religious innovation which was intolerable to them."
That Quetzalcohuatl was not an aboriginal Maya-Kiché deity is proved
by the relative importance granted him by a people--the Aztecâ--to
whom he was alien; and that they regarded him as the aboriginal god
of Anahuac par excellence is indisputable.
Hurakan, the winged creative power, is the wind of the tempest. [12]
In the "Popol Vuh" he is designated "The Heart of Heaven." He is
parallel with if not identical to the Aztecan deity Tezcatlipoca, who
in his variant of Yoalli-ehecatl (the Wind of Night) was supplicated
by the Aztecâ as the life-breath. [13] Elsewhere we have hinted that
Tezcatlipoca may have been an ice-god. [14] Mr. Payne sees in him an
elaboration of the vision of death in a polished "scrying"-stone,
which seems possible but scarcely probable. Hurakan was in all
likelihood derived from an original deity of the Antilles. [15]
The term "hurricane" is said to have originated from the name of
this god, and although the direct evidence for this is scanty, other
circumstances place the connection beyond reasonable doubt. Hurakan is
also alluded to in the "Popol Vuh," as "The Strong Serpent," and "He
who hurls below," referring to his presence in the lightning. Brinton
is of opinion that the name Hurakan signifies "giant," but the
sequence of proof is not altogether convincing. Hurakan had the
assistance of three demiurges, named respectively Cakulha-Hurakan
(lightning), Chipi-Cakulha (lightning-flash), and Raxa-Cakulha
(track-of-the-lightning).
Hun-Ahpu and Xbalanque, who appear in the first myth proper--that
of the destruction of Vukub-Cakix, are certainly "of the gods," but
seem to be only demi-gods. They are constantly alluded to as "young
men." Brasseur de Bourbourg, who saw in the Vukub-Cakix myth the
struggle between the Toltecs and the invading Nahuatlacâ, believed
these hero-gods to be equivalents of Tezcatlipoca and Nanahuatl,
but the resemblance appears to exist merely in the martial character
of the deities, and is hardly noticeable in other details. Hun-Ahpu
would appear to signify "The Master," but Brinton translates the name
as "Magician." It may have a reconciliatory translation as "Adept." A
variant is the name of his father Hun-Hun-Ahpu, "Each-one-a-Magician,"
and some confusion is apparent in the Vukub-Cakix myth between the
two names; but as the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg so justly observes,
"these names are so symbolic in character that their absolute
elucidation is impossible." Xbalanque signifies "Little Tiger."
"The gods of the Kichés were legion," but the foregoing list embraces
practically all the deities proper with whom we have to deal in the
"Popol Vuh."
THE VUKUB-CAKIX MYTH
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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