No. 34. | Ekchuah. The symbol or hieroglyph of the deity named “Ekchuah” by the Mayas and considered the patron and protector of peddlers or traveling merchants ([Fig. 380]). |
Fig. 380. The god Ekchuah, after the Troano and Cortesian Codices.
The signification of the name of this deity is “The Black Calabash.” The form and the shading of the symbol render it more than probable that it is a conventional representation of a divided or halved black calabash or gourd, cut for the purpose of forming it into a cup or dipper, which, in this form, is considered a symbol of this deity.
The evidence upon which this determination is based is that the symbol constantly accompanies the red mouthed, black deity. It is found, with a single exception, only in the Manuscript Troano, and chiefly in Plates II to V, relating to the traveling merchants. The single exception alluded to is on Plate 15 of the Cortesian Codex; here the god bears upon his back the traveling pack, indicating the vocation of which he is the special guardian.
It occurs unconnected with the figure of the deity only on Plates IX*, XIV*, XV*, and XXV* of the Manuscript Troano. In the last the figure of the god is in the same division, but in the adjoining compartment. In Plate XV* it apparently refers to the idol the priest is carving, which is probably a black one intended to represent this god. Landa,[358-1] speaking of the artists carving idols from wood, says:
They took also that which they used for scarifying their ears and drawing blood from them, and also the instruments which they needed for sculpturing their black divinities.
Its appearance in Plate XIV* is apparently in connection with the ceremonies relating to the manufacture of idols. Neither the symbol nor the god it represents is to be fond in the Dresden Codex.