Popol Vuh
Tine Line
Mayan Important Centers
Linguistic Map
Chichicastenengo were the Popol Vuh was written
• The Popol Vuh was written between 1554
and 1558
• It was translated by a Dominican friar
named Francisco Ximénez in 1701
• The manuscript is at the Newberry Library
in Chicago
The Popol Vuh is about the genesis of this Mayan group
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The Popol Vuh is divided in three parts:
1. Creation of the world and origin of
human beings.
2. Mythical adventures of the twin gods
Hunahpú (one blowgun ) and Xbalamke
(small jaguar-deer).
3. Exodus of the Quiche people and
conquest of Mexico.
• Some scholars suggest that the main en la
cultura maya, como en la nahua, that the
creation of humans was the main reason for
the creation of life.
• Gods created human beings in
Mesoamerican cultures by sacrificing
themselves.
• In turn, gods expected sacrifices and
praises from human beings.
• Human beings were subjected to the gods.
• In the Popol Vuh the deities first created the animals.
• Animals are destroyed because don have the gift of
speaking to praise the gods.
• The first human beings are created of clay. These humans
are inconsistent, so they are destroyed.
• In the second attempt, the gods create the human beings
out of wood. These humans lacked emotions and did not
have a soul. They do not praise the gods, so are destroyed
by a flood. Those who survived became monkeys.
• In the last attempt, the gods make the human beings out of
corn. Maize is the most precious crop in all Mesoamerican
cultures and so the human beings made of corn are close to
perfection for the gods. They were also conceived by a
virgin
• The gods created human beings by means of
sacrificing themselves, but humans are will always
be limited to cosmic hierarchy.