Popol Vuh
SynopsisPlot
Popol Vuh, the Quiché Mayan book of creation, is not only the most important text in the native languages of the Americas, but it is also an extraordinary document of the human imagination. It begins with the deeds of Mayan gods in the darkness of a primeval sea and ends with the radiant splendor of the Mayan lords who founded the Quiché kingdom in the Guatemalan highlands. Originally written in Mayan hieroglyphs, it was transcribed into the Roman alphabet in the sixteenth century.
Story
About this book
The Popol Vuh is the creation narrative of the Kʼicheʼ Maya, one of the most significant texts to survive from the indigenous languages of the Americas. It opens in a dark, still sea where gods speak the world into existence, then moves through cycles of divine effort and failure as they attempt to shape beings capable of thought and gratitude. The story also follows the Hero Twins, whose encounters with the lords of the underworld form a central sequence of trials and transformations.
The text originated in Mayan hieroglyphs and was transcribed into the Roman alphabet during the sixteenth century in the Guatemalan highlands, the homeland of the Kʼicheʼ kingdom. That alphabetic version preserved content that might otherwise have been lost as colonial authorities destroyed indigenous manuscripts. Dennis Tedlock produced an unabridged English translation accompanied by extensive notes and commentary. A later edition added newly translated passages, newly deciphered hieroglyphs, and over forty illustrations.
The narrative links cosmic origins to the political foundations of the Kʼicheʼ people, connecting the acts of gods and ancestors to the landscape of highland Guatemala. Agricultural cycles, the behavior of animals, and the movements of celestial bodies all appear within the story as consequences of the events it describes.
