List of Maya gods and supernatural beings
This is a list of deities playing a role in the Classic, Post-Classic and Contact Period of Maya religion. The names are mainly taken from the books of Chilam Balam, Lacandon ethnography, the Madrid Codex, the work of Diego de Landa, and the Popol Vuh. Depending on the source, most names are either Yucatec or Kʼicheʼ. The Classic Period names are only rarely known with certainty.
Maya mythological beings
A
Acan">Acan (god)">Acan
The god of wine and intoxication, identified with the drink Balché.Acat">Acat (deity)">Acat
The god of tattoos and tattooing.Alom">Alom (deity)">Alom
The god of the sky and wood, a creator deity.[Ah-Muzen-Cab]
The god of bees and honey.[Awilix]
The goddess of the Moon and the night.B
[Bacab]
The old god of the interior of the earth and of thunder, sky-carrier, sometimes depicted as four Bacabs that each represent the directions.[Baalham]
The jaguar god of the underworld. Also any of a group of jaguar gods who protected people and communities.Bitol">Bitol (Deity)">Bitol *PV*
A sky god. One of the creator and destroyer deities who participated in the last two attempts at creating humanity.[Bolon Tzʼakab] (Dzacab) *L* [god K]
Bolontiku *CHB*
A group of nine underworld gods.[Bolon Yokteʼ]
"Nine Strides", mentioned in the Books of Chilam Balam and in Classic inscriptions; functions unknown.Buluc Chabtan">Buluc Chabtan (Deity)">Buluc Chabtan god F
The god of war, violence, sacrifice, and gambling.C
Cabrakan">Cabrakan (Deity)">Cabrakan
A god of mountains and earthquakes. He was a son of Vucub Caquix and Chimalmat.Cacoch">Cacoch (Deity)">Cacoch *LAC*
Also known as kacoch. Was a male creator god worshipped by the Lacandon people and associated with Acan the god of wine. He is said to have created the water lily that all other gods sprang from.[Camazotz] *PV*
The god of bats, night, death, and sacrifice. He comes from a place called xibalba[Can Tzicnal] *L*
The Bacab of the north, associated with the color white, and the Muluc years. Son of Itzamna and Ixchel.Chac">Chaac">Chac *L*
God of rain, thunder, and lightning, wields an axe of lightning, brother to Kinich Ahau.[Chaac Uayab Xoc] *L*
A fish god and the patron deity ofChiccan">Chiccan (mythology)">Chiccan
A group of four Chorti rain gods who live in lakes and make rain clouds from the water in them. As with the Bacabs, each of the rain gods was associated with a cardinal direction. Chiccan was also the name of a day in the Tzolkin cycle of the calendar.Cit-Bolon-Tum">Cit-Bolon-Tum (Deity)">Cit-Bolon-Tum
A god of medicine and healing[Chimalmat]
A giant who was, by Vucub Caquix, the mother of Cabrakan and Zipacna.Chin">Chin (Mayan god)">Chin
The main god of relationships.Cizin">Cizin (Deity)">Cizin
A god of earthquakes and death who lived in Metnal.Colel Cab
Goddess of the beesColop U Uichkin">Colop U (Deity)">Colop U Uichkin
An eclipse deity.Coyopa">Coyopa (Deity)">Coyopa
The god of thunder. Brother of Cakulha.E
[Ek Chuaj] *M* (God M)
Ek Chuaj, the "black war chief" was the patron god of warriors and merchants. He was depicted carrying a bag over his shoulder and wearing a Jaguar mantle. He was typically represented with a dangling lower lip, a long nose, sometimes a scorpion’s tail, and particularly in the Madrid codex he is painted all black.G
GI, GII, GIII
The three patron deities of the Palenque kingdom, made up of a sea deity with a shell ear, GII a baby lightning god, and GIII the jaguar god of fire, also patron of the number seven.Ku'ku'lkan">Kukulkan">Ku'ku'lkan > Qʼuqʼumatz *PV*
A feathered snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Gukumatz of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is closely related to the god Kukulkan of Yucatán and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztec. God of the seas, oceans, wind, and storms.H
Hachäkʼyum">Hachäkʼyum (Deity)">Hachäkʼyum *LAC*
Patron deity of the Lacandon.Hobnil *L*
Bacab of the east.Hozanek *L*
Bacab of the south.[hermanjilo]
Hun-Batz">Howler monkey gods">Hun-Batz *PV*
"One Howler Monkey", one of two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.Hun-Came">Hun-Came (Deity)">Hun-Came *PV*
"One-Death", a lord of the underworld who, along with Vucub-Came "Seven-Death", killed Hun Hunahpu. They were defeated by the latter's sons the Hero Twins.Hun-Chowen">Howler monkey gods">Hun-Chowen *PV*
One of the two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.[Hun-Hunahpu] *PV*
The father of the Maya Hero Twins Ixbalanque and Hun-Ahpu by a virgin. Beheaded in Xibalba, the underworld, by the rulers of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vucub Came.[Hunab Ku]
"Sole God", identical with Itzamna as the highest Yucatec god; or a more abstract upper god.Hun-Ahpu">Maya Hero Twins">Hun-Ahpu *PV*
One of the Maya Hero Twins.Hunahpu-Gutch *PV*
One of the thirteen creator gods who helped create humanity.Hunahpu Utiu">Maya Hero Twins">Hunahpu Utiu *PV*
One of the thirteen creator gods who helped to create humanity.Hun-Ixim">Maya maize god">Hun-Ixim
"One-Maize", a reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period Tonsured Maize GodHun-nal-ye">Maya maize god">Hun-nal-ye
A now-obsolete reading of the name glyph of the Classic Period Tonsured Maize GodHunraqan">Huracan">Hunraqan *PV*
"One-Leg", one of three lightning gods together called "Heart of the Sky", and acting as world creators. God of the weather, wind, storms, and fire.I
[Itzamna]
[Itzananohkʼu]
Xbalanque
[Ixchel] *L* goddess O
[Ixmucane] *PV*
[Ixpiyacoc] *PV*
[Ixtab] *L*
J
[Jacawitz] *PV*
mountain god of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ MayaK
[Kʼawiil] (Kawil, Kauil)
Assumed to have been the Classic name of God K. Title attested for Itzamna, Uaxac Yol, and Amaite Ku; family name; probably not meaning "food", but "powerful".K'inich Ahau">Kinich Ahau">K'inich Ahau
The solar deity.Kisin">Cizin">Kisin (Cisin)
The most commonly depicted god of death.[Kukulkan]
"Feathered Serpent". Although heavily Mexicanised, Kukulkan has his origins among the Maya of the Classic Period, when he was known as Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, the War Serpent, and he has been identified as the Postclassic version of the Vision Serpent of Classic Maya art.M
Mam">Mam (Maya mythology)">Mam
A title of respect meaning "Grandfather" and applied to a number of different Maya deities including earth spirits, mountain spirits, and the four Bacabs.Maximon">Maximón">Maximon
A god of travelers, merchants, medicine men/women, mischief and fertility, later conflated with Saint Simon and in modern times part of the celebrations surrounding Holy Week.N
Nakon">Nakon (mythology)">Nakon
The god of war.A Powerful god, claimed to be stronger than all the other gods of war in every other religion.