Maya Hero Twins
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Kʼicheʼ document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in the Kʼicheʼ language, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the Classic Mayas. The twins are often portrayed as complementary forces.
The Twin motif recurs in many Native American mythologies; the Maya Twins, in particular, could be considered as mythical ancestors to the Maya ruling lineages.
In word and image
After being invited to Xibalba by One-Death and Seven-Death, the Lords of the Underworld, to a game of Pok Ta Pok, a Maya Ballgame, Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu were defeated and executed as a result. Hun-Hunahpu's head was put in a tree. When Blood Moon, the daughter of Blood Gatherer, one of the Lords of the Underworld, passes by the tree, his head speaks to her and then impregnates her with his spittle. Her father finds out that she is pregnant and convenes with One-Death and Seven-Death. They decide that if Blood Moon is not willing to tell them who the father is, she should be killed. Blood Moon truthfully answers that she has not slept with anyone, which is taken as a lie because she is visibly pregnant. Thus, they order their Owl Messengers to kill her and bring back her heart as proof.Blood Moon then tells the owls the truth and they agree to spare her. They create a faux heart out of red tree sap which they bring back to the Lords of the Underworld. The owls then show her the way to the world above. Here she goes to the house of Xmucane, the mother of Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, who lives with One-Monkey and One-Artisan, the firstborn children of Hun Hunahpu, which he conceived with Egret Woman. Blood Moon tells Xmucane she is pregnant with her grandchildren. Xmucane at first does not believe her and orders her—as a trial—to pick a big netful of corn ears from the garden of One-Monkey and One-Artisan. When Blood Moon arrives in the garden, however, there is only one maize plant. She calls upon the Guardians of Food and the corn plant magically produces enough ears to fill the net.
Xmucane now recognizes that Blood Moon is telling the truth. She later gives birth to the children, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The sons—or 'Twins'—grow up to avenge their father, and after many trials, finally defeated the lords of the Underworld in a ballgame. The Popol Vuh features other episodes involving the Twins as well, including the destruction of a pretentious bird demon, Vucub Caquix, and of his two demonic sons. The Twins also turned their half-brothers into the howler monkey gods, who were the patrons of artists and scribes. The Twins were finally transformed into sun and moon, signaling the beginning of a new age. The Qʼeqchiʼ myth of Sun and Moon, where Xbalanque is hunting for deer, and capturing the daughter of the Earth Deity. In these cases, Hunahpu has no role to play.
Iconography
Another main source for Hero Twin mythology is much earlier and consists of representations found on Maya ceramics until about 900 AD and in the Dresden Codex some centuries later. Clearly recognizable are the figures of Hunahpu, Xbalanque, and the howler monkey scribes and sculptors. Hunahpu is distinguished by black spots on his skin, interpreted as the stains of a corpse or as pustules. On the Preclassic murals from San Bartolo, the king, marked with a black spot on the cheek, and drawing blood from his genitals in the four corners of the world, appears to personify the hero Hunahpu. Xbalanque—the 'War Twin'—is more animal-like, in that he is distinguished by jaguar patches on his skin and by whiskers or a beard.Certain iconographic scenes are suggestive of episodes in the Popol Vuh. The Twins' shooting of a steeply descending bird with blowguns may represent the defeat of Vucub-Caquix, whereas the principal Maya maize god rising from the carapace of a turtle in the presence of the Hero Twins may visualize the resurrection of the Twins' father, Hun-Hunahpu. This second scene has also been explained differently, however. In any case, the Twins are often depicted together with the main maize god, and these three semi-divinities were obviously felt to belong together. Therefore, it is probably no coincidence that in the Popol Vuh, the Twins are symbolically represented by two maize stalks.
Names and calendrical functions
The name "Xbalanque" has been variously translated as 'Jaguar Sun', 'Hidden Sun', and 'Jaguar Deer'. The initial sound may stem from yax, since in Classical Maya, a hieroglyphic element of this meaning precedes the pictogram of the hero. For the combination of prefix and pictogram, a reading as Yax Balam has been proposed. The name "Hunahpu" is usually understood as Hun-ahpub 'One-Blowgunner', the blowgun characterizing the youthful hero as a hunter of birds.The head of Hunahpu is used as a variant sign for the 20th day in the day count or tzolkin, which in these cases may actually have been read as ahpu, rather than Ahau. The 20th day is also the concluding day of all vigesimal periods, including the katun and baktun. The head of Xbalanque is used as a variant for the number nine.
Twin myth summary
The following is a detailed summary of the Popol Vuh Twin Myth, on from the death of the heroes' father and uncle.Early life of the heroes
Hunahpu and his brother were conceived when their mother Xquic, daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba, spoke with the severed head of their father Hun. The skull spat upon the maiden's hand, which caused the twins to be conceived in her womb. Xquic sought out Hun Hunahpu's mother, who begrudgingly took her as a ward after setting up a number of trials to prove her identity.Even after birth, Hunahpu and Xbalanque were not well treated by their grandmother or their older half-brothers, One Howler Monkey and One Artisan. Immediately after their births, their grandmother demanded they be removed from the house for their crying, and their elder brothers obliged by placing them on an anthill and among the brambles. Their intent was to kill their younger half-brothers out of jealousy and spite, for the older pair had long been revered as fine artisans and thinkers and feared the newcomers would steal from the attention they received.
The attempts to kill the young twins after birth were a failure, and the boys grew up without any obvious spite for their ill-natured older siblings. During their younger years, the twins were made to labor, going to hunt birds which they brought back for meals. The elder brothers were given their food to eat first, in spite of the fact they spent the day singing and playing while the younger twins were working.
Hunahpu and Xbalanque demonstrated their wit at a young age in dealing with their older half brothers. One day, the pair returned from the field without any birds to eat and were questioned by their older siblings. The younger boys claimed that they had indeed shot several birds but that they had gotten caught high in a tree and were unable to retrieve them. The older brothers were brought to the tree and climbed up to get the birds when the tree suddenly began to grow even taller, and the older brothers were caught. This is also the first instance in which the twins demonstrate supernatural powers, or perhaps simply the blessings of the greater gods; the feats of power are often only indirectly attributed to the pair.
Hunahpu further humiliated his older brethren by instructing them to remove their loincloths and tie them about their waists in an attempt to climb down. The loincloths became tails, and the brothers were transformed into monkeys. When their grandmother was informed that the older boys had not been harmed, she demanded they be allowed to return. When they did come back to the home, their grandmother was unable to contain her laughter at their appearance, and the disfigured brothers ran away in shame.
Defeat of Seven Macaw and his family
At a point in their lives not specified in the Popol Vuh, the twins were approached by the god Huracan regarding an arrogant god named Seven Macaw. Seven Macaw had built up a following of worshipers among some of the inhabitants of the Earth, making false claims to be either the sun or the moon. Seven Macaw was also extremely vain, adorning himself with metal ornaments in his wings and a set of false teeth made of gemstones.In a first attempt to dispatch the vain god, the twins attempted to sneak up on him as he was eating his meal in a tree, and shot at his jaw with a blowgun. Seven Macaw was knocked from his tree but only wounded, and as Hunahpu attempted to escape, his arm was grabbed by the god and torn off.
In spite of their initial failure, the twins again demonstrated their clever nature in formulating a plan for Seven Macaw's defeat. Invoking a pair of gods disguised as grandparents, the twins instructed the invoked gods to approach Seven Macaw and negotiate for the return of Hunahpu's arm. In doing so, the "grandparents" indicated they were but a poor family, making a living as doctors and dentists and attempting to care for their orphaned grandchildren. Upon hearing this, Seven Macaw requested that his teeth be fixed since they had been shot and knocked loose by the blowgun, and his eyes cured. In doing so, the grandparents replaced his jeweled teeth with white corn and plucked the ornaments he had about his eyes, leaving the god destitute of his former greatness. Having fallen, Seven Macaw died, presumably of shame.
Seven Macaw's sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan, inherited a large part of their father's arrogance, claiming to be the creators and destroyers of mountains, respectively. The elder son Zipacna was destroyed when the twins tricked him with the lure of a fake crab, burying him beneath a mountain in the process.
The Maya god Huracan again implored the young twins for help in dealing with Seven Macaw's younger son, Cabrakan, the Earthquake. Again, it was primarily through their cleverness that the pair were able to bring about the downfall of their enemy, having sought him out and then using his very arrogance against him; they told the story of a great mountain they had encountered that kept growing and growing. Cabrakan prided himself as the one to bring down the mountains, and upon hearing such a tale, he predictably demanded to be shown the mountain. Hunahpu and Xbalanque obliged, leading Cabrakan toward the non-existent mountain. Being skilled hunters, they shot down several birds along the way, roasting them over fires and playing upon Cabrakan's hunger. When he asked for some meat, he was given a bird that had been prepared with plaster and gypsum, a poison to the god. Upon eating it, he was weakened and the boys were able to bind him and cast him into a hole in the earth, burying him forever.