at Izamal, where a great temple complex — the largest in northern Yucatan — was dedicated to him. Pilgrims came to Izamal from across the Yucatan to honor Itzamna, and the cult persisted into the colonial period. The Spanish Franciscan Diego de Landa recorded that the Maya of Izamal still venerated Itzamna in the sixteenth century and that the local tradition made him a son of the Creator.

K’inich Ahau — the sun god

K’inich Ahau, often shortened to K’in Ahau, was the youthful sun god, the daytime face of the sun. He is recognizable on monuments by his hooked Roman-style nose, his large square infixed eye, and the jaguar spots or k’in signs that decorate his face. In the Classic period he was closely associated with kingship: the king’s face was often transformed into the sun god’s in bloodletting scenes, and the king’s ascension was symbolically a sunrise.

The Popol Vuh describes how one of the Hero Twins became K’inich Ahau when he rose into the sky after defeating the lords of Xibalba. His nighttime journey through the underworld, when he becomes the Jaguar God of the Underworld, mirrors the cosmic struggle central to Maya cosmology. In the Dresden Codex, K’inich Ahau presides over almanacs of solar and Venus-cycle events, and the famous eclipse tables use his glyph to mark the days when the sun was “eaten” by the lords of the underworld.

Chaac — the rain god

Chaac, the long-nosed rain god, was perhaps the most universally worshipped deity in the pre-Hispanic lowlands. His long, curling, trumpet-like nose was a stylized rain cloud, and the axes he held produced thunderbolts. A close relationship with Chaac was essential to the success of the milpa and the storage of maize. At Chichen Itza, where rain was the difference between prosperity and famine, Chaac imagery is everywhere, especially in the famous Chaac mask facades of the Terminal Classic structures.

The Yucatec Maya distinguished four Chaacs of the four directions, each associated with a color and a type of storm. The four Chaacs were paired with lightning — sometimes a separate Bolon Dz’acab / K’awiil lightning deity, sometimes Chaac himself in his storm aspect — and their wives were a series of local rainbow goddesses, the most important of whom is Ixchel. The Chaac cult was so central to agriculture that virtually every lowland site has at least one Chaac shrine, and the major cenotes of Yucatan were understood as the dwelling places of the rain god or his wives.

Kukulkan and Gukumatz — the Feathered Serpent

Kukulkan, known as Gukumatz in the K’iche’ language and as K’uk’ulkan or Kukulcan in the inscriptions, was the Maya Feathered Serpent. He was a creator, a bringer of wind and rain, and the patron of royal lineage. His worship was strongly associated with the city of Chichen Itza, where the great Castillo pyramid was designed to create a shadow-serpent at the equinoxes. From the Classic period onward the Feathered Serpent was closely identified with the Vision Serpent conjured in royal bloodletting rituals. He is one of the clearest points of contact with central Mexican religion, where the Feathered Serpent appears as Quetzalcoatl.

The Hero Twins — Hunahpu and Xbalanque

The Hero Twins, Hunahpu (Junajpu’ in modern K’iche’) and Xbalanque (Xb’alanke), are the central characters of the second half of the Popol Vuh. Born miraculously after their father Hun Hunahpu is killed by the lords of Xibalba, they grow up as unruly trickster-youths, summon rain, and accept the challenge of the underworld ballgame. Through wit, magic, and resilience, they defeat the lords of Xibalba and are transformed into the sun and the moon. Their mother, the virgin Xkik’, is sometimes identified with the moon goddess; their grandmother, Xmucane, is a divine midwife.

The twins appear on many Late Classic painted vessels and on the famous bench panels of Quirigua, and they were associated with the planet Venus, with rain, and with royal accession. Their father, Hun Hunahpu, is the pre-eminent maize god.

Ixchel — the moon goddess

Ixchel, sometimes called the “rainbow woman,” was the aged moon goddess, the patron of weaving, fertility, childbirth, and medicine. Her shrine on the island of Cozumel was a major pilgrimage site at the time of the Spanish conquest; she was said to receive women who came to her sanctuary to give birth or to ask for fertility. She is sometimes the wife, sometimes the daughter, of Itzamna, and her two aspects — young and beautiful, or aged and wise — correspond to the waxing and waning moon.

The pilgrimage to Cozumel is one of the most thoroughly documented religious customs of the late Postclassic and early colonial Yucatan. Spanish sources describe long processions of pilgrims, offerings of cloth, food, and small ceramic figurines, and the oracular consultations that took place at the shrine. The island of Cozumel, which had been a major ceremonial center for centuries, was reduced to ruins in the colonial period, but the memory of Ixchel persisted in the folk religion of the Yucatan.

Ah Puch — the skeletal lord of death

Ah Puch, also known as Kisin, was the skeletal lord of death and the ruler of the deepest level of Xibalba. He is often shown as a decomposing body with bells on his flesh, a swag of intestines as a belt, and an owl perched on his head. Ah Puch was feared rather than loved, but his name was invoked in funerary rites and in protective amulets.

The Ah Puch cult was particularly strong in the northern lowlands and at the site of Mayapán, the Postclassic capital of Yucatan. The skeletal imagery of the death god appears in the murals of the Postclassic codices and in the carved stone reliefs of the major Postclassic centers, and it is closely paralleled by the central Mexican Mictlantecuhtli.

Ixtab — the goddess of suicide

Ixtab was a minor but distinctive goddess who welcomed the souls of suicides, sacrificial victims, and women who died in childbirth into a special heaven, carrying them to her home where a happy afterlife awaited. Her presence in the Maya pantheon reflects a complex view of the social value of voluntary death, and she is depicted in the Dresden Codex as a hanging woman with closed eyes.

Pawahtun

Pawahtun (also spelled Pauahtun) was a four-fold creator god, depicted as an old man with a large square nose, a netted headdress, and a book. He was the patron of scribes, of the Haab’ solar calendar, and of the four cardinal directions. He is sometimes identified with God N of the codices and is the father of the four Chaacs in some traditions.

The Pawahtun cult was closely tied to the scribal class. The four Pawahtuns are the four supports of the sky, each at a cardinal direction, and their iconography — a bearded old man with a book and a netted headdress — appears in the inscriptions of the major sites. The Books of Chilam Balam describe Pawahtun as a god of the year-bearer ceremonies, and his image is prominent in the New Year rituals.

The Jaguar Gods of the Underworld

The Jaguar Gods of the Underworld, sometimes called the Jaguar Gods of the Night or the Jaguar Paddlers, are a group of related deities who carried the sun and the maize god through the underworld. The Jaguar God of the Underworld proper, also called the “Starry Deer Crocodile,” appears on funerary ceramics and is the nighttime aspect of the sun. His companion, the Jaguar God of the Underworld’s belt or scarf glyph, is a frequent substitute for the head of the sun god in his nocturnal form.

The Jaguar Gods are linked to the night sky, the dark hours, and the western direction. The Jaguar God of the Underworld is the principal patron of the night and the principal enemy of the sun. He is also associated with the earth itself, and the “Starry Deer Crocodile” — a long-bodied creature with celestial markings — is sometimes understood as a vision of the earth floating on the primordial sea.

Other important deities

The patron gods of the cardinal directions

The four cardinal directions each had a patron god, a patron tree, and a patron color. The east was red and was the domain of the rising sun, the year-bearer Lamat, and the bird Moan. The north was white and was the domain of the Celestial Bird, the year-bearer K’an, and the deity of the polar star. The west was black and was the domain of the Jaguar God of the Underworld, the year-bearer Ik’, and the rain god of the West. The south was yellow and was the domain of the Lizard, the year-bearer Ak’bal, and the Ancestor Hearth. The center was green or blue and was the domain of the maize god, the ceiba tree, and the Principal Bird Deity.

The patron gods of the four directions were sometimes represented as four old men, four Chacacoh, or four Pawahtuns. The codices depict them in the almanacs of the year-bearer ceremonies, and the Books of Chilam Balam describe their attributes. The directional scheme of the patron gods is closely related to the directional scheme of the ballcourt, with its four access ramps and four-side architecture.

Regional and temporal variation

No two cities, regions, or centuries worshipped the same gods in the same way. The Late Classic Tikal dynasty emphasized the Maize God and the Vision Serpent; Palenque under K’inich Janaab’ Pakal and his sons emphasized the Triad — the Palenque Triad of three gods associated with the kings of the city. In Postclassic Yucatan, Itzamna and Chaac were the supreme gods; in Postclassic highland Guatemala, the Popol Vuh’s Gukumatz and the Hero Twins held pride of place. In the colonial and modern era, the Maya calendar keepers preserve the older names — though sometimes in code — alongside Catholic saints.

A broader context for this rich pantheon can be found in the Maya cosmology overview, in the Popol Vuh, and in the Long Count calendar inscriptions that record the rituals dedicated to these gods.

Related pages

• Maya Religion, Mythology, and Cosmology
• The Popol Vuh: Maya Creation Myth
• Xibalba: The Maya Underworld
• Who Is Kukulkan the Feathered Serpent?
• Who Are the Hero Twins in Maya Mythology?
• Maya Priesthood and Shamanism
• Maya Hieroglyphs and the Glyph System

Sources

• Freidel, D., Schele, L. & Parker, J. (1993). Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman’s Path. William Morrow. — link
• Miller, M. E. & Taube, K. A. (2001). An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. Thames & Hudson. — link
• Taube, K. A. (2010). Maya Deities and the Place of Vision: A Workbook on Maya Iconography. Precolumbia Mesoweb Press. — link
• Tedlock, D., trans. (1996). Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings (rev. ed.). Touchstone. — link
• Edmonson, M. S., trans. (1971). The Book of Counsel: The Popol Vuh of the Quiché Maya of Guatemala. Tulane University, Middle American Research Institute Pub. 35. — link
• Bassie-Sweet, K. (2002). Corn From the Heavens: The Sacred Geography of the Ancient Maya. University of Texas Press. — link
• Aveni, A. F. (2001). Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico. University of Texas Press. — link