tradition

Maya tradition

Traditions

The religious and narrative worlds of Maya peoples. The Kʼicheʼ Popol Vuh is one late text, not a key to every Maya city.

Also known as Kʼicheʼ

Meetings with this tradition

  • Maya tradition is associated with Death.

    The Popol Vuh’s Xibalba is a Kʼicheʼ court of the dead. The tradition’s death-geography is that court, not Hades.

    from Dennis Tedlock (translation) · Popol Vuh, Kʼicheʼ text written down c. 1550s; Tedlock trans. 1985/1996

    associated with · sourced · culturally specific

  • Xibalba belongs to Maya tradition.

    Xibalba is named in the Kʼicheʼ Popol Vuh. It is not a Mexica geography and not a Greek Hades.

    from Dennis Tedlock (translation) · Popol Vuh, Kʼicheʼ text written down c. 1550s; Tedlock trans. 1985/1996

    belongs to · sourced · culturally specific

  • Jade is used in Maya tradition.

    Classic Maya jadeite has its own ritual and kingly jobs. Taube’s article keeps that symbolism off Chinese yu.

    from Karl A. Taube · The Symbolism of Jade in Classic Maya Religion, 2005

    used in · sourced · documented

  • Cacao is used in Maya tradition.

    Mesoamerican elites prepared cacao as a drink. A plant and a court beverage, not later chocolate advertising as ritual.

    from Karl A. Taube · The Symbolism of Jade in Classic Maya Religion, 2005

    used in · partially sourced · documented

  • Maize appears in Maya tradition.

    In Tedlock’s Popol Vuh, yellow corn and white corn from Split Place become the flesh of the first humans. Maize is attested in that Kʼicheʼ origin narrative. This is the highland council book, not Sahagún’s Nahua maize, not Classic Maya jade-as-maize, and not a handbook for every Maya city.

    from Dennis Tedlock (translation) · Popol Vuh, Kʼicheʼ text written down c. 1550s; Tedlock trans. 1985/1996

    appears in · sourced · culturally specific

Meetings in this tradition's context

  • Death is associated with Xibalba.

    The Popol Vuh sends the Hero Twins into Xibalba, a court of the dead with trials. It is a Kʼicheʼ below, not Duat.

    from Dennis Tedlock (translation) · Popol Vuh, Kʼicheʼ text written down c. 1550s; Tedlock trans. 1985/1996

    associated with · sourced · culturally specific

  • Underworld is connected to Xibalba.

    Xibalba is one underworld. Connecting the two names is a comparative convenience; they should remain two places.

    from Dennis Tedlock (translation) · Popol Vuh, Kʼicheʼ text written down c. 1550s; Tedlock trans. 1985/1996

    connected to · sourced · culturally specific

  • Xibalba is associated with Trickster.

    The Hero Twins outwit the lords of Xibalba. Their cunning is a Kʼicheʼ narrative role, not Eshu and not Hermes.

    from Dennis Tedlock (translation) · Popol Vuh, Kʼicheʼ text written down c. 1550s; Tedlock trans. 1985/1996

    associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific

  • Descent is associated with Xibalba.

    The Hero Twins go down to Xibalba. That descent is a Kʼicheʼ court of trials.

    from Dennis Tedlock (translation) · Popol Vuh, Kʼicheʼ text written down c. 1550s; Tedlock trans. 1985/1996

    associated with · sourced · culturally specific

  • Jade is used in Death.

    Taube describes Classic Maya jadeite in funerary rites and in conjuring gods and ancestors, as a material of the breath-spirit. A Maya tomb and earspool grammar, not Chinese orifice-plugs and not a pan-Mesoamerican “jade of immortality.”

    from Karl A. Taube · The Symbolism of Jade in Classic Maya Religion, 2005

    used in · sourced · culturally specific

  • Jade represents Maize.

    Taube argues Classic Maya jadeite can stand for maize (among other jobs). A Maya religious identification of a hard green stone with the staple grain, not Chinese burial jade and not Sahagún’s maize-as-food.

    from Karl A. Taube · The Symbolism of Jade in Classic Maya Religion, 2005

    represents · sourced · culturally specific

sources