Itzamna.—Chief of the beneficent gods was Itzamna. He was the personification of the East, the rising sun, with all its manifold mythical associations. His name means “the dew or moisture of the morning,” and he was the spirit of the early mists and showers. He was said to have come in his magic skiff from the East, across the waters, and therefore he presided over that quarter of the world and the days and years assigned to it.
For similar reasons he received the name Lakin chan, “the Serpent of the East,” under which he seems to have been popularly known. As light is synonymous with both life and knowledge, he was said to have been the creator of men, animals, and plants, and was the founder of the culture of the Mayas. He was the first priest of their religion, and invented writing and books; he gave the names to the various localities in Yucatan, and divided the land among the people; as a physician he was famous, knowing not only the magic herbs, but possessing the power of healing by touch, whence his name Kabil, “the skilful hand,” under which he was worshipped in Chichen Itza. For his wisdom he was spoken of as Yax coc ah-mut, “the royal or noble master of knowledge.”
Cuculcan.—In some sense a contrast, in others a completion of the mythical concepts embodied in Itzamna, was Cuculcan or Cocol chan, “the feathered or winged serpent.”[[46]] He also was a hero-god, a deity of culture and of kindliness. He was traditionally the founder of the great cities of Chichen Itza, and Mayapan; was active in framing laws and introducing the calendar, at the head of which some Maya tribes placed his name; was skilled in leechcraft, and was spoken of as the god of chills and fevers.
As Itzamna was identified with the East, so was Cuculcan with the West. Thence he was said to have come, and thither returned.[[47]] In the Tzental calendars he was connected with the seventh day (moxic, Maya, manik); hence he is mystically associated with that number. He corresponds to the Gukumatz of the Quiche mythology, a name which has the same signification.
In the myth he is described as clothed in a long robe and wearing sandals, and, what is noteworthy, having a beard. In the calendars of the Tzentals he was painted “in the likeness of a man and a snake,” and the “masters” explained this as “the snake with feathers, which moves in the waters,” that is, the heavenly waters, the clouds and the rains; for which reason Bishop Nuñez de la Vega, to whom we owe this information, identified him with the Mexican Mixcoatl, “the cloud serpent;”[[48]] whereas Bishop Landa was of opinion that he was the Mexican Quetzalcoatl.
Kin ich.—As Itzamna was thus connected with the rising, morning sun, and Cuculcan with the afternoon and setting sun, so the sun in the meridian was distinguished from both of them. As a divinity, it bore the name Kin ich, “the eye or face of the day.” The sacrifices to it were made at the height of noontide, when it was believed that the deity descended in the shape of the red macaw (the Ara macao), known as Kak mo, “the bird of fire,” from the color of its plumage, and consumed the offering. Such ceremonies were performed especially in times of great sickness, general mortality, the destruction of the crops through locusts, and other public calamities. It seems probable from the accounts that Kin ich was a much less prominent divinity in the popular mind than either of the other two solar deities, and his attributes were occasionally assigned to Itzamna, as we find the combination Kin ich ahau Itzamna among the names of divinities.
Fig. 7.—The Beneficent Gods draw from their Stores. (Photographed from the Cortesian Codex.)
Other Gods.—To Itzamna was assigned as consort Ix Chel, “the rainbow,” also known as Ix Kan Leom, “the spider-web” (which catches the dew of the morning). She was goddess of medicine and of childbirth, and her children were the Bacabs, or Chacs (giants),[[49]] four mighty brethren, who were the gods of the four cardinal points, of the winds which blow from them, of the rains these bring, of the thunder and the lightning, and consequently of agriculture, the harvests, and the food supply. Their position in the ritual was of the first importance. To each were assigned a particular color and a certain year and day in the calendar. To Hobnil, “the hollow one” or “the belly,” were given the south, the color yellow, and the day and years kan, the first of the calendar series, and so on. The red Bacab was to the east, the white to the north, and the black, whose name was Hozan Ek, “the Disembowelled,” to the west.[[50]]
The Cardinal Points.—Much attention has been directed to these divinities as representing the worship of the cardinal points and to the colors, days, cycles, and elements mythically associated with them. Uniform results have not been obtained, as the authorities differ, as probably did also the customs of various localities.[[51]] Pio Perez assigns kan to the east, muluc to the north, ix to the west, and cauac to the south. The arrangement based on Landa’s statements would be as follows:—