Hun Hunahpu
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According to the Popol Vuh, Hun-Hunahpu 'One-Hunahpu' (a calendrical name) is the father of the Maya hero twins, Hunahpu and Ixbalanque. As their shared calendrical day name suggests, however, he is first and foremost the father of Hunahpu. He is also stated to be the father of the twins' half-brothers, the patrons of the artisans and writers, Hun-Chowen and Hun-Batz (see Howler Monkey Gods). Hun-Hunahpu 'One-Hunahpu' is paired with his brother, Vucub-Hunahpu 'Seven-Hunahpu'. Hun-Hunahpu was defeated in the ballgame by the lords of the Underworld (Xibalba) and sacrificed. His head was suspended in a trophy-tree and changed to a calabash. The juice of the calabash impregnated a daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba, Xquic. She fled the underworld and conceived the Twins.
After defeating the lords of the Underworld, the Twins recovered the remains of their father and father's brother, but could not resuscitate them. Nonetheless, it has been asserted that the Mayas of the Classical Period took a more optimistic view, in that they believed the sad paternal figure to have been reborn as the maize. In this theory, the scene of the main Maya maize god rising from a turtle carapace (the 'tomb' of the earth) is interpreted as Hun-Hunahpu resurrected, and the flanking Hero Twins assisting him are accordingly taken to be the maize deity's sons. In consequence of this theory, Hun-Hunahpu is often referred to as a 'maize deity', although the Popol Vuh itself does not support such a view.
[edit] Sources
- Dennis Tedlock, Popol Vuh. New York: Simon and Schuster 1986.
- Karl Taube, Aztec and Maya Myths. The British Museum / University of Texas Press 1997.
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