THE HERO

T W I N S

As told in the Popul Vuh/‘Book of Council’ of the Quiche Maya

The following is a summary by Linda Schele & David Freidel in ‘The untold story of the Ancient Maya: A Forest of Kings’

Kerr Number: K1288: Ball game with Hun Hunahpú and journey to Xibalba

The Heroes of Maya myth were twins. In the seven-teenth-century Popul Vuh myth, they were called Hu-nahpu and Xbalanque. The names most securely as-sociated with them in the Classic period are Hun-Ahau and Yax-Balam. In the version of the myth preserved in the Popol Vuh, these twins were the offspring of an older set of twins who had been called to Xibablba for making too much noise playing the ballgame. Named Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, these older twins were tricked by the Lords of Death, defeated, and sac-rificed. The lords of Death buried one twin under the ballcourt in Xibalba and hung the skull of the other in a gourd tree as a warning to others so ill advised as to offend the powerful Xibalbans. Found by the daughter of a Lord of Death, the skull impregnated her by spitting in her hand. Frightened by her enraged father, the girl fled Xibalba to the middle world, where she wandered until she found the grandmother of the dead twins. The grandmother sheltered her and eventually she gave birth to a new set of twins, names Hunahpu and Xbalanque. National Geographic artistic recreation of ‘Lady Blood’ being impregnat-

ed by head of twin hung on tree.

After many adventures, these twins found the ballgame gear their grandmother had hidden after the death of their forebears. The two became great ballplayers and in their turn disturbed the Xibalbans who lived in the Underworld just under the ballcourt. They too were called to Xibalba to account for their unseemly be-havior, but unlike the first set of twins, they outwitted the Lords of Death and survived a series of trials designed to defeat them. On the first night they were put in the Dark House and given a torch and two cigars and told to keep them lit all night. They tricked the Lords of Death by putting fireflies at the tips of their cigars and passing a macaw’s tail off as the glow of the torch.

Kerr Number: K1209: Ball game inside ball-court

The twins continued to play ball with the Lords of Death by day and allow themselves to be tested by night. They survived the Cold House, which was full of freezing wind and hail; Jaguar House, a place filled with hungry jag-uars; Fire House, a place filled with raging flames; and a house filled with shrieking bats which they escaped by spending the night curled up inside their blowguns. They did not escape the Bat House completely unscathed, however. As morning approached and the bats grew quiet, Hunahpu peeked out of the muzzle of his blowgun for a look around. Just at that moment a large bat swooped down and knocked off his head, which rolled onto the Xibalban ballcourt, Xbalanque, however, managed to replace the head with a squash, which he carved to resemble his brother’s face.

Kerr Number: K1742: One of the scenes of conflict between the Hero Twins and the forces of the Otherworld.

The following day the twins played ball with the lords and allowed themselves to lose. They had till morning to come up with the four bowls of flowers that were bet on the outcome. Thinking to distract Hunahpu and Xbal-angue from finding a solution to this problem, the lords had put the twins in Razor House, a place full of stone blades which were constantly looking for something to cut. The twins got the blades to stop moving by promising them the flesh of animals. This accomplished, they sent leaf-cutting ants to the gardens of the Lords of Death to bring back the bowls of flowers. In the morning the lords were enraged to find that they had been with their own blossoms.

Kerr Number: K1670: Young Corn God, Twins sit on jaguar cushions in the House of Flames in Xibalba

In the ballgame the next day, the Xibalbans used the brother’s severed head as the ball, but Xbalanque was ready for their tricks. He kicked his brother’s head into the high grass at the side of the court. Out of the grass jumped a rabbit who bounced away like a ball, taking the Xibalbans with him. Xbalanque retrieved his brother’s head, replaced it on his body, and put the squash in its place. He yelled at the Xibalbans that he had found the lost ball and, when play resumed, the squash splattered into bits on the court. The Lords of Death were furious when they realized they had been outsmarted once again.

As a last resort the Lords of Death decided to burn Hu-nahpu and Xbalanque. Learning of this, the twins instruct-ed two seers, Xulu and Pacam, telling them what they should say when the lords asked for advice in disposing of their remains. The twins cheerfully accepted an invi-tation to see the great stone fire pit where the Xibalbans were brewing an alcoholic beverage. When challenged to a game of jumping over the pit, they simply jumped in.

Thinking they had won, the lords followed the advice of the two seer and ground the twins’ bones, casting the powder into the river. After five days Hunahpu and Xbalnque were resurrected with the faces of catfish. On the following day they took on human form again, put on the guise of vaga-bond actors, and began to perform miraculous dances. Hearing of these remarkable new performers, the Lords of Death invited them to demonstrate their skills at court.

The lords were most anxious to see the remarkable dance of sacrifice in which one twin decapitated and dismem-bered the other. Commanded to perform, Xbalanque dis-membered his brother and then brought him back to life. The lords of Death were overwhelmed and begged to have it done to themselves. The Hero Twins gladly ac-quiesced, but then they did not bring the lords back to life. Thus was death outwitted and hope brought to humankind. A soul called to Xibalba in death goes with the hope that it too will outwit the Lords of Death, to emerge, like the Hero Twins, in triumph and become venerated as an ancestor.

Kerr Number: K3266- Red vase with catfish and 3 dots in rim. This series of vases may illustrate a potion of the Popol Vuh, where the Hero Twins are catfish in the river.

Hero Twins defeat lords of Xibalba, after which they resurrected their father as Itzamna [Corn God]. The Hero Twins themselve then became

gods as well.