Animal Figures in the Maya Codices

by Alfred M. Tozzer; Glover M. Allen

In [Pl. 10], fig. 1, is shown a rattle-less snake with prominent fang, coiled about the top of an altar which may represent a tree or bush. From the latter fact, it might be concluded that it was a tree or bush-inhabiting species, possibly the deadly “bush-master” (Lachesis lanceolatus). Other figures ([Pl. 10], figs. 3, 7; [Pl. 11], figs. 1, 2) are introduced here as examples of the curious head ornamentation frequently found in the drawings. The two first are merely serpents with the jaws extended to the utmost, and with a characteristic head decoration. The last is provided with an elaborate crest. The size and markings of the two serpents shown in [Pl. 11], as well as their want of rattles suggest that they may represent some species of large Boidae as Loxocemus bicolor or Boa (sp?).

After having commented upon the various serpents occurring in the codices and in several other places, we will now take up the manner and connection in which the various figures occur. We shall pass over completely the use of the “serpent column” at Chichen Itza, the importance of the serpent motive in the development of the masked panel as worked out by Spinden, and the countless representations of the plumed serpent in the whole field of Maya design and decoration. In the single Temple of the Tigers at Chichen Itza, the feathered serpent occurs in the round as a column decoration supporting the portico, as carved on the wooden lintel at the entrance to the Painted Chamber, again and again on the frescoes of this room,[313-*] in the Lower Chamber as dividing the bas-relief into zones or panels, and, finally, as the center of the whole composition of this bas-relief. It will be seen, therefore, that it will be necessary in a short paper, to limit ourselves to the representations of the serpent in the Maya codices.

The serpent is most frequently associated with god B. Schellhas (1904, p. 17), Fewkes (1894), Förstemann (1906), and Thomas (1882), seem to agree that god B is to be identified as Kukulcan, the most important of the deities of the Mayas and, as pointed out before, appearing in the Nahua mythology, as Quetzalcoatl, and in the Quiche myths as Gucumatz. It was also noted that the name means both in Maya and in Nahuatl, the “feathered serpent” or the “bird serpent.” Other authorities consider god B as Itzamna, another of the main gods of the Mayas. Seler interprets god B as the counterpart of the Nahua rain god, Tlaloc. It is certain that when god B and the serpent are associated together water and rain are usually indicated. God H, “the Chicchan god,” also has some relation to the serpent. As pointed out by Schellhas (1904, pp. 28-30), this god often appears characterized by a skin-spot or a scale of the serpent on his temple of the same shape as the hieroglyph of the day Chicchan (serpent). The glyph belonging to this deity also shows the Chicchan sign as its distinguishing mark. Similar signs appear on the body of the serpent in many places, as in Tro-Cortesianus 30a ([Pl. 11], fig. 1).

We have already noted that the serpent, god B, and water are frequently shown together, so the serpent also appears associated with water and rain, when no figure of god B is present. From this connection, it can be argued that there is some relation between the serpent and the coming of the rains. These facts would give strength to the theory that god B is to be identified as a rain god. In Dresden 33a, 35a, god B is seated on the open jaws of a serpent, while the body of the reptile encloses a blue field evidently signifying water. The number nineteen appears on this blue color. It will be noted that there are nineteen spots on the serpents in [Pl. 11], figs. 1, 2. In Tro-Cortesianus 3a-6a, corresponding scenes seem to be shown. The body of the serpent encloses water, and here the number eighteen appears in each case. God B occurs always in front of the serpent and his head appears as the head of the reptile in the first instance. In Dresden 35a, 36a, the head of god B is pictured as the head of the serpent in the midst of the water. In Dresden 37b ([Pl. 10], fig. 8), B is holding a snake in the water.

Water appears in connection with the serpent and god B in many places in the Tro-Cortesianus. In 9, god B is pictured pouring water from a jar, a common method of showing the idea of rain in the codices. In 12b, B again is shown perhaps representing a frog, and behind him a serpent. The reptiles in 13b-18b, are all associated with the idea of rain, the turtle and frog also appearing in this section. In 30a ([Pl. 11], fig. 1), god B and a female figure are both pouring water from a jar, as they stand on the body of a serpent. In 32a, the black god (L) is seen in the rain, and a serpent is near, while in 32b and 33b ([Pl. 9], fig. 1), the serpent forms the belt of god L, and a female figure and water are seen in both cases. The blue color of the snake and of god B in 31b ([Pl. 11], fig. 2) may also suggest water.

God B also occurs in connection with the serpent in Dresden 42a ([Pl. 8], fig. 14), where the god is seated on the reptile, in Tro-Cortesianus, 10b, where the head of the same god is the head of the snake, and in Tro-Cortesianus 19a, where god B again and god A are each seated on the open jaws of a serpent.

The astronomical role of the serpent is noted in Dresden 56b, 57b ([Pl. 10], fig. 3), Tro-Cortesianus 5b, 12b, 15b, and 67b, where the snake is shown in connection with a line of constellation signs, the kin or sun sign prominent in most of the drawings. In the “battle of the constellations” in Dresden 60, the serpent appears forming a sort of altar, the seat of a figure which is supported by another figure. A serpent head also appears at the foot of the latter figure.

That the serpent appears associated with the idea of time seems clear from the fact of the long number series in Dresden 61, 62 ([Pl. 10], fig. 7), and 69, which are shown in the spaces made by the winding of the serpents’ bodies. In Tro-Cortesianus 13a-16a, four large reptiles appear in connection with the lines of day signs.

The study of the serpent used as a head-dress is interesting. As noted previously, quite a different kind of snake seems to be represented when used in this connection. Two other points come out in this investigation, namely, that it is only with female figures that the serpent is employed as a head-dress, and in far the greater number of cases the women are shown, either in the act of offering something, or of pouring water from a jar. The usual type of serpent head-dress is seen in Dresden 9c ([Pl. 8], fig. 11), 15b ([Pl. 8], fig. 12), 18a ([Pl. 8], fig. 13), 22b ([Pl. 8], fig. 10), and 23b ([Pl. 8], fig. 8). In the first case, the offering is a jicara or gourd of some sacred drink (baltše?), in the second and third examples, the dish is clearly shown, but the offering is unidentifiable, in the fourth case, maize (a Kan sign), and in the last, a fish resting on a dish. In Dresden 20a ([Pl. 8], fig. 15), a woman with serpent head-dress is seen associated with the Moan-headed figure, possibly in the act of offering it as a sacrifice.

In Dresden 39b ([Pl. 8], fig. 7), 43b ([Pl. 8], fig. 9), and 70, a similar serpent head-dress is shown on a female figure in the act of pouring water from a jar. In Tro-Cortesianus, the serpent head-dresses differ in type only, and in two out of the four cases where they appear, water is shown flowing from the breasts (30b) of the female figure or from the mouth (32b). The woman thus represented in connection with the water is god I, the water goddess of Schellhas. She is, as he notes (1904, p. 31) usually the figure of an old woman. “Evidently, we have here the personification of water in its quality of destroyer, a goddess of floods and cloud-bursts.” We are not at all sure that we have here a distinct god as similar female figures with serpent head-dresses occur frequently in the Dresden Codex with no suggestion of water. The failure to find any distinct glyph for this goddess seems to strengthen the view of not considering her as a separate deity. Finally, in our consideration of head-dresses, the serpent is to be seen in Tro-Cortesianus 79c on the head of the first woman who is weaving. Possibly, a conventionalized serpent forms the head covering of the second figure who is represented as dead.