Mayan Origin Story:
The Popul Vuh
Prepared by:
Kent Vincent C. Alburan
Background
Information
• This is the beginning of a
long, complex story called the
Popol Vuh which means “council
book.” It was told by the
Mayans who long ago lived in
theYucatán Peninsula of Mexico.
• This origin story was told by
the Mayas, who lived in the
Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico
from around 250 CE to 900 CE.
It’s the beginning of a long,
complex story called the Popol
Vuh (literally the “council
book”), first translated into
alphabetic text from Mayan
Creation by Diego Rivera © Christie’s Images/CORBIS hieroglyphics in the 16th
century.
Story
Summary
Now it still ripples, now it still murmurs, still sighs, and is empty under the
sky. There is not yet one person, not one animal, bird, fish or tree. There is
only the sky alone; the face of earth is not clear, only the sea alone is pooled
under all the sky. Whatever might be is simply not there.
There were makers in the sea, together called the Plumed Serpent. There were
makers in the sky, together called the Heart of Sky. Together these makers planned
the dawn of life.
The earth arose because of them. It was simply their word that brought it forth.
It arose suddenly, like a cloud unfolding. Then the mountains were separated from
the water. All at once great mountains came forth. The sky was set apart, and the
earth was set apart in the midst of the waters.
Then the makers in the sky planned the animals of the mountains — the deer, pumas,
jaguars, rattlesnakes, and guardians of the bushes. Then they established the
nests of the birds, great and small. “You precious birds; your nests are in the
trees and bushes.” Then the deer and birds were told to talk to praise their
makers, to pray to them. But the birds and animals did not talk; they just
squawked and howled. So they had to accept that their flesh would be eaten by
others.
Continuation...
The makers tried again to form a giver of respect, a creature who would
nurture and provide. They made a body from mud, but it didn’t look good.
It talked at first but then crumbled and disintegrated into the water.
Then the Heart of Sky called on the wise ones, the diviners, the
Grandfather Xpiyacoc and the Grandmother Xmucane, to help decide how to
form a person. The Grandparents said it is well to make wooden carvings,
human in looks and speech. So wooden humans came into being; they talked
and multiplied, but there was nothing in their minds and hearts, no
memory of their builder, no memory of Heart of Sky.
Then there came a great destruction. The wooden carvings were killed when
the Heart of Sky devised a flood for them. It rained all day and all
night. The animals came into the homes of the wooden carvings and ate
them. The people were overthrown. The monkeys in the forest are a sign of
this. They look like the previous people — mere wooden carvings.
The story continues with the final people being made from corn, an
important crop that enabled the Maya to move from being a hunting-and-
gathering society to a more complex civilization.
Characters
There are a number of important characters that appear in
Popol Vuh mythology and history, but there are two gods who
are particularly attributed in the story of creation.
Hurricane (the Maker)--representing the sea
Gucumatz (feathered serpent)--the Plumed Serpent representing
land
Setting
Quichen, Guatemala from around 250 CE to 900 CE.
Conflict
Man vs. Man— in the third part of the Popul Vuh where the
hero twins had to go to the underworld to compete.
Theme
“Nothting is perfect the first time.”
References
Sources
Edited from Dennis Tedlock, Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the
Dawn of Life Rev. ed. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996),
64 – 73.
Image Credits
Creation by Diego Rivera© Christie’s Images/CORBIS
Chinese Origin Story:
Pan Gu and the Egg of the World
Background
Information
This origin story comes
from Chinese culture. It
was first written down
about 1,760 years ago,
roughly 220 — 265 CE, yet
it must have been told
orally long before that.
An illustration of Pan Gu from the Sancai Tuhui,
public domain Cassia-Tree Moon © Asian Art &
Archaeology, Inc./CORBIS
Story
Summary
In the beginning was a huge egg containing chaos, a mixture of yin and yang —
female-male, aggressive-passive, cold-hot, dark-light, and wet-dry. Within this
yin and yang was Pan Gu, who broke forth from the egg as the giant who separated
chaos into the many opposites, including Earth and sky.
Pan Gu stood in the middle, his head touching the sky, his feet planted on Earth.
The heavens and the Earth began to grow at a rate of 10 feet a day, and Pan Gu
grew along with them. After another 18,000 years the sky was higher and Earth was
thicker. Pan Gu stood between them like a pillar 30,000 miles in height, so they
would never again join.
When Pan Gu died, his skull became the top of the sky, his breath became the wind
and clouds, his voice the rolling thunder. One eye became the Sun and the other
the Moon. His body and limbs turned into five big mountains, and his blood formed
the roaring water. His veins became roads and his muscles turned to fertile land.
The innumerable stars in the sky came from his hair and beard, and flowers and
trees from his skin. His marrow turned to jade and pearls. His sweat flowed like
the good rain and the sweet dew that nurtures all things on Earth. Some people say
that the fleas and the lice on his body became the ancestors of humanity.
Characters
Pan Gu– is central figure in Chinese Daoist legends of
creation. Pan Gu, the first man, is said to have come forth
from chaos (an egg) with two horns, two tusks, and a hairy
body.
Setting
Zhou Dynasty, Southern China
Conflict
Man vs. Fate— is demonstrated when Pan Gu had to lift the sky
to separate it from the earth. This inevitably caused his
death.
Theme
Sacrifice
References
Sources
David Leeming and Margaret Leeming, A Dictionary of Creation
Myths (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994),
47 – 50.
Image Credits
An illustration of Pan Gu from the Sancai Tuhui, public
domain Cassia-Tree Moon © Asian Art & Archaeology,
Inc./CORBIS
