The Maya Creation Centre in Orion (1)

3rd Apr 2024

Mexicolore contributor Jim Reed

Once again we are hugely grateful to Jim Reed, Independent Maya Researcher, Board Member of The Institute of Maya Studies, and The Maya Conservancy, and Editor of both the IMS Explorer and Aztlander e-newsletters, for this intriguing introduction to the relationship of the ancient Maya to Orion - ‘one of the most beautiful and striking constellations in the whole night sky’...

The winter months are upon us. It is my favorite time of the year, not because of the holidays or snuggling up in a warm bed, it’s because this time of the year, Orion is making its appearance in the nightly skies above us. The area where we see Orion was the most important creation center to the Maya.
The ancient Maya were a highly advanced civilization who dominated many different fields, among them agriculture, the fine arts, calendars, mathematics, and astronomy. What to us may be a series of separate scientific specialties may have been a single body of deeply interconnected religious and mythological knowledge and belief system to the Maya, which permeated all aspects of their lives.
To them, astronomy was an everyday matter as it was intertwined with their religion and their agriculture. All the heavenly bodies probably had deep mythical and spiritual meanings and if they did, reality might seem to suggest they continue do to so to this day among their descendants. Their agricultural practices throughout Chiapas and the Guatemalan highlands, which have been extensively documented, point at the use of the positions of stars as guiding directors for the times to plant, harvest, and prepare the seeds for the following year. Research and thorough excavations at Maya archaeological sites, particularly dating from the Preclassic Maya period, have revealed that both the early and the modern Maya have much in common.

Orion is one of the most beautiful and striking constellations in the whole night sky. Furthermore, it is located on the celestial equator meaning it can be viewed from all across the Earth. It is therefore not surprising that it has captivated the attention of peoples throughout history, and features prominently in the histories of ancient Sumer, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, the Maya, and many other great civilizations.
Orion can be seen by observers located between +85° and -75° of latitude, with the constellation’s appearance at night signaling that winter is coming. That is at least true from mid-northern latitudes where Orion is visible in the evening from November to early May, and in the morning from late July to November. From the Southern hemispheres, however, Orion is visible during the summer months where it appears upside down in the night sky. Orion contains two of the ten brightest stars in the night sky. The constellation of Orion’s brightest star is Rigel, which is the night sky’s seventh brightest star. The next brightest is Betelgeuse, which is the sky’s 10th brightest star.
All of the seven main Orion constellation stars, with the exception of the red super giant Betelgeuse are young blue supergiant stars.

Orion is home to two meteor showers, both of which are associated with the dust and debris trail left behind by Halley’s Comet. The Chi Orionids occur in December each year and can produce around 5 meteors per hour, while its more prolific cousin, the Orionids, takes place between October 2 and November 7 with a peak on October 21 when around 20 meteors per hour can be seen.
The stars in Orion are gradually moving apart, but they are located at such great distances from us that the constellation will remain recognizable a long time after most of the other constellations, whose stars are closer to earth, have morphed into new shapes. One event which could cause a dramatic image change, however, would be Betelgeuse going supernova, which is predicted to happen sometime in the next million years. This will initially cause a light to shine as bright as the full moon in Orion, but a few weeks later that will fade, leaving a dark place where Orion’s shoulder once lay. As internationally recognized star expert James B. Kaler explains, “it will make a God-awful mess of the constellation Orion.”

The Three Hearthstones
As in the Heavens, so also on Earth; the three hearthstones represent for the Maya a place of origin, foundation, center, beginning, and source for all that follows. The planting of the three stones described in the Maya’s creation myth can be likened to the building of a new home for humankind.
From Janice Van Cleve’s excellent article on Mexicolore (link below) we learn:-
’The hearthstones are the center of the Maya universe. Matthew Looper, in Lightning Warrior, translates the creation myth from Quirigua Stela C: “At the beginning of the current age (August 13, 3114 BCE) the tripod is manifested. Three stones are bundled. Jaguar Paddler and Stingray Paddler plant a stone; it was at First Five Sky Place; it was a Jaguar Throne stone. Ik Nah Chak plants a stone; it happened at Large Town Place; it was a Snake Throne stone. Itzamna bundled a stone; it was a Water Throne stone. It happened at Lying Down Sky place, [this was] the First Three Stone Place, that the thirteen baktuns [cycles of 144,000 days] were completed. This happened under the supervision of the wak chan ajaw”’ (We’ll explore more about the stelae at Quirigua later.)

Janice continues ‘Linda Schele noted the connection between the hearth stars of the sky and the hearth stones of the kitchen: “As the hearthstones surround the cooking fire and establish the center of the home, so the three stone thrones of Creation centered the cosmos and allowed the sky to be lifted from the Primordial Sea”’. Because the stones were laid before the sky was lifted, they were laid on earth as well as in the sky. The connection for the Maya was clear and direct. Dennis Tedlock says that the three stars even today are represented in the three hearthstones of the typical Maya kitchen fireplace, arranged to form a triangle with the fire in the center. When Yax Pac, king of Copan in Honduras assembled his three G altars next to Eighteen Rabbit’s stelae in the central plaza, he arranged them in a tripod grouping of three. Perhaps he was attempting to “reheat” the Copan dynasty after Eighteen Rabbit’s untimely death.’
As an aside, Dennis and Barbara Tedlock stayed at my house for five days right before the turn of the millennium. We didn’t sit around the dinner table talking about his Popol Vuh, but he did sign a copy for me. I was the first one to challenge Dennis to perform in one of his plays (a few of which he translated from the K’iche’ language). He played the king and I played the captive destined to die in his ‘The Man from Rabinal’. We performed the play accompanied with my band and their wives (all in full costume) in a presentation for the Institute of Maya Studies. It was one of my fondest memories. May they both rest in peace.

Janice continues: ‘Alnitak, Saiph, and Rigel in the Orion constellation form a triangle just below and part of the turtle. The Maya called them ox ibxkub, the “three hearth stars” and Nebula M42/43 in the center of them is kak, or “fire”’ (See NASA image, pic 7).
We learned on the previous page that the setting of the three stones of creation took place at Lying Down Sky place and that this happened under the supervision of the wak chan ajaw. Now, Janice Van Cleve continues:-
’Linda Schele in Maya Cosmos determined that the wak chan is really wakah chan – the Milky Way. She also demonstrates that the Lying Down Sky is the Milky Way at nightfall when it appears to rest on the horizon. Later in the night, its angle tilts vertical and becomes the Standing Up Sky. In other words, the beginning of the current age happened when the Milky Way, Orion’s belt (turtle), and the Hearthstones were in a certain celestial position.’

This ‘certain celestial position’ was when the Milky Way appeared to shift into a vertical position as seen when viewing it where it crosses the ecliptic (the 15 degree pathway of the moon, sun, and planets), called the ‘Crossroads of Creation’. This is the most important Maya creation place and where it ALL comes together. We’ve got the three hearthstones and the turtle in Orion, the copulating peccaries in Gemini, the ecliptic, and the Milky Way its upright position as the Maize Tree.
In Maya Cosmos, Linda Schele notes this could occur at 5 pm on May 7, 6 pm on April 22, 7 pm on April 7, 7 pm on March 23, 8 pm on March 7, 9 pm on February 21, 10 pm on February 7, 11 pm on January 23, midnight on January 7, 1 am on December 23, 2 am on December 7, 3 am on November 23, 4 am on November 7, 5 am on December 23. With the Maize Tree standing upright, the morning of one of those dates in the spring would be the time to get out there and plant your maize in the milpa!

The Popol Vuh and the Maize God (from Diane E. Wirth)
’The Maize God is the other deity with which we are concerned in this study. This mythological, supernatural figure is called by various names among the Maya, depending on the locale, but the most prominent names are Hun Nal Ye and Hun Hunahpu. In terms of a general time frame, the Maize God is referred to in iconography and other texts before the conquest, as well as in the Popol Vuh after Spanish contact. References in the Popol Vuh likely go back to earlier hieroglyphic sources.

‘Without going into a detailed explanation, we simply note that the Maize God is intrinsically involved with later creation mythologies of central Mexico and the Mixtec people of Oaxaca, where Quetzal Coatl stories abound. While the Popol Vuh does not mention Hun Hunahpu as being one and the same with the Maize God, a codex-style polychrome bowl from the Late Classic period clarifies his identify (see K1892). In the scene portrayed on the bowl, Hun Nal Ye, the Maya Maize God, resurrects from a split tortoise shell representing the earth. His sons, the Hero Twins, are depicted at his left and right and are identified as Hun Hunahpu’s sons: Hunahpu, written as Hun Ajaw, and Xbalanque, written as Yax Balam.

‘To understand Hun Hunahpu’s identification as the Maize God in Guatemala, we need to retell some of the story surrounding him. In the Popol Vuh, Hunahpu and Xbalanque defeat the evil lords of the Underworld who have killed their father, Hun Hunahpu. After avenging their father’s death, the Twins are responsible for his subsequent rebirth. Hun Hunahpu is then resurrected from the earth, which is often portrayed as a turtle carapace. Therefore, this vessel, which visually demonstrates the same story told in the Popol Vuh hundreds of years later, clearly establishes Hun Nal Ye and Hun Hunahpu as the same person.

‘In the Popol Vuh, we readily see the Twins’ association with maize. Hunahpu and Xbalanque instruct their grandmother that if the corn planted in her house dies, they die; but if it lives, they will remain alive. According to the story, after they defeat the Lords of Death in the Underworld, the Hero Twins are reborn; that is, the maize remained alive in their grandmother’s house. We conclude that both the father, Hun Hunahpu, and his sons, particularly his namesake Hunahpu, are related to maize and may be designated as maize gods. Importantly, David H. Kelley presents additional evidence from the Popol Vuh that Hun Hunahpu and the Maize God are one and the same.

‘At Palenque, inscriptions inform us that Hun Nal Ye, the Maize God, raised the sky in one phase of creation from the primordial sea (see glyphs, pic 13). This happened when he positioned the World Tree (or Tree of Life) at the center axis of the cosmos. Speaking to this theme, Kent Reilly explained that Mayanists now believe the creation involved bloodletting by First Father, another name for Hun Nal Ye, whose blood fertilized sacred space, causing maize to spring forth. The sprouting maize served as an axis mundi, or World Tree, lifting the sky off the earth and allowing light to enter creation.’

Peccaries Depicted in Maya Art
As we saw in the first image in this article, peccaries appear in Maya art and represent the Copulating Peccaries constellation that the Maya saw where we see Gemini near the Orion Creation Center.
The image in Picture 14 is really interesting, showing the Maize God resurrecting from a peccary – carved with glyphs on a shell.
In her thesis presented to Harvard University in 2005, Diana Fridberg notes that ‘Itzamna (also referred to as God D) was the highest in the hierarchy of gods, ruling over day and night. A creator deity, Itzamna was associated with heaven, earth, and the World Tree that connected them. In some instances, Itzamna is shown riding on the back of a peccary (see below).

‘Itzamna, his Sun aspect K’inich Ajaw, and the Maize God were benevolent deities and supporters of mankind. Creation and recreation characterized their roles. Depicted in created art, they were also present in the tapestry of the night sky. The peccary’s associations with these gods may have awarded peccaries a place beside them in the heavens.
’Peccaries are also portrayed in connection with the Sun God K’inich Ajaw (God G), a powerful deity who represented the day aspect of Itzamna. The Sun God was associated with war, sacrifice, and the authority of nobility. He was also connected to reincarnation by the sun’s daily crossing of the sky. In modern ethnographic accounts, it is said that the sun is borne across the sky by a deer during short winter days and by two slower-moving peccaries during the longer days of summer.

‘The youthful Maize God (God E) was connected to reincarnation and regeneration by the observable patterns of annual growth and harvest. With the harvesting of maize he died, and with new plantings he was reborn. This cyclical nature of life echoes the Maize God’s death, rescue from the underworld by the Hero Twins, and resurrection. In images of his rebirth, the Maize God is depicted sprouting forth from a rift in a mountain, turtle shell, or the back of a peccary.’

Quirigua: The Maya Creation Stones (from Robin Heyworth)
’Early research showed that Stelae A and C at Quirigua are twins; this is quite clear, as they are virtually identical (see Stelae, pic 18). However, when Mayan glyphic writing started to be deciphered, it became evident that they were central to a Maya creation myth. The lengthy text on the side of Stela C describes that time began with the “planting” of three stones. On the other side, it gives the date of this event as 13.0.0.0.0, which equates to 3114 BCE.

‘From modern Maya tradition, it is known that the first step to building a home is a ritual known as “planting the stones”. This term which relates to the building of a hearth at the heart of the home using three large stones. Therefore, the planting of the three stones described in the myth can be likened to the building of a new home for humankind.
’The text begins by describing how the first stone was planted by Jaguar Paddler and his brother, Stingray Spine Paddler. They are known to be responsible for paddling the canoe which carries the dead across the rivers of the underworld. They planted a stone called the Jaguar Throne in the House of Five Sky.

‘Stela C then describes the second stone, named the Snake Throne, as being planted in the Earth Place or the Place of Flags. This stone was planted by an unknown God, described as Black House Great (or Red) followed by an unknown symbol. Stela C completes the story by telling us that the whole episode was overseen by Six Sky Lord.
’Featured on the front of Stelae A and C is Quirigua’s mighty ruler, Cauac Sky. On Stela C he holds a bar across his chest which is terminated at either end with a jaguar’s head with energy flowing from the mouth like a looping tongue. Stela A has a similar bar, which is terminated with a pair of gruesome serpent heads. The snakes are harder to spot because of their grotesque form; their jaws hang wide open, with curling fangs and forked tongues hanging down. These bars tell us that the stelae represent the Jaguar Throne and the Snake Throne. Curiously, there is not a third stela to complete the trinity. However, the nearby Zoomorph B does seem to complete the story.

‘The third stone is called the Water Throne and is described as being set in the Lying-Down Sky or possibly the Edge of the Sky. This stone was planted by a deity known as Itzamna, one of the main deities of the Maya and the one responsible for learning and books – he is also known as the “water-sorcerer”. Itzamna is described as tying the stones and the script closes off by saying: “and so it was that Itzamna tied the stones at the edge of the sky, and this became the new place of the three stones”. This last passage suggests that Itzamna gathered all three stones and bound them together in this last place.