Chac Mool
por Carlos Fuentes
Symbols are persons, places or things in a narrative that have
significance beyond a literal understanding. The craft of
story-telling depends on symbols to present ideas and point
toward new meanings. A specific object will be used to refer
to (symbolize) a more abstract concept. In “Chac-Mool” by
Carlos Fuentes, the symbol is comes from the Toltec culture.
Chac-Mool is the name given to a type of Pre-Columbian
Mesoamerican stone altar (example at right).
There is a large Chac-mool in the Temple of the Warriors at Chichen Itza, the largest of the PreColumbian archaeological sites in Yucatán, Mexico. The term “Pre-colombiano” or Pre-Columbian is
used to refer to the cultures of the New World in the era before Colombus and European influence.
Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa
Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an
approximately 3,000-year period before the European discovery of the New World.
The so called "Chac-Mool" altars depict a human figure in an awkward position of reclining with the
head up and turned to one side, holding a tray over the stomach. It is believed that the tray part of the
sculpture was used for offerings of incense and of human hearts from human sacrifices by the Toltecs.
Chac-Mool altars are typically found in front of temples in Toltec and other post-Classic central
Mexican sites, and in post-Classic Maya civilization sites with heavy Toltec influence, such as Chichen
Itza. The Maya civilization is a historical Mesoamerican civilization, which extended throughout the
northern Central American region which includes the present-day nations of Guatemala, Belize,
western Honduras and El Salvador, as well as the southern Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and the
Yucatán peninsula states of Quintana Roo and Campeche.
The ancient name for these sculptures is unknown. The name was coined by Augustus Le Plongeon, an
eccentric 19th century antiquitarian who excavated some Maya sites in Yucatán and published multiple
volumes of "history" of the Maya which later scholars consider to be based on nothing other than Le
Plongeon's own vivid imagination. Le Plongeon uncovered such a statue in Chichen Itza and concocted
an elaborate story around it saying that it depicted an ancient king of Atlantis named "Chac-Mool",
which means "Red Jaguar" in the Maya language. Although Le Plongeon's stories are discredited, the
name he coined for this type of figure has stuck. Augustus Le Plongeon (1825-1908) was an
archaeologist who excavated the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Yucatan.
Chac-Mools should not be confused with Chaac, one of the leading deities in Maya mythology, which
was polytheistic, associated primarily with the phenomena of rain and thunder, and with whom they
are not associated. In Maya mythology, Chac (sometimes spelled Chaac,) was the god of rain and
thunder, and important as a fertility and agriculture god. Images of Chaac, especially those at Uxmal,
resemble an elephant (creating even more questions about early world geography).
Carlos Fuentes wrote a short story "Chac Mool" about a man named Filiberto, who loves to collect
artifacts. His friend tells him where to find a statue of Chac Mool. When Filiberto leaves Chac Mool in
his damp and murky basement, the statue slowly comes to life by summoning torrential rains in
Filiberto's basement. Eventually, Chac Mool comes to life and takes over Filiberto's life. Filiberto runs
away, seeking refuge, but is eventually drowned by Chac Mool. Does the author confuse the Chac Mool
with Chaac, the Maya rain god? Carlos Fuentes Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes (born November 11,
1928) is one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world.