List of Maya gods and supernatural beings

This is a name list of Maya gods and supernatural beings, mainly taken from the Books of Chilam Balam (CHB), Lacandon ethnography (LAC), Landa (L), and Popol Vuh (PV). Depending on the source, the name is Yucatec or K'iche'. The Classic Period names (belonging to a language related to modern Chol and Chorti) are only rarely known with certainty. Only those names have been listed which are familiar from popular books on the Maya, or which play an important role in scholarly discussions. Between square brackets, the correspondence with the deities in the revised Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube list of codical deities has been indicated.

A

Acan

The god of wine. His name means 'groan'.

Acat

Yucatec divine patron of those making scarifications and tattoos (Cogolludo); also called Acaat *CHB* and Ah Cat.^[1]

Ah Chuy Kak

A god of war.

Ah Ciliz

A god of solar eclipses.

Ah Mun *CHB*

A designation of the Maya maize god.

Ah Muzencab

The gods of bees.

Ah Pekku

The god of thunder.

Ah Pukuh

The god of Deaths

Ah Tabai

The god of the hunt.

Ah Uuc Ticab

A god of the Earth.

Ahau Chamahez

A god of medicine and good health.

Ajbit *PV*

One of the thirteen creator gods who helped construct humanity from maize.

Ajtzak *PV*

One of the thirteen creator gods who helped construct humanity from maize.

Akna

Meaning "Our mother," a very general title applied, amongst others, to goddesses of fertility and childbirth.

Alom *PV*

A sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in the last two attempts at creating humanity.

Awilix *PV*

Patron of the Nija'ib' lineage of the K'iche'.

B

Bacab *L* [god N]

Old god of the interior of the earth and of thunder, sky-carrier, fourfold.

Balam

Any of a group of jaguar gods who protected people and communities.

Bitol *PV*

A sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in the last two attempts at creating humanity.

Bolon Ts'akab (Dzacab) *L* (god K)

Ah Bolon Dzacab 'Innumerable Generations', the Lightning god, patron of the harvest and the seeds.

Bolontiku *CHB*

A group of nine underworld gods.

Buluc Chabtan [god F]

War god.

C

Cabrakan *PV*

A god of mountains and earthquakes. He was a son of Vucub Caquix and Chimalmat.

Cacoch *LAC*

A creator god.

Camazotz *PV*

Bat god, tries to kill the Hero Twins

Can Tzicnal *L*

Bacab of the north, is assigned the color white, and the Muluc years, son of Itzamna and Ixchel.

Chac *L*

The god of Storms

Chac Uayab Xoc *L*

A fish god and the patron deity of fishermen.

Chicchan

A group of four Chorti rain gods who live in lakes and make rain clouds from the water in those lakes. Each of the rain gods was associated with a cardinal direction, similar to the Bacabs. Chiccan was also the name of a day in the Tzolkin cycle of the maya calendar.

Cit-Bolon-Tum

A god of medicine and healing.

Chimalmat *PV*

A giant who, by Vucub Caquix, was the mother of Cabrakan and Zipacna.

Cizin

A god of death who lived in Metnal.

Colel Cab

Mistress of the Bees

Colop U Uichkin *RITUAL OF THE BACABS*

An eclipse deity.

Coyopa

The god of thunder and brother of Cakulha.

Cum Hau

A god of death and the underworld.

E

Ekchuah

Also spelled Ek Chuah, the "black war chief" was the patron god of warriors and merchants, depicted carrying a bag over his shoulder. In art, he was a dark-skinned man with circles around his eyes, a scorpion tail and dangling lower lip. In early modern studies of Maya art and iconography, he was sometimes referred to as God M before his identity was firmly established.

G

Gukumatz *PV*

Feathered Snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Gukumatz of the K'iche' Maya is closely related to the god Kukulkan of Yucatán and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztec.

H

Hachäk'yum *LAC*

Worshipped by the Lacandon people as their patron deity.

Hobnil *L*

Bacab of the east

Hozanek *L*

Bacab of the south; the ek element in the name may refer to a star or constellation.

Hun Batz *PV*

'One Howler Monkey', one of the two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.

Hun Came *PV*

A demonic lord of the underworld (Xibalba) who, along with Vucub Caquix, killed Hun Hunahpu. They were killed in turn by the latter's sons, the Maya Hero Twins.

Hun Chowen *PV*

One of the two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.

Hun Hunahpu *PV*

The father of the Maya Hero Twins Ixbalanque and Hun-Apu by a virgin. Beheaded in Xibalba, the underworld, by the rulers of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vucub Caquix. His sons avenged his death.

Hunab Ku

'Sole God', identical with Itzamna as the highest Yucatec god; or a more abstract upper god.

Hunahpu *PV*

One of the Maya Hero Twins.

Hunahpu-Gutch *PV*

One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity.

Hunahpu Utiu *PV*

One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity.

Hun-nal-ye

Hypothetical hieroglyphic reading of the name of the Classic Maya maize god

Huraqan *PV*

'One-Leg', one of three lightning gods together called 'Heart of the Sky', and acting as world creators.

I

Itzamna

The founder of the Maya culture, he taught his people to grow maize and cacao, as well as writing, calendars and medicine. Once mentioned as the father of the Bacabs. Connected to Kinich Ahau and Hunab Ku.

Itzananohk'u

A patron god of the Lacandon people.

Ixbalanque > Xbalanque

Ixchel *L* [goddess O]

Jaguar goddess of midwifery and medicine.

Ixmucane *PV*

One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity, grandmother of the Hero Twins.

Ixpiyacoc *PV*

One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity.

Ixtab *L*

Goddess of suicide.

Ixazaluoh

A goddess of water and weaving.

J

K

Kauil (Kawil, K'awiil)

Assumed to have been the Classic name of god K (Bolon Dzacab). Title attested for Itzamna, Uaxac Yol, and Amaite Ku; family name; probably not meaning 'food', but 'powerful'.

Kinich Ahau *L*

The solar deity.

Kinich Kakmo

A solar deity represented by a macaw, patron of Izamal (Yucatan).

Kukulkán

The plumed serpent. A Mayan aspect of the Mesoamerican traditional God Quetzalcoatl.

M

O

Oxlahuntiku *CHB*

'Thirteen Gods', possibly sky gods, opposed to Bolontiku. Mentioned in an eschatological passage.

Q

Qaholom *PV*

one of the second set of creator gods.

Q'uq'umatz *PV*

Feathered Snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Q'uq'umatz of the K'iche' Maya is closely related to the god Kukulkan of Yucatán and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs.

T

Tepeu *PV*

A sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity.

Tohil *PV*

Tohil was a patron deity of the K'iche'. There was a great temple to him at their ancient capital of Q'umarkaj.

V

Votan

legendary ancestral deity, Chiapas.

Vucub-Caquix *PV*

Bird demon, severs arm of Hero Twin, wife is Chimalmat, sons the demonic giants Cabrakan and Zipacna.

X

Xaman Ek

god of travelers and merchants, who gave offerings to him on the side of roads while traveling.

Xbalanque *PV* [god CH]

War Twin, one of the Hero Twins, companion to Hunahpu

Xmucane and Xpiayoc *PV*

A creator god couple which helped create the first humans. They are also the parents of Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. They were called Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light and Bearer twice over, begetter twice over and given the titles midwife and matchmaker.

Y

Yaluk

One of four Mopan 'Grandfathers' of the earth and chief lightning god.

Yum Caax

God of the woods, of wild nature, and of the hunt; invoked before carving out a maize field from the wilderness.

Z

Zac Cimi *L*

Bacab of the west.

Zipacna *PV*

Demonic personification of the earth crust.

Notes

1. ^ Knowlton 2010: 76-77

Bibliography

• Timothy W. Knowlton, Maya Creation Myths: Words and Worlds of the Chilam Balam. University Press of Colorado, Boulder 2010.

See also

• Maya religion
• Maya mythology
• Maya Death Gods