Origins, Customs, and the Mayan Culture Theme Analysis

It's important to consider the Popol Vuh as the guiding cultural and religious document that it was for the Mayan people, and specifically the Quiché tribes that recorded it. For much of history, the story existed as an oral story as well as one that was recorded hieroglyphically; it was only written down phonetically after the Spanish invasion. Quiché leaders and seers used the text in its oral and hieroglyphic forms to guide how they were supposed to rule and arrange dates for events and festivals (the forward by the translator notes that the Popol Vuh is a narrative representation of the Mayan calendar, and someone familiar with the calendar will be able to use the story to track celestial events). At its heart, however, the text tells a Mayan reader how to be properly Mayan, and situates this image of a proper Mayan person that encompasses both divine and human history. Essentially, the text suggests that if one wants to understand who and what a person is, and why that person is the way they are, it's necessary to first understand where that person came from.

As the origin story of all Mayan people, the Popol Vuh explains how the seven tribes that made up the Mayan civilization in Mesoamerica came to exist, and why they came to exist in the first place: the gods created humans so they would have people to worship them and tend to the land, and the gods created them out of cornmeal and other staple foods that would then go on to keep the people fed and healthy. By answering both the how and the why of the origins of people, places, and animals, the story seeks to explain the workings of the entire universe, from a scale as large as the sky down to small-scale daily customs of people, including why hearthstones are arranged the way they are and why worshippers burn specific substances for the gods. This sets out the idea that everything has a purpose and nothing is arbitrary, which in turn teaches the reader to look for these logical connections as they piece together how the world works within this particular culture.

This sense of logic and order is particularly noticeable when the story discusses the natural world. Animals are essential characters in the Popol Vuh, as they function as messengers, guards, and antagonists in turn. Similarly, the Popol Vuh provides the reasoning behind the geological landscape, from the origins of the mountains to the reason the land is so dry. Deer and rabbits, for example, have short tails because Hunahpu and Xbalanque pulled the tails off of deer and rabbits when they found the creatures destroying their garden. Similarly, whippoorwills have short feathers because cutter ants chopped off their plumage, and they have gaping mouths because they love to sing. In this way, the book offers the reader a way to understand the entirety of the Mayan world and to understand that everything has a place and a purpose to carry out.

Because the story of the Popol Vuh isn't told in a strictly linear fashion, it tells some stories twice from slightly different perspectives, or returns to the past to describe a different story that happened simultaneously. In doing so, the Popol Vuh makes it abundantly clear that history itself isn't strictly linear; history happens to multiple people at the same time through many differing experiences. This idea is especially important when considering the origins of the sun, moon, and stars, celestial bodies that guide the entirety of Mayan civilization by dictating their calendar. The story first mentions that after their final victory over One Death and Seven Death, Hunahpu and Xbalanque ascend to the sky to become the sun and moon, while the Four Hundred Boys follow them to become the stars. This happens at the end of Part Three, before any mention of the final iteration of humans. Part Four then plunges the reader back into darkness prior to the creation of humans and follows the first humans as they wait for, pray for, and finally watch the first dawn. This nonlinear format is in part due to the fact that this version of the Popol Vuh was collected and arranged by modern, non-Mayan translators with the help of Quiché daykeepers: this version has been edited and arranged to make more sense to modern audiences, and the original was even less linear. However, the nonlinear format also stresses the importance of understanding that history is made up of many different experiences, both divine and human. Essentially, this story in particular crystallizes the idea that the origins of the Mayan people aren't just divine or just human. The Mayans derive their existence and their customs from both divine and human elements and actions, and through this interplay their culture develops a richness that can only come from acknowledging these multiple perspectives.