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Find out moreRESOURCE: The Maya book glyph
20th Sep 2023
The ancient Maya book glyph
Ever since we began asking children in Mexicolore Maya school workshops to guess what this Maya glyph was a symbol of, we’ve been amused by some of the answers! It won’t surprise you to read that most start with ‘sandwich/burger’ We hope some of these will raise a smile... (Compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
• Disease
• River
• Waterfall
• Road/path
• 3 levels of the world
• ‘Drive-through’ (!)
• Sponge
• ‘Danger’
• Bread
• Space
• Map
• Cloud/sky
• Glacier
• Zero
• ‘Freedom’
• ‘Thank you’
• Avalanche
• ‘DNA’
• Tunnel
• Snapping flower (one that snaps shut)
• ‘Fortune’
• ‘Escape’
• Snow
• Knowledge
• Desert
• Radiator
• Churros (!)
• Meteor shower
• Yoyo.
We will keep adding to this page as more fun entries come in...
The answer is the Maya glyph for a screenfold book or codex. And the spotty bits on either side represented jaguar skin. Books were sacred to the ancient Maya, as was the jaguar. Codices from Central Mexico as well as their Maya counterparts were originally covered in jaguar fur, presumably to empower them with sacred force; spots - as opposed to circles - are ONLY found on the top of a jaguar’s head, adding extra symbolic value...
TEACHERS! Please don’t use this in class if you’re booking a Mexicolore in-school visit, for obvious reasons! Thanks...
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The ancient Maya book glyph
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