Popol Vuh Thesis

Spain's bishop of the Yucatán, the Franciscan friar Diego de Landa, is known for his brutality with the Mayans. In 1562, he testified that he destroyed 5,000 Mayan "idols" and burned 27 hieroglyphic books which had mayan history in them. He believed Mayan culture, beliefs, and writings were nothing more than a waste of space. Landa's narrow-mindedness came with consequences. After destroying Mayan books, Landa wrote his account of the Mayans of the Yucatán “Relación de las cosas de Yucatán” using information provided by the Mayan sources he had destroyed. Landa's account also became the most important source for much of what we know today about the Mayans. In this writing Landa provides details on how the Mayans used their ancient calendar

and their hieroglyphic writing system. With these characters or letters, according to Landa, "they wrote in their books about the antiquities and their sciences." Landa also wrote a Spanish alphabet of the hieroglyphs which is very important to read ancient mayan text. “It has been told in the preceding chapters how the Indians began their year following these 'nameless days,' preparing there as with vigils for the celebration of the New Year festival; in the same interval they celebrated the festival of the Uvayeyab demon, for which they left their houses, which otherwise they left as little as possible; they offered besides gifts for the general festival, and counters for their gods and those of the temples. These counters they thus offered they never took for their own use, nor anything that was given to the god, but with them bought incense for burning. During these days they neither combed nor washed, nor otherwise cared for themselves, neither men or women; neither did they perform any servile or heavy work, fearing lest evil fall on them.” (Excerpt from Bishop Diego de Landa's Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan in which he describes his destruction of the Mayan Books in 1562, by (Bishop) Diego de Land
Before European contact, the Maya occupied territory that extended through what is now Guatemala, Belize, southern Mexico, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.

The Popol Vuh is the most important Mayan document to survive the Spanish conquest. It is believed to have been written in pre-Columbian times in hieroglyphs. After the conquest it was transcribed into the Mayan language with Roman characters. The Popol Vuh is the most sacred book of the Quiche Maya. Like other holy books, it contains stories of human creation. The opening passage excerpted here refers to the Heart of Heaven and the Heart of Earth, a name given to the Creator and the Maker of Life. According to the text, nothing was on Earth in the beginning, only the silence of darkness. The Creator and his helpers united their "words and their thoughts" and brought forth the world. They then modeled humans from yellow and white corn. The Popol Vuh is not only a precious source of information on the pre-Columbian Maya but a source of inspiration to many contemporary Central American and Hispanic-American artists and writers. “This is the account of how all was in suspense, all calm, in silence; all motionless, still, and the expanse of the sky was empty. This is the first account, the first narrative. There was neither man, nor animal, birds, fishes, crabs, trees, stones, caves, ravines, grasses, nor forests; there was only the sky. The surface of the earth had not appeared. There was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky. There was nothing brought together, nothing which could make a noise, nor anything which might move, or tremble, or could make noise in the sky. There was nothing standing; only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil. Nothing existed. There was only immobility and silence in the darkness, in the night. Only the Creator, the Maker, Tepeu, Gucumatz, the Fore-fathers, were in the water surrounded with light. They were hidden under green and blue feathers, and were

therefore called Gucumatz. By nature they were great sages and great thinkers. In this manner the sky existed and also the Heart of Heaven, which is the name of God and thus He is called. Then came the word. Tepeu and Gucumatz came together in the darkness, in the night, and Tepeu and Gucumatz talked together. They talked then, discussing and deliberating; they agreed, they united their words and their thoughts. Then while they meditated, it became clear to them that when dawn would break, man must appear. Then they planned the creation, and the growth of the trees and the thickets and the birth of life and the creation of man. Thus it was arranged in the darkness and in the night by the Heart of Heaven who is called Huracan.The first is called Calcula Huracan. The second is ChipiCas culha. The third is Raxa-Calcula. And these three are the Heart of Heaven.”
Twelve Mayan war captives were found dismembered in Uxul from 14 decades ago, probably rulers of near towns. Had nothing to be buried with because everything was abandoned “Two dozen Maya war captives were beheaded, dismembered, and buried unceremoniously some 1,400 years ago at the site of Uxul, an international team reported on Tuesday. The victims were likely rulers of nearby towns at war with Uxul, located in southern Mexico, or the dethroned rulers of the town itself, according to the researchers. The discovery of the mass burial in an artificial cave adds to the evidence that the brutal warfare, torture, and sacrifice of captives widely depicted in ancient Maya artwork were real practices, says discovery team archaeologist Nicolaus Seefeld of Germany's University of Bonn…The victims were buried without any of the offerings or jewelry typically seen in royal burials, aside from a few potsherds that allowed the researchers to roughly date the time of their massacre. At the time, Uxul was apparently ruled by a local dynasty, though it later came under the control of Calakmul. The latter city was the superpower of the Maya era, which ended after A.D. 800 with the widespread abandonment, or collapse, of the pyramid-filled cities of Central America.