Popol Vuh

Xpiyacoc and Xmucane are the other pair of creator deities considered to be the grandfather and grandmother of the gods, and are known also as He Who Has Begotten Sons and She Who Has Borne Children, respectively. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, along with the Framer and the Shaper, are responsible for creating much of the landscape and the animals. They give birth to two sons, One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu, and are grandparents to One Batz and One Chouen as well as Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

Sometime after One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu are born, Xpiyacoc passes away, although the circumstances of his death are not mentioned. Xmucane is a widow when her two sons journey to Xibalba. The Popol Vuh describes her grief at their departure as she knows that they will not return. In Christenson’s note, the Quiché word used to describe her weeping is “quz quz,” which means to “cry much, with great pain” (108). Unfortunately, she suffers through this grief again when her grandchildren, Hunahpu and Xbalanque embark for Xibalba as well. With Hunahpu and Xbalanque, her grief is so great that she sends a louse to inform her grandchildren of the Xibalban lords’ invitation to the underworld, instead of telling them herself.

Xmucane is portrayed as protective, but her strict defense of her family leads her to err in several ways. Her initial mistrust of Lady Blood, the maiden who carries One Hunahpu’s children, prolongs the process by which they can become a family. In Quiché custom, the daughter-in-law moves in with her husband’s family to learn how to care for the home. Xmucane’s hesitation to accept Lady Blood goes against this familial responsibility. She further errs by enabling the early abuse of Lady Blood’s children, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Her mistrust of their legitimacy incites jealousy among her older grandchildren, One Batz and One Chouen. While Xmucane sets the tone for abuse by placing the infant Hunahpu and Xbalanque outside, One Batz and One Chouen take it a step further by placing the babies on top of anthills. It is not until Hunahpu and Xbalanque take revenge on their half-brothers that Xmucane comes around to accept her youngest grandchildren.

The Framer and the Shaper are two creator deities responsible for the framing and shaping of the earth and its people. While the creation process is largely a collaborative effort, the Framer and the Shaper are notable for laying out the precise measurements of the four corners and sides of the earth. Whereas the other deities seem capable of creating the earth by mere utterance of the word for what they want to create, the Framer and the Shaper seem to take a more tactile approach. They take it upon themselves to fashion the first people out of mud and earth. However, the mud people fall apart and are incapable of intelligible speech that is necessary to worship the gods. While their hands-on approaches to creation are necessary for framing and shaping the land, they must rely on the other creator deities to give the world complexity and texture. In the creation of the first people, they recognize their failure with the mud people, and call upon Xpiyacoc and Xmucane to use their divinatory powers to help with the next attempt.

Sovereign and Quetzal Serpent are the creator deities who assist Heart of Sky with the initial conception of the earth. In descriptions of the earth’s early creation, Sovereign and Quetzal Serpent are portrayed as being crucial to the planning process. With Heart of Sky, “They talked together,” “They thought and they pondered,” and “They reached an accord” (59). Together, “they gave birth” (60). While the description of giving birth to a new world is figurative rather than literal, it alludes to a deep partnership in the creation process between Heart of Sky, Sovereign, and Quetzal Serpent. They join their imagination together to fashion the world.

According to Christenson’s notes, Quetzal Serpent’s hybrid form as part bird and part serpent expands the deity’s domain to both celestial and terrestrial planes. Christenson describes this quality as “transcend[ing] all levels of existence” (59). Quetzal Serpent’s transcendent abilities make him compatible with Heart of Sky in the earth’s creation. He has dominion over the sky as Heart of Sky does and has knowledge of the earth. While he plays a specific role in the Popol Vuh, Quetzal Serpent’s power and abilities are present and prominent in other Quiché texts and stories as well.

One Hunahpu is the oldest son of Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, and Seven Hunahpu is the youngest. One Hunahpu is married to Xbaquiyalo, whose role is small in the Popol Vuh, as she dies early in the narrative, and without explicit cause. With Xbaquiyalo, One Hunahpu raises two sons, One Batz and One Chouen who are skilled in every art from music to painting. Meanwhile, Seven Hunahpu is unwed. As he is without a wife, Seven Hunahpu acts as a loyal “servant” (101) to his older brother.

As One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu’s births are considered “good by their nature” (102), Heart of Sky watches over their lives and wellbeing. Heart of Sky is aware of when One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu embark on the road to Xibalba after angering the underworld lords. However, the creator deity does not intervene in One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu’s journey as their deaths are part of the creation process. One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu must die in order for Hunahpu and Xbalanque to be born through the impregnation of Lady Blood with One Hunahpu’s saliva. When Lady Blood receives the saliva from One Hunahpu’s skull, the head of One Hunahpu tells her, “The face of the lord will not be extinguished nor will it be ruined. The warrior, the sage, the master of speech will remain the form of his daughters and sons” (116). He is merely carrying out the words of Heart of Sky to express that his legacy will go on in the form of his progeny.

Later, Hunahpu and Xbalanque recover One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu’s bodies and put them to rest. With their deaths quelled at long last, One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu turn into the sun and moon. 

Hunahpu and Xbalanque are the sons of One Hunahpu and Lady Blood. They are born from the saliva of One Hunahpu’s skull and Lady Blood’s reception of it through her right hand. Together they represent the “essence” (116) of their father, and are destined to complete what their father has yet to finish. Despite Heart of Sky’s involvement in Hunahpu and Xbalanque’s birth, the two sons, as well as their mother, are initially unwelcomed in Xmucane’s house. Lady Blood endures several trials before proving her legitimacy to Xmucane. Meanwhile, Hunahpu and Xbalanque bear the abuses of Xmucane, One Batz, and One Chouen. Although Hunahpu and Xbalanque are starved and shunned, “They tolerated it, for they know their own nature, and this was a light by which they could see” (129). Thus, they inherit their goodness from One Hunahpu.

The brothers also exhibit intelligence and quickness that enable them to succeed in the trials of Xibalba. Whereas One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu had initially failed, Hunahpu and Xbalanque are able to come up with creative solutions that outsmart the deadly outcomes that the Xibalban lords hope for them. They also have an advantage because of their enchantment abilities, likely gifted from Heart of Sky, who aids them along the way. When it appears that the brothers might fail in their journey, Heart of Sky intervenes to help Hunahpu gain his head back after it has been decapitated in the House of Bats. When the brothers eventually realize that there is no way out of Xibalba without dying, they sacrifice themselves in the hot pit, trusting in their magical abilities for revival. When they resurrect themselves, they are able to fool the Xibalban lords in disguise as orphans. When they kill the Xibalban lords without reviving them, they show their superiority by demonstrating their ability to outsmart death over those who supposedly have sovereignty over such matter.

In addition to their intelligence, Hunahpu and Xbalanque also demonstrate religious and familial piety. The brothers are revered for killing Seven Macaw and his sons for posing as a false sun, threatening the sacred creation process put forth by the creator deities. Their loyalty to Heart of Sky wins over the creator deity. Furthermore, the brothers fulfill their journey in Xibalba not only by besting the underworld lords, but by putting One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu’s bodies to rest. Hunahpu and Xbalanque’s fulfillment of One Hunahpu’s legacy allows for One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu to finally transform into the sun and moon.