Fig. 17.—Cuculcan, with owl head-dress.
The characteristics of this divinity are: A face of an old man, with sunken mouth and toothless jaws, except one tooth in the lower jaw, which, in the Tro. and Cortes. Codices, is exaggerated as a distinctive sign; he has the “ornamented eye” peculiar to deities; and to his forehead is attached, or over it hangs, an affix, which generally bears the sign akbal, which means “darkness,” because he is the setting or night sun; for which reason his head-dress is often the horns of the eared owl. He is clearly a beneficent deity, and is never associated with symbols of misfortune or death. Indeed, he is at times evidently a god of birth, being accompanied with the symbol of the snail, above explained, and is sometimes associated with women apparently as an obstetrician. He is connected with serpent emblems, and holds in his hand a sacred rattle formed of the rattles of the rattlesnake.
All these traits coincide with the myths of Cuculcan; but when we perceive that he, and he alone of all the deities, is occasionally depicted with a beard under his chin, just as Cuculcan wore in the legend, the identification becomes complete.[[78]]
The most striking of his representations, and that which is most distinctive of his identity with the “green-feathered serpent,” is the picture which extends over pp. 4 and 5, middle, of the Dresden Codex. Here he is seen with face emerging from the mouth of the great, green-feathered snake-dragon, indicative of his own personality, his hieroglyph immediately above his head.[[79]]
Representations of Kin ich.—As has already been observed, the sun at noon, conceived as a divinity, did not occupy a prominent place in Maya mythology; and this is also the case in the pictorial designs.
Fig. 18.—Monogram of Kin ich.
There is no doubt as to his representation. It is accompanied by the well-known ideogram of the sun scattered over his body and represented above him. It will be seen on a later page.
He is richly arrayed with large ear-rings and a characteristic, prominent nose decoration. He has the “ornamented eye” and a full head dress. (God “G” of Schellhas.)