Some of the Mayan gods Chiefs are Hunab Ku, Chaac (rain god), Itzamna (wisdom), Pawahtun (Charger of the cosmos), Ixchel (love), Kinich Ahau (sun), Yum Kaax (maize) or Kauil (fire).
Mayan mythology has a long tradition of veneration of the deities, being for them religion the channel of communication between men and the cosmos. These supernatural beings were represented in every way in which the imagination allowed and there were no limits to their worship.
Plants, animals and humanoids were the most common forms in which the gods of the Mayan culture were found, leaving behind a long cultural legacy with their sacred questions, some production can still be visited today.
The image of the gods can be found especially in paintings, drawings and engravings, in which this town left its veneration. But architecture, his writings and sculpture are also a representation of his beliefs.
The Mayan civilization present in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Hondura, but with influence in many other territories was maintained from the year 2000 BC until the end of the seventeenth century, when colonists who arrived in America ended with it.
It was the Mayans who established a system of writing, the glyph, fully developed in America until colonization.
In addition, they left behind a vast legacy of knowledge in architecture, agriculture, art and even mathematics, being one of the first peoples of the world to recognize explicit zero, a breakthrough for the time.
Their societies were complex, with a political system based on the idea of a divine king, who mediated between mortals and supernatural space. Its form of government was similar to a monarchy, but it varied in each state and city.
In spite of all these advances and rational knowledge, the Maya were guided by the power of the gods, which led to the composition of a complex series of calendars. The weight of religion in this culture led them to make various human sacrifices to satisfy the desire of the deities and to avoid their anger.
The 30 most important gods of Mayan culture
Hunab Ku
He is the most important god of Maya culture, father of all gods, he is the only one alive and true, and from him all things are born. Hunab Ku, or kolop u wich k'in, as it was known in this civilization, is a disembodied figure, so it can not be represented in culture.
In his figure converge the dualities, the opposing elements with which gave rise to the universe. This god is all and nothing at the same time.
The Mayas considered Hunab Ku the center of the galaxy, the heart, the mind and the being creator. They invoked him through the sun and the center of the universe, where they located his presence.
Chaac
Chaac is another of the main figures in the Mayan pantheon, associated with water, lightning and rain, so he is invoked (under the name of St. Thomas) to obtain good harvests.
In Mayan culture he was depicted as an old man with reptilian features and a long trunk (or nose) tilted upward. The god Chacc has its centromexican equivalent in Tláloc and zapoteca in Pitao Cocijo.
She is one of the most venerated figures in the Yucatan Peninsula, an area characterized by drought, where she implored by water and where multiple buildings honor her.
Itzamna
Also known as Zamna, he is the god of wisdom, creator of science and knowledge, in addition is called the sun god, Lord of Heaven, day and night. A rather extended divinity the Mayans had in him.
Itzamná is another of the central gods of the Mayan pantheon, its importance is crucial because it speaks of the work, the sacrifice and the way of the True Man.
It is considered as a universal spirit of life that encourages chaos to create, is represented mostly in the culture of this civilization as an elder, but also in the form of different animals depending on the plane where it was found.
Thus, it could be a bird, when it is in its celestial form or figure in a crocodile, when it was in the earth. He always had his hands in the shape of a bowl and rings in his ears.
Pawahtún
Four in one, the Maya represented this god as a single man or as four holding each one of the corner of the universe. That is why it is called the Charger of the Cosmos.
His figure, arms raised, holding the earth's vault, contradicts his image of a toothless old man with turtle shell. He is the patron of writers and painters, and presides over the five disastrous days of the solar calendar.
In the Mayan culture the shell of the tortoise is a habitual symbol and celebrates, because it is the place where the Sun and the Moon took shelter before the destruction of the world.
Ixchel
Goddess of love, gestation, water, textile works, vegetation, moon and medicine, was associated with various elements such as water and fertility and even a rabbit.
It is wife of Itzamná, god of the wisdom, is known like the queen mother and is represented like an old woman emptying a vessel in the earth. Also the figure is woven or with a serpent in the head, according to the veneration that wants to do of her.
Kinich Ahau
This god contains some contradiction, because it is one of the invocations of Itzamná but also it is linked with Kinich Kakmó. God of the Sun, patron of music and poetry, his name represents the Lord of Solar Eye.
Married to Ixchel, he was depicted in Mayan culture with two large eyes, jaguar ears, huge T-shaped teeth, a sharp edge in his fangs, and sunbeams on his beard.
Kinich Ahau was the ruler among the gods, his function was to solve all the problems between the different divinities and to distribute the lands among the peoples. Besides, he was the god of war.
Yum Kaax
God of corn, of wild vegetation, patron of agriculture, abundance of life and prosperity, Yum Kaax is also the guardian of animals.
The divinity of this benevolent god makes him one of the most venerated of the Mayan pantheon, because of its importance for hunters and farmers, two central tasks in these villages.
Its representation has several forms, always with yellow and blue colors, can take the form of a young man. He is always busy with his tasks and had many enemies.
Kauil
God of Fire, is one of the most popular and venerated in Mayan culture, with rituals of the oldest in this type of civilizations and is considered one of the 13 creators of humanity.
The fire had a central place for the Mayans, it is considered as a spiritual force to be conquered to overthrow the violence.
Kauil is also the patron of the abundance of human seed crops, which in Mayan culture represents prosperity, and is described as the father and mother of the human species.
With the wrath of fire he heals diseases and was a source of veneration for a successful childbirth. Its rites are prominent among the Maya and depicted in culture with an elongated nose and serpent-like mouth protruding.
The veneration of his figure is maintained until today with rituals of fire, in which it is said that the person leaves renewed. The importance of his cult in the Maya was recorded in the sculpture that was found of him.
Ek Chuah H
God of cocoa, war and markets, is represented with a bag on his back, which is the figure of the merchants. It is invoked to benefit the trade.
Owner of a dual character, he was propitious as a god of the traveling merchants and malicious as god of war. Those who had plantations gave ceremonies to Ek Chuah, patron of its fruits.
Yum Kimil
Also called Ah Puch (meaning fleshless), Kisin (heinous) or Kimil (death), his name means Lord of the Dead. Yum Limil is the main deity of the Xibalba, the underworld and Mayan hell, and therefore is the god of death.
The image of death as a skeletal body of the present has a great relation to the representation that the Maya made of Yum Kimil.
Always accompanied by a rope, which used to take the life of others, this god also possessed an owl, which is a sign of bad fortune.
The Maya believed that this god was prowling around the house of the sick in search of new prey for their dwelling. To scare him off he had to shout very loudly, so Yum Kimil passed by. Some rites still remain today.
Xtabay
Wife of Yum Kimil, is the patron saint of suicides (an honorable way of dying for this town), represented by a rope of hanging. This goddess is known as the deity of carnal sins and received suicidal souls in her paradise.
The Mayan legend describes it as dangerous, could seduce or ensnare men, for good or evil, causing them to be lost, to go crazy or even to cause death.
Bolon Dzacab
God protector of the royal lineages and their families, he is represented with a torch or a cigar in his hand (it is not clear which was the object that smoked).
This figure generates some doubts among the historians as there are those who believe that it is a personification of the power of the buffoon god.
Kukulkán
Feathered serpent, in Maya, divinity associated with Venus, water, wind - two characteristics that allowed him to govern his ship at sea - and wisdom.
He is credited with being part of the first attempt of creation and being responsible for the transmission of writing in the Mayan people.
Its importance in the pantheon is given by being considered, along with Quetzalcoatl, the conqueror. According to the belief, he came to Yucatan by sea from the west and is one of the founders of civilization.
Buluc Chabtan
God of destruction and human sacrifices, is often presented in the company of Ah Puch, which represents a real danger for the Mayan faithful.
His figure appears in Maya art as a thick black line around the eyes and under the cheek. Other paintings, placed in buildings burning.
Chac Bolay
God of the underworld, is related to the Sun. In the Mayan pantheon he is represented as a jaguar head, Roman nose, protruding teeth with stained skin.
It is considered as the symbol of the night and the celestial vault full of stars. For the Mayan culture, the jaguar is a nocturnal and crepuscular feline, related to the night, the underworld and the nocturnal sun, a figure that is repeated in other deities.
Ah Muzenkab
The descending god, patron of bees and honey, Ah Muzenkab is usually represented in the form of a giant bee that rules the whole species.
His name means in Maya"the one who protects or cares for the honey"and Mayan art portrays him with honeycombs in his hands.
Hunahpu
Twin brother of Ixbalanqué, son of the god Hun-Hunahpú and the young Ixquic, is God of the Sun.
Ixbalanque and
Together with his hand Kauil Hunahpu, they are the Twin Gods. The damsel Ixquic was pregnant by the saliva of the Tree Jícara, where was the skull of Hun-Hunahpú, which led to the conception of the brothers, despite the rejection of Ixquic's parents.
The twins had as mission to find the field of the Mayan ball game that had built their father.
This disturbed the Lords of Xibalba, who forced Ixbalanche and Hunahpu to visit the Underworld, where they overcame the Ajawab of Xibalba, avenging the death of their father.
This victory turned Hunahpú into Sun, while Ixbalanqué was the god of the Moon.
Hun-Hunahpu
Father of the twin gods, he is the god of fertility and the ball game. His figure is a mystery, although the Mayan culture never names him as a corn god, remains were found that identify him with this activity.
He was transformed into a Tree of Jícara (calabazos), after which the noises of his game of ball will annoy the Lords of Xibalbá, that took it to the underworld, they tortured them and they sacrificed them. His twin sons avenged his memory.
Ixquic
Goddess of virgin mothers, her story is that of karma. Daughter of one of the Lords of Xibalba, she became pregnant with Hun-Hunahpu after visiting the Jícara Tree clandestinely, without permission from her family.
The fruits of the tree bathed her in saliva and thus conceived the twins Hun-Hunahpu (Master Magician) and Ixbalanqué (Small Sacedorte Solar) being a virgin. Its name means"The one of the Blood".
Ixmukan and
Complete the family tree of the Twin Gods, mother of Hun-Hunahpu, is the grandmother of Hun-Hunahpu and Ixbalanche and goddess of corn.
According to the Mayan belief it was Ixmukané who prepared the drinks of white corn and yellow corn, which gave rise to the Men of Corn. Its name means"Princess"and for its faithful it is the Mother Earth that gives the life.
In culture, it is represented as the sun and aurora, which give birth to the sun in the world.
Xaman Ek
Their altars on the sides of the roads are a symbol of their importance to the Mayan merchants, who paid tribute to them by filling them with incense to invoke their grace.
Xaman Ek was the god of merchants and merchants, whom he cared for and helped during his missions among the different peoples of this civilization.
According to the belief, he was guided by the Polar Star, the only one visible in Yucatan, and thus could illuminate the transit roads, but also the spiritual ones.
In Maya art he is represented with a rounded head, resembling that of a monkey, flat nose and almond-shaped eyes.
Ah Kin
God of the Sun, one of the phenomena most revered and respected by the Mayas, but also by other pre-Columbian civilizations.
It is considered the solar star as a cosmic Christ, which gives strength and energy to the universe, so that the sun god is also a central figure in this culture.
The Mayan belief says that Ah Kin went through the underworld at night, the universe of the dead, waiting for the dawn to come and the sun shining again. For this reason, he was prayed at dawn and incense burned in his honor.
He was considered a healing god, protector against evils and other demons, who were related to the darkness, and with the faculty to attract wives for the young.
But he was also feared by the destructive power of the sun in drought and storms, so sacrifices were made to him not to alter his character.
I X U
Known as goddess of the sky, Ix U is the goddess of the moon, the weaving, the births, the floods and patron of medicine. It is related to femininity, love, tenderness and non-violence.
Her cultural representation is seated on a crescent moon, her mouth is out and she is wearing a hairstyle with curly hair.
Naab
Goddess Serpiente of the Mayan Aguadas. The serpent among the Maya has a particular symbolism, represents the wisdom to be acquired through inner work.
Hura dog
It is another of the founding gods, in this case of the seven of the second attempt. Hurricane is the god of fire, wind and storms, making him a very feared creature in Mayan culture.
In the culture of this civilization he was represented with a human figure but with a snake tail and some features of reptile, carrying a torch or some object that smokes and a huge crown on his head.
His participation in the creation is given through corn and it was he who sent the Great Mayan Flood, which destroyed everything the first men built before enraging the gods.
Tepeu
One of the gods who participated in the three attempts to create the universe, which makes it a central figure in all Mayan mythology.
His name means sovereign and he is the god of the sky in the Mayan pantheon.
Alom
He is also another of the gods associated with the foundation, who participated in the last two attempts to create the universe. He is considered god of the sky like his peers and was one of those that tried to create the man in base to wood.
Hey and Catl
God of the wind, it is believed to be one of the manifestations of Quetzalcōātl, the feathered serpent. For the Maya, this divinity is present in the breath of living beings and in the breeze that clouds bring with rain in the fields planted.
According to the culture of this civilization, Ehecatl had a vital power that could give life with its breath and even move the sun. He was depicted with two masks, a snail on his chest and his places of worship are usually circular in shape to withstand the strong winds.
Omet and Otl
He is the god of duality and as such his record is ambiguous. A little ignored by the Mayans, but in the poems of the upper classes he is represented as being of the highest place in the heavens.
Their duality is total, there is no clear explanation about their sex, it can be male or female, and as such mother or father of the universe. In the belief it had as a way of supplying the universal cosmic energy from which all things derive.