Teaching Tool used in Let's Leave No Girl Behind classes.

The Creation Story of the Mayas

The Creation Story of the Mayas from Rick Francona

Notes to the slides.

1. The Creation Story of the Mayans Thank you to Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
2. Introductiion The Popol Vuh, or Popol Wuj in the K’iche’ language, is the story of creation of the Maya. Members of the royal K’iche’ lineages that had once ruled the highlands of Guatemala recorded the story in the 16th century to preserve it under the Spanish colonial rule. The Popol Vuh, meaning “Book of the Community,” narrates the Maya creation account, the tales of the Hero Twins, and the K’iche’ genealogies and land rights.
3. Introduction In this story, the Creators, Heart of Sky and six other deities including the Feathered Serpent, wanted to create human beings with hearts and minds who could “keep the days.” But their first attempts failed. When these deities finally created humans out of yellow and white corn who could talk, they were satisfied.
4. Introduction In another epic cycle of the story, the Death Lords of the Underworld summon the Hero Twins to play a momentous ball game where the Twins defeat their opponents. In another epic cycle of the story, the Death Lords of the Underworld summon the Hero Twins to play a momentous ball game where the Twins defeat their opponents.
5. “Our Creation Story teaches us that the first Grandparents of our people were made from white and yellow corn. Maize is sacred to us because it connects us with our ancestors. It feeds our spirit as well as our bodies.” Juana Batz Puac, K’iche’ Maya, Day Keeper Foto: Claudia Orozco es guía espiritual contadora del tiempo.
6. This is an account of the beginning, when all was stillness, silence, and water. There was no light, no land, no plants, no people, and no animals.
7. Six deities, covered, in green and blue feathers, lay in the primordial waters: the Framer and the Shaper, Tepew and Quetzal Serpent, along with Xpiyacóc and Xmucané.
8. These deities, helped Heart of Sky, also known as Hurakán, create the Earth.
9. Their spirit essence and their miraculous power gave the Earth its creative energy. Now the land had a heart, and they called it Heart of Earth.
10. To separate the sky from the Earth they planted a tall ceiba tree, making space for all life. The roots penetrated deep into the nine levels of the Maya Underworld, the trunk was on the surface of the land, and the branches reached up to the thirteen levels of the Maya Upper-world.
11. The plants were next created to live on the Earth.
12. And then the animals were created. But the animals did not speak and could not worship..
13. So the deities decided to create human beings from mud. But these first humans had no souls and were not good “keepers of the days.” 14. They destroyed them in a great flood.
14. The deities tried another time, and created humans from wood. But the wooden people could not worship either, so they were destroyed.
15. Those that survived are said to have become the monkeys in the trees.
16. The sky and Earth now existed, but there was no Sun and no Moon. A vain bird called Seven Macaw claimed to be the Sun and the Moon. But this was not true.
17. Two amazing Twins, Hunajpu and Xbalanqué, defeated Seven Macaw, by shooting him with darts.
18. The Hero Twins were conceived, when their mother, Ixkik’, spoke to the decapitated 2 head of their father, Hun Hunahpu, who spit on her hand from a cacao tree. Hun Hunahpu had been killed by the Lords of Xibalbá, the Underworld.
19. The Hero Twins became great ball players, and to bring their Father back to life, they challenged the Lords of the Underworld to a game in Xibalbá.
20. The twins were permitted to play the ball game only after they had survived the dangerous trials set for them in the Underworld.
21. Using great skill and cunning, the twins won the ball game, and this allowed their slain father to come back to life as the Maize God.
22. The Hero Twins left Xibalbá and climbed back up to the surface of the Earth. They continued up into the sky, becoming the Sun, and the Moon.
23. Now that the Sun and Moon were in the sky and illuminated the Earth, the deities created the final form of human beings using white and yellow corn.
24. Corn is the precious substance that ultimately succeeds in producing true, and enduring, humans.
25. Questions
    • Who were the Hero Twins?
    • What is the Popul Vuh?
    • Why is the ball game so important in the story of the Mayans?
    • Why is maize (corn) so important?
    • What do you think of the creation story of the Maya? What is your favorite part of the story?