The chief account of Guatemalan worship is derived from the sacred book of the Quichés, the Popol Vuh, to which I have already referred in the opening pages of this volume, but the description given in it is so confused, the names and attributes of the gods so mixed, that no very reliable conclusions can be derived therefrom. This very confusion seems, however, to indicate that the imported names of Hurakan, Gucumatz, and others, were with their attributes attached to native heroes, who undergo the most varying fortunes and character, amid which now and then a glance is obtained at their original form.
TEPEU AND HURAKAN.
The most ancient of the gods are two persons called Hun Ahpu Vuch and Hun Ahpu Utïu, or Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, Creator and Protector, Grandfather and Grandmother of the sun and moon, who are often confounded under either gender and represented with big noses, like tapirs, an animal sacred to these people. Brasseur identifies them with the Mexican Oxomoco and Cipactonal,[XI-33] Tonacatlecutli and Tonacatepetl, Ometecutli and Omecihuatl, the female also with Centeotl and Toci, and places her in the Quiché calendar as Hun Ahpu, while the male heads the list of months under the name of Imox.[XI-34] Connected with them stands Tepeu, termed by the sacred book Dominator, He who Begets, and whose name means grand, majestic. Ximenez, by translating his name as buboes, or syphilis, connects him with Nanahuatzin, the Nahua hero who threw himself into the fire and rose as the sun.[XI-35] Tepeu is more generally known under the name of Gucumatz, 'feathered snake,' which is universally identified with Quetzalcoatl, the Nahua air god. In this character he is said to transform himself every seven days into four forms, snake, eagle, tiger, a mass of coagulated blood, one after the other, and every seven days he visits heaven and hell alternately. He is also held to be the introducer of culture in Guatemala, though more, as one who directs man in his search for improvement, than as a culture-hero.[XI-36] These two gods blending into one, often form a trinity with Hun Ahpu Vuch and Hun Ahpu Utïu, under the one name of Gucumatz, the Heart of Heaven. The assumption by this god of four forms may have reference to the divine quartette, and in the expression "they are enveloped in a mist of green and azure," Brasseur de Bourbourg sees a reference to the sacred bundle containing the four first men and sacrifices, transformed into gods.[XI-37]
Hurakan,[XI-38] although connected with the above quartette in the enumeration of titles of the supreme deity, keeps aloof from the lower sphere in which these move at times, and is even invoked by Gucumatz, who calls him, among other names, Creator, he who begets and gives being. That he was held to be distinct, and worshiped as such by the Quichés, may be seen from the fact that they had one high-priest for Gucumatz, and another for Tohil, another name of Hurakan, who seems to have ranked a degree above the former.[XI-39] He represented the thunder and lightning, and his particular title seems to have been Heart of Heaven, under which were included the three phases of his attribute, the thunder, the lightning, and the thunderbolt, or, as stated in another place, the flash, the track of the lightning, and the thunderbolt,[XI-40] another conception of a trinity. He is also called Centre of the Earth and is represented with thunder in his hand. The bird Voc was his messenger. Müller considers him a sun god, probably because of his title 'Heart of Heaven,' which determines nothing, while others hold him to be identical with the Tlalocs, the Mexican rain gods. He is doubtless the same as Tohil, the leader of the Quiché gods, who is represented by the sign of water, but whose name signifies rumble, clash.[XI-41] In him are also found united the three symbols of Quiché trinity, as will be seen shortly, and his priests address him: "Hail, Beauty of the Day, Hurakan, Heart of Heaven and of Earth! Thou who givest glory, riches and children! Thou Tohil, Avilix, Gagavitz, Bowels of Heaven, Bowels of Earth! Thou who dost constitute the four ends of Heaven!"[XI-42] He was also god of fire, and as such gave his people fire by shaking his sandals.[XI-43] According to the version of Brasseur de Bourbourg, his temple at Utatlan, where he seems to have taken the place of an ancient god, was a truncated pyramid with extremely steep steps in the façade. On its summit was a temple of great height, built of cut stone, and with a roof of precious woods; the walls within and without were covered with fine, brilliant stucco of extreme hardness. In the midst of the most splendid surroundings sat the idol, on a throne set with precious stones. His priests perpetually prayed and burnt precious incense before him, relieving each other in bands of thirteen, so that while some attended to his service, the others fasted to prepare for it. The chief men of the kingdom also attended in bands of eighteen, to invoke his blessing for them and their provinces, nine fasting, while nine offered incense.[XI-44] Tohil, and the other members of the trinity, Avilix and Hacavitz, or Gagavitz, who also represent the thunder, the lightning, and the thunderbolt, were the family gods given by the Creator to the founders of the Quiché race, and though they afterwards became stone, they could still assume other shapes in conformity with the supreme will. As family gods they had special temples in the palace of the princes, where their regular service was conducted, and three mountain peaks bearing their names, served to keep them before the people.[XI-45] The flint with which Brinton identifies Tohil may, perhaps, be the black stone brought from the far east, and venerated in the temple of Kahba, 'house of sacrifice,' at Utatlan, but there is no confirmation by the chroniclers. It is, besides, stated that the worship of Kahba had greatly declined, but was again restored to something like its former glory by Gucumatz; Tohil, on the other hand, always stood high, and his high-priest belonged to a different family.[XI-46] A similar stone existed in a temple situated in a deep ravine near Iximche, in whose polished face the gods made known their will. This stone was often used to determine the fate of those accused of crime; if the judges perceived no change in the stone the prisoner went free.[XI-47]
HAVALITZ AND HACAVITZ.
ADVENTURES OF XQUIQ, HUN AHPU, AND XBALANQUE.
We now come to the heroes with whose adventures the Popol Vuh is chiefly occupied. From the union of the Grandfather and Grandmother who head the list of Quiché deities, proceeded two sons, Hunhun Ahpu and Vukab Hun Ahpu.[XI-48] They incur the suspicion and hatred of the princes of Xibalba, who plan their downfall and for this purpose invite them to their court, under the pretence of playing a game of ball with them. On their arrival they are subjected to various indignities and finally condemned to lose their heads. The head of Hunhun Ahpu is placed between the withered branches of a calabash-tree; but lo! a miracle takes place; the tree immediately becomes laden with fruit and the head turns into a calabash. Henceforth the tree is held sacred and the king commands that none shall touch it. Xquiq, however, a royal princess, Eve-like, disregards the injunction, and approaches to pluck the fruit. As she stretches forth her arm, Hunhun Ahpu spits into her hand, and Xquiq finds herself pregnant. Her father soon perceives her condition, and in a fury condemns her to death, telling the executioners to bring him the heart of his daughter to prove that they have done their duty. While being led to the wood Xquiq pleads earnestly for her life, and finally prevails upon her executioners to deceive her father by substituting for her heart the jelly-like resin of a tree, which she procures. Xquiq proceeds to Utatlan, to the Grandmother, Xmucane, and gives birth to the twins Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque,[XI-49] who develop rapidly; their superior talents soon make their elder brothers jealous, and they attempt their destruction, but the twins anticipate their designs and transform them into apes. These brothers Hun Batz and Hun Chouen, were the sons of Hunhun Ahpu by Xbakiyalo, and were invoked as the patrons of the fine arts[XI-50]. Brasseur de Bourbourg explains this myth by saying that Hunhun Ahpu denotes the Nahua immigrants who by their superiority gain the women of the country, and whose children carry on a successful struggle with the aboriginal race. The continuance of the contest and the triumph of the Nahuas is described in the adventures of Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque. A rat reveals to them their origin, and the place where the ball-game implements of their father are hidden. They play a match with the Xibalba princes who had challenged their father, and are successful in this as well as several herculean tasks assigned to them, but are nevertheless burned.[XI-51] The ashes, thrown into the water, are transformed into two handsome young men, and then into man-fishes, a reference, perhaps, to the arrival by sea of allies to help them. Again they make their appearance in Xibalba, this time as conjurers, and lay their plans so skillfully as to overthrow the Prince Vukub Cakix with his adherents, and obtain the apotheosis of their father and his adherents as sun, moon, and stars. Vukub Cakix, who represents the sun, may be taken as the representative of an older sun-worship replaced by the newer cult introduced by Hun Ahpu.[XI-52] The burning of this hero agrees with that of the Mexican Nanahuatzin who by this act became a sun. In fact, Brasseur de Bourbourg considers the whole as a version of the Nahua myth. From another point of view Hun Ahpu, whose name, signifying 'sarbacan-blower or air-shooter,' suits the attribute of the air-god, may be considered as the morning wind dispersing the clouds and disclosing the splendors of the sun.[XI-53]
In the Quatre Lettres, the Abbé takes another view of the myth, and sees in it but a version of the convulsions that take place in the Antilles, the Seven Grottos of the Mexican myth, of which I have spoken in a preceding chapter. Hunhun Ahpu, Vukub Hun Ahpu, and the two legitimate sons of the former are volcanoes, and their plays, death, and transformation, are earthquakes, extinction, and upheavals. The burning of Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque and the scattering of their ashes upon the waters is the final catastrophe, the sinking of the Atlantides, or the seven islands; and as the brothers rise again in the form of beautiful young men, so do new islands take the place of those destroyed. The confirmation of this he finds in a tradition current on the islands, which speaks of certain upheavals similar to the above.[XI-54]
QUICHÉ GODS.
The Quichés had a multitude of other gods and genii, who controlled the elements and exercised their influence upon the destinies of man. The places where they most loved to linger were dark quiet spots, in the undisturbed silence of the grotto, at the foot of some steep precipice, beneath the shade of mighty trees, especially where a spring trickled forth between its roots, and on the summit of the mountains; and here the simple native came to pour out his sorrow, and to offer his sacrifice. In some places this idea of seclusion was carried to such an extent that idols were kept hidden in subterranean chapels, that they might not be disturbed or the people become too familiar with them; another reason, however, was to prevent their being stolen by other villagers. The god of the road had sanctuaries, called mumah, all along the highways, especially at the junctions, and the traveler in passing never failed to rub his legs with a handful of grass, upon which he afterwards spat with great respect, and deposited it upon the altar together with a small stone, believing that this act of piety would give him renewed strength. He also left a small tribute from his stock of food or merchandise, which remained to decay before the idol, for none dared to remove it. This custom was also observed in Nicaragua.