[From: Rudolf van Zantwijk, Rob de Ridder, Edwin Braakhuis (eds.

), Mesoamerican Dualism (Symposium

ANT.8 of the 46th International Congress of Americanists, Amsterdam 1988), pp. 125-147. Utrecht:
Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht - ISOR 1990. The page numbers have been inserted in the text.]

THE BITTER FLOUR

BIRTH SCENES OF THE TONSURED MAIZE GOD

H.E.M. Braakhuis

To the memory of Rafael Girard

Pan, qué fácil
y qué profundo eres
(P. Neruda,
Odas Elementales)

1. The ‘Carapace Emergence Theme’*

The subject of this paper will be the birth of the handsome, youthful deity termed ‘Young
Lord’ by M.D. Coe (1973: 13) and recently identified by K.A. Taube as a special form of the
Maize God. Taking a lead from N. Hellmuth, Taube demonstrated (1985: 171 ff) that the
Classic Mayas made a distinction between two types of Maize God. One of these he termed
the ‘Foliated Maize God’, i.e. god E from the Dresden Codex and the normal personification
of the number Eight. The other and contrasting one is the ‘Young Lord’, or ‘Tonsured Maize
God’, whose head only occasionally personifies the number Eight1 (and who probably
corresponds, it should be added, to god H from the Dresden Codex).2
The Tonsured Maize God occurs in two main types of emergence scenes. He either
emerges from a deity personifying the earth’s interior (or a cave), the so-called ‘Cauac-
monster’; or he emerges from the cracked carapace of a turtle, a kind of scene particularly

*
A lecture based on a preliminary version of this paper was given at the University of Leiden on 30-
10-1987. The present text constitutes a revision of my paper read at the 46th I.C.A. The wording has
greatly benefitted from the acute observations of Dr. A. Baxter. The topic of the Mayan civilizing
hero is explored at greater length in my doctoral dissertation (University of Utrecht, in preparation).
1
It is not impossible that the Tonsured Maize God rather than the young Moon Goddess constitutes
the deity of the number One and the patron of the month of Kayab.
2
Particularly the name ‘VI.god H’ on DC11a2 is worthy of notice, since it recurs in Tikal bone texts
(MT-38: A ff) to denote the Tonsured Maize God canoe passenger. One is reminded of names such
as Zac Uac Nal or Uac Chuaac Nal (cf. Thompson 1970: 289). The combination with which it is
paired, ‘VI.Ix’, refers to the ‘totemic’ animal of Tikal, viz. the jaguar, carried by the Tonsured Maize
God on Princeton no. 14 (Coe 1978) and on the well-known Holmul bowl excavated by Merwin and
Vaillant.
suggestive of resurrection (Robicsek and Hales 1981: 149 ff) and constituting the ‘Carapace
Emergence Theme’.3 Both types are equally explained by Taube through the notion of maize
sprouting from the earth (Taube 1985: 174-175). In this study, however, the emphasis will be
on the aquatic environment in which the Tonsured Maize God is usually found: Standing
waist-deep in the waters, floating amongst aquatic plants, or emerging from the carapace of
a turtle, which itself is floating on the waters.

2. Aquatic Re-emergence

2.1 The Sun Hero / The Twin Heroes

M.D. Coe originally viewed the Young Lord as a form of Hunahpu (Coe 1973: 13), whereas
later, Taube (1985: 175 ff) took him as a ‘forerunner’ of Hun- |>p.126| Hunahpu. If we are to
remain within the terms of the Popol Vuh, however, there are good reasons why we should
concentrate our attention on Hunahpu. Thus, while Hun-Hunahpu's identity remains rather
vague, it is only his son Hunahpu who is emphatically brought into connection with the
maize. Moreover, he embodies the principle of resurrection far more convincingly than does
his hapless father, whose ultimate fate is precisely to remain in the Underworld forever.
Finally, a crucial link with the Carapace Emergence Theme is established by the fact that
Hunahpu has risen alive out of the waters of death.4
On departing for the Underworld, the Quichean Twins leave two maize stalks in the
care of their grandmother, Xmucane. These stalks will whither at the very moment of the
two heroes’ death and revive again at their rebirth. When, subsequently, the astral heroes
sacrifice themselves in a fire, their maize stalks dry up at once and the grandmother starts
weeping. Before their self-immolation, however, they had arranged for their own rebirth by
suggesting to the Death Gods, through the intervention of two diviners, the following
procedure: “It is a good thing they should die, and then it would be good to grind their
bones on a stone, the way fresh corn is ground. Each one should be ground separately, and

3
On the Southern Guatemalan Coast, the Carapace Emergence Theme appears to give way to a Crab
Emergence Theme, with a young Cacao God substituting for the Tonsured Maize God, as on El Baúl
Mon. 7 (see Parson 1969: p. 58b, cf. pls. 34 and 61f). Indeed, the Tonsured Maize God can also
personify the precious cacao tree and its pods (e.g., Taube 1986: fig. 4c, cf. Coe 1975: pl. 2). In like
manner, the Foliated Maize God grows from the World Tree of the Centre (Palenque, Temple of the
Foliated Cross).
4
Partly, Taube’s hypothesis rests on the calendarial correspondence between 1 Xochitl, feast of a
Maize Deity, and 1 Hunahpu (1985: 175). My main objections are twofold. 1) The calendarial
correspondence is not unequivocal. The date 1 Xochitl corresponds to the date 1 Hunahpu among
the Quichés, but to 1 (Ah-)Pu elsewhere. 2) The associated deities do not appear to be identical. The
date 7 Xochitl - to take only this example - corresponds to the Ouichean date 7 Hunahpu, but it also
serves as an alternative name for the young Maize Deity discussed in section 2.2 ff. Clearly, this deity
has nothing in common with the rather abstract Quiché god called Vucub-Hunahpu. Moreover,
Vucub-Hunahpu’s death is unconditional (cf. note 33), whereas the Maize Deity concerned
overcomes death.
then tossed along the river, and in the bottom of the river” (PV 4180 - 4186). After five days,
they were seen in the water, still looking like large fishes, but soon to reappear as
‘handsome sons’. At the same time, their maize stalks sprouted again and the grandmother
rejoiced.
In itself, an aquatic rebirth like this one is by no means peculiar to the Popol Vuh but
rather inheres in Mayan Sun Hero mythology in general. More commonly, however, the
event is inserted towards the beginning of the tale, and consequently the adoption by a
sinister old woman corresponding to Xmucane is made to follow from the hero’s previous
aquatic re-emergencer.
In a Chorti version, for example (Girard 1966: 275- 277), the parents of the Sun Hero
have disappeared and the boy, Cume (‘Youngest One’),5 is being harassed by his elder
brothers. When they finally cast him into a river, the boy changes into a fish. The elder
brothers proceed to kill the fishes in the river, including Cume, by ‘thrashing’ (aporrear) the
water, and then take the dead fishes out. The boy's blood, however, gets mixed up with the
foam of an eddy, in which the hero - from the foam, as it seems - is reborn. While doing
some washing on the shore, an old woman hears the baby crying and takes pity on it,
thereby initiating the myth’s main development.
If, as I believe, one probably is to recognize in the bloody swirl the writhing of a hurt
Water Serpent (see par. 4.2), another analogy with the birth of the maize can be discerned.
Among the Chortis, the maize is thought to originate, together with the fishes, from an
ophidian Lord of the Waters (or Noh Chihchan)6 and is at times even symbolically equated
with his aquatic relatives (Girard 1966: 78- 79, 84, cf. 1949 II: 580).
A well-known Kekchi version of the Sun Hero myth (Thompson 1930: 125) further
shifts the aquatic rebirth motif - though much condensed - towards the very moment of
birth itself. Fearing the father’s anger, Sun’s unmarried mother hides her illicit child in a box
close to a stream, where it is found by Old Woman. It is worth noticing that in a Zapotec
version (Stubblefield 1969: 47- 48), the Twins are similarly recovered from a box, this time
washed ashore by the |>p.127| Ocean.
Indeed, Sun’s aquatic transformation is in no way restricted to the Mayan area. It
occurs in a particularly elaborate form in the Twin myth of the Triques of Oaxaca, marking
the first beginnings of the heroes’ lives (Hollenbach 1977: 159- 162); and here, the maize
simile has again been intricately woven into the account. As in the Popol Vuh, the Trique
Twins are the result of an extra-marital union. The married couple decide to throw their
illegal children into the waters of a river swollen by torrential rains. The Twins beseech the

5
Wisdom (1961: notes 542 and 567) gives the form qu’mic ‘smallest/youngest one’ and derives it from
qu’m ‘egg’.
6
Blood mixed with maize (chilate) is exclusively offered to the Noh Chihchan “so that he may create
anew the plants, with the same ingredients which he used in illo tempore to shape mankind and the
vegetation” (Girard 1966: 81-82). Indeed, the birth of the maize from an aquatic serpent is analogous
to that of man, kneaded from maize flour mixed up with the blood of a serpent which had been
“brought from out of the sea” (Recinos and Goetz 1974: 47). (See also section 5, main text.)
deity of the river and a floating log to have mercy upon them; the log gives them shelter.7
Then, an old woman arrives an the shore to rinse her nixtamal (maize softened in
limewater). The Twins try to persuade the fishes swimming around them to snatch the
maize, whereupon the old woman threatens the fishes that she will catch and eat them in
revenge. The moment she plunges her skirt as a fishing net into the water, the Twins
manage to let themselves be caught as though they were fishes.
Implicit in this episode, as in that of the Quichés and Chortis, is a comparison
between the soaking of the maize and the immersion of the Twins (or the Sun Hero). In a
sense, the Twins are being exchanged for the maize which has been lost to the water. This
miraculous transaction is brought about through the intermediary of the fishes, with whom
the submerged Twins are sometimes identified (Hollenbach 1977: 129, 132). A rendering of
the same episode by the Mazateca-Popolucas (Weitlaner and Basset 1939: 218) presents
matters even more succinctly. The old woman tries to shield her maize dough from the
voracity of the fishes by putting it (or presumably, the basket containing it) under a rock at
the riverbank, only to find, on her return, that the maize has been exchanged for two eggs.
From these the Twins are subsequently born. What appears to have been operative in these
various instances is the interaction with some other myth describing the aquatic origin of
the maize itself; and indeed, such a myth exists.

2.2 The Maize Hero

Along the Gulf Coast of Veracruz and further inland, the adventures are related of a Maize
Deity variously called Thipaak, Homshuc, Tamacastsin ‘Venerable Priest’, Sintiopiltsin
‘Venerable Prince Maize God’, Cintectli ‘Maize Lord’, and Chicomexochitl ‘Seven-Flower’.8
On the whole, the mythical exploits of this alternative hero - who probably corresponds to
Xochipilli - betray a remarkable parallelism with those of the Twin Heroes. The following is
a synopsis of his aquatic origins.9
The father of the future Maize Hero impregnates a girl and departs for the realm of
the Thunder and Lightning Gods in search of the maize. There, he is murdered. The mother,

7
The noise of colliding stones and tree trunks audible just before the arrival of the river’s torrent at
the beginning of the rainy season is perceived by the Totonacs as the voices of the drowned. The
drowned are usually borne off to the sea deity to remain at his disposal (Ichon 1969: 114-115).
8
It should be noted at once that a remarkably similar myth is to be found in Yucatan, whose hero,
Ez, is described as being of dwarfish stature (cf. Redfield and Villa 1934: 335-337), like the Maize
Hero (e.g. Elson 1947: 193). Because of its political overtones, this myth deserves a separate
treatment.
9
Aquatic rebirth episode, most complete in: Law 1957, pp. 345-347 (Nahua); Elson 1947, pp. 195-196
(Popoluca); Münch 1983, pp. 163-164 (Nahua-Popoluca); Ichon 1969, pp. 63-65, 71-72 (Totonac).
Names of the Maize Hero: Thipaak, Alcorn; Homshuc, Elson and Foster; Tamacastsin, Gonzalez
Cruz and Law; Sintiopiltsin, García de León; Cintectli, Alcorn; Chicomexochitl, Barón Larios and
Reyes García (in this last case, applied to the maize in its passive stage). These are probably
alternative names for Xochipilli, cf. note 49.
left destitute with her baby crying, sees no other way out than to kill the child. In another
version (Ichon), it dies upon birth.
At this point, the nature of the child comes out clearly. The mother puts its tiny body
into water and then grinds it, or she cooks its remains and kneads them into a ball, or
tamale. Alternatively (Ichon), the child is buried; on a walk |>p.128| to get some maize, the
mother passes the grave and notices that a maize stalk has sprung up there. She cuts off a
cob, grinds the kernels and tastes the flour. It turns out to be bitter.
The maize ball, or the flour, is thrown away into a river or a lake, where it usually
assumes the shape of an egg, there to remain stuck between aquatic plants. A sinister old
woman appears on the shore and tries to catch the egg - which turns out to be singularly
evasive - in her fishing net. She finally succeeds and puts the egg into a cradle or a box.
Within a few days it has turned into a baby; after a few more days, the baby has matured
into a youth.
So far, one cannot fail to recognize the main elements of the Quichean Twins’ own
aquatic rebirth. They, too, had been converted into ‘maize flour’, which, being in fact ashes,
must equally have been bitter and tasted of death. Their bitter flour was scattered into the
river, just like that of the Maize Hero; there, they were transformed, to appear again as
handsome young men within a few days; and finally, their maize stalks were cared for by the
grandmother, Xmucane, despite her hostile attitude towards her stepchildren, just as the
stepmother of the Maize Hero, though cannibalistic, does not hesitate to foster the child.
The aquatic rebirth episodes of the Popol Vuh and the Maize Hero myth are not just
parallel: The shared symbolism of the maize actually assimilates them to each other. As a
consequence, in both cases a symbolic equation can come into play, one which never ceased
to intrigue that penetrating observer, the late Rafael Girard: the equation of maize with
fish.10
The Totonac version, given by lchon, differs in that it substitutes a turtle, called
‘grandmother’ and ‘foster mother’ (pilmama), for the old stepmother with her fishing net,
and accordingly replaces the box or cradle in the old stepmother's house by the turtle's cave.
At the very moment the mother casts the useless, bitter flour into the river, a female turtle
surfaces to collect the grains of flour and then disappears to her cave. In one version, she
carries the embryo on her back, where it develops into a child; in another, she stores the
flour in her cave, and after several days the flour has changed into a child. The Maize Child
on the turtle’s back starts to scrape her carapace, thus irritating the animal. The child
explains that her shawl (quechquemitl) is being woven, but after a while, the turtle wants to
be rid of the annoyance, and sets the child ashore.

10
Although most clearly recognizable in the Twin myth episodes, it is equally valid for the Maize
Hero. Among the Tzotziles, for example, the sowing of the maize is ritually accompanied by the
burying of fishes; the sprouting of the maize has the multiplication of the fishes as a corollary
(Cordan 1973: 201). Logically, gathering the maize would then correspond to the catching of fishes,
as it does in fact among the Huicholes (Lumholtz, quoted by Taube 1986: 58). (See also sections 3.1
and 5, main text.)
 These last particulars, as lchon (1969: 77) has also noticed, are by no means
irrelevant. Indeed, in prayers of the Northern Veracruz Nahuas, the shawl (quechquemitl)
serves as an obvious metaphor for the maize vegetation which the deified Earth, in its
female aspect, carries on her back and shoulders. Apparently, the sprouting of the maize is
thought to itch her body, for the Earth is specifically asked not to shake off the tender Maize
Child, Chicomexochitl (Reyes García 1976: 51). As is well known, the Aztecs conceived of the
Earth as a giant crocodile or swordfish, floating on the primordial sea and bedecked with
maize vegetation. Consequently, the crocodile could ritually be called 'My Elder Sister of the
Female Garment’ (cf. Coe and Whittaker 1982: 159), thus putting it on a par with the turtle.
The rising and sinking of their bodily coverings symbolizes, then, the emergence of the
earth and its vegetation from the waters, and their periodic return to this primal element.
|>p.129|

3. Birth Scenes of the Tonsured Maize God

3.1. The Foster Mother Giving Birth

With these considerations in mind, we should now, of course, turn to the Carapace
Emergence Theme. Rising from a turtle carapace, the Tonsured Maize God closely
corresponds to the Maize Hero taking on new shape from the flour caught by the turtle.11 In
particular the sack of grains which he is once seen carrying under his arm (see Fig. 1)
actualizes the words with which the hero is later to reveal himself: “I am the one who
germinates, I am the new seeds, I am rebirth” (Münch 1983: 167).
The turtle, then, represents the ‘foster mother’, who instead of despising the bitter
flour, took it to her cave and gave birth to the Maize Child. In view of the crevice in the
carapace’s back, it appears that the ‘turtle’s cave’ has been understood as, and indeed
equated with, the carapace’s interior. The turtle’s head is present only once (CC fig. 57),12 on
the viewer’s left side - the same towards which the Tonsured Maize God’s head is invariably
directed. Usually, however, her head is replaced by that of another creature, while a sort of
appendage with a deity’s head attached to it may substitute for the tail. Repeatedly, one can
observe a clear tendency towards a more symmetrical representation, with deities emerging
on both sides (see Figs 1 and 3). This is probably to be explained by the symbolic function of
the carapace, for with its conspicuous crack and grotto-like apertures - sometimes bordered
by chthonic curls (Taube 1988: fig.4b and pp. 193 ff) - it appears to possess the symmetry of

11
Certain scenes, however, could refer to the Maize Hero’s rebirth according to the tradition which is
more widespread nowadays. A case in point is the Tonsured Maize God - painted blue and stuck
between aquatic plants - in the western subterranean vault of the Palenque Palace (see Robertson
1985: pls. 118 ff).
12
In fact, in the rim text immediately above the Tonsured Maize God, one may notice the turtle’s
pictogram. It is followed by T229.Howler Monkey, apparently functioning as Initial Sign. Since both
the Tonsured Maize God and the Howler Monkey are - each in their own way – patrons of the arts,
the substitution of the latter for the usual main element of the Initial Sign is probably intentional.
the earth itself.13 Many and varied aquatic symbols, however, call attention to the fact that
what is intended, is the earth emerging from the waters and somehow pertaining to it.
Specifically, the turtle’s counterparts, viz. diving crocodiles assimilated to fishes, can be seen
surrounding one of the emergence scenes (see fig. 2, rim).
Usually, the net-like pattern of the carapace is drawn with particular care (e.g., our
Fig. 3 and CC fig. 58-B). It serves as the equivalent of the turtle’s |>p.130| ‘shawl’, symbol of
the earth’s vegetative cover, and is similarly characteristic of floating shapes such as the
crocodile, the leaf of the waterlily,14 and the fishing net - forms which all imply a transition,
actual or potential, from the water to the earth.
In various scenes which appear to be immediately subsequent to the Tonsured Maize
God’s aquatic emergence, a skull, serving as a pedestal for the reborn hero, is conspicuous
(eg., CC 118 and CC fig. 60). It has waterlilies growing from its cavities and as such belongs
to a larger group of ‘submerged skulls’ which commonly have the rhizomes of waterlilies
and sea anemones (or possibly, tube sponges) stuck on their craniums (CC 112 - 114).
Significantly, they share their stereotypically patterned aquatic vegetation with the
skeletalized heads of certain long-nosed Rain Deities (cf. Hellmuth 1987: 181- 191).
Thew submerged skulls would primarily appear to identify the realm of the Rain
Gods, or Tlalocan, as the abode of the drowned. The ‘drowned’ could be understood,
however, in the wider, metaphorical sense of all those who have somehow been dedicated
to the water and its deities.15 They would include not only the dead Maize Child, thrown
into a river or a lake, but also his father, killed and buried in the realm of Thunder and
Lightning (see section 4).
It is from the crack running through one of these crania and its (pseudo) vegetative
covering that the Tonsured Maize God is once seen to emerge (see Fig. 2). Apparently, the
bony quality of the carapace has here been equated with that of a skull (or vice versa), both
enclosing in their dark interiors the germs of life. Consequently, in this particular instance,
the skull - which is being raised from out of the waters16 - could symbolize the cavernous
mass of the drowned earth itself, and the cranium its barren surface. The scene is
surrounded by an aquatic border, quartered by the skulls of long-nosed Rain Deities, which
delimits the abode of the drowned, or the realm of Thunder and Lightning. It should not be
overlooked that the rhizomes on the four outer skulls have, in the central scene, been
13
The lateral symmetry of the carapace, suggestive of spatial extension, invites comparison with the
various bicephalic dragons – particularly so, since the same gods K and N can be seen to emerge
both from the carapace’s apertures and from the dragon’s jaws. At the same time, this resemblance
calls attention to the singularity of the turtle carapace icon. Cf. note 21.
14
On CC 118, the waterlily leaf growing from a submerged skull seems to have been assimilated to a
carapace.
15
One should think here of the skeletal remains, especially those of infants, encountered in ‘ancient
pools’ hidden in caves (e.g., Mac Leod and Puleston 1979: 72). See also note 27.
16
Cf. the skull pedestal of CC fig 60. The skull of CC 116 (see Fig. 2) appears to rest on a body which is
for the most part submerged. The effect is that of a drowned person come to life again. Since the
turtle ‘Foster mother’ finally puts the Maize Child ashore, setting it onto a wider stage, the skull on
its mostly invisible body may be about to do the same.
modified so as to suggest the tortuous bodies and tails of fishes,17 seemingly feeding on the
skull’s contents. In this way, the Tonsured Maize God is indeed made to emerge from
amongst his aquatic companions, as is described in various birth stories of both the Maize
and the Twin Heroes.
Being counterparts to the Maize Hero, the divine Twins have to fulfill their own role
within the Carapace Emergence Theme: Either as mere onlookers, walking and floating
amidst waterlies (Taube 1986: fig.4),18 or actively assisting the Tonsured Maize God in his
emergence (see Fig. 3; CC fig. 58-A), and thus evoking the regeneration of their maize stalks
in the Popol Vuh. The Twins again make their appearance in aquatic representations which
are closely related to the Carapace Emergence Theme and treat variously of the clothing, or
investiture, of the Tonsured Maize God (CC 82, NC 12), his canoe-transport (Hellmuth 1983:
45 - 46),19 and what almost looks like his ‘canoe emergence’ (Hellmuth 1987: figs. 443- 446).
Even though their precise interconnection remains as yet unclear, these occurrences would
nonetheless appear to have their roots in the conjunction of the Twins’ own fate, from their
submersion onwards, with that of the divine Maize. |>p.131|

3.2 The ‘Carriers of the Germs’

The turtle ‘foster mother’ floats on, or rather emerges from, the waters from which she has
collected the Maize Child’s remains, and accordingly, the figures |>p.132| occupying her
carapace’s lateral apertures - in one case, her beak (CC fig. 57) - would all appear to be of a
predominantly aquatic or pluvial nature. Obviously, these deities (often male instead of
female) must bear an intimate relationship to the Tonsured Maize God’s aquatic rebirth.
We are thus reminded of the alternative mythical sequence in which the bitter flour, before
being caught from the waters, has already been miraculously transformed into an egg, i.e.,
into a carrier of animate life in the image of the seed.
Where the head of the turtle should appear, on the left, we variously see god N (CC
figs. 57, 58-A, 59), a toad with the netted attribute of god N (see Fig. 3), and a serpentine
creature with the sharp teeth of certain fishes (CC fig. 58- B).20 On the opposite side, the
turtle’s ‘rear’, we see again god N and further the gods B (see Fig. 3) and K - this last figure

17
Hellmuth (1987: 191) notes the double meaning of Yuc. xoc, ‘fish’ and ‘rhizome’.
18
Cf. the Tonsured Maize God in a vault of the Palenque Palace, see note 11.
19
I.e., his transport by the Two Old Paddlers. Although this divine pair could be compared to other
pairs such as Xpiacoc - Xmucane and Cipactonal - Oxomoco, there would also seem to be a certain
analogy with the figures of Xulu and Pacam, who prepared for the aquatic rebirth of the Quichean
Twins from their ashy ‘flour’.
20
The carapace inhabited by a serpentine creature with sharp fish teeth is not unlike the pectoral
worn by the dead king on the Palencan sarcophagus, or the ornament - dangling from an excessively
elongated chain - worn by the king on pier d, House D of the Palenque Palace.
either as the counterpart of the deity on the other side (CC fig. 57), or as a sort of appendage
(CC fig. 58-A = Hellmuth 1987: fig. 438 [reversed?]; CC fig. 58-B).21
The most important deity associated with the Tonsured Maize God’s rebirth appears
to be god N. More particularly, he represents the variant form which is commonly seated in
a turtle or a conch, or, alternatively, is peeping out of it. In the Dresden Codex, he is
depicted against a background of rain (41b) or completely submerged (37b). As such, he is
hieroglyphically put on a par with god B, the Rain God (DC 41b).
God N, who is repeatedly represented fourfold, has with good reason been identified
with the Yucatec Bacab and the Kekchi Mam, equally numbering four. As a group, the
Mams are held reponsible for the onset of the rains22 - amidst roaring thunderstorms - and
are associated with a variety of aquatic phenomena (Thompson 1930: 57ff, 60). Since one of
the four Mams is the Lord of the Seas (id.: 59), this figure would appear to correspond more
specifically to the god N variant seated in a turtle or a conch. The toad, substituting for god
N (see Fig. 3), is generally considered the female consort of the Rain Deities and Mams (e.g.,
Thompson 1970: 251; Alcorn 1984: 140).
Turning to the carapace’s ‘rear’, we notice again god N. Instead of god N, the Rain
God himself, god B, may occur here (see Fig. 3), though provided with the specific attributes
of an aquatic snake which Hellmuth (1987: 160ff, 301) has termed ‘Lily Pad Headdress
Monster’. As such, the Rain God is still to be found in the Dresden Codex (13a1).23 This
ophidian metamorphosis of the Rain God has justly been compared (Girard 1966: 79 -80) to
the Noh Chihchan of the Chortis, considered to be the progenitor of both fishes and the
maize.24 God B can again give way to a close relative of his, god K, whom I believe to
personify a natural force which is crucial to the pluvial mechanism, viz. Lightning.25
Whereas the turtle carapace thus represents the earth floating on, or emerging from
the waters, the deities occupying her lateral apertures appear to be associated primarily

21
The precise significance of the tail appendages is not clear. Usually, the appendage consists of the
up-turned head of a long-nosed god with varying hieroglyphic elements substituting for the
cranium. The creatures wearing the appendage seem to be cosmographical in nature: turtle, one-
headed serpent used as ceremonial bar, terrestrial dragon (Copan altar O), aquatic serpent (Tikal
lintel 3, temple IV), vomiting dragon with deer feet.
22
”They [the Mams] stand at the four corners of the earth and always shake themselves in June
thereby causing the rain” (Thompson 1930: 59). Cf. note 28.
23
On DC 35b2, god B has been assimilated even further to the Lily Pad Headdress Monster,
exhibiting an ophidian body. In the short accompanying text, the pictogram of god H is
conspicuous.
24
Again, as in the case of the Mams, there is a reference to the sea. According to some Chortis, the
Noh Chihchan lives in sea, in the Golfo Dulce, whereas the other three occupy lakes (Wisdom 1961:
445 and note 532).
25
Such an identification is clearly suggested by god K’s serpentine leg and the axe in his forehead (or
mouth), since lightning serpent and lightning axe are the weapons of Tlaloc. Both attributes appear
to have been combined so as to constitute the ‘manikin’ sceptre. Indeed, an Early Classic relief from
Copan (Proskouriakoff 1950: fig. 35-l’) provides god K with the facial features of the Mexican Rain
God. The seed bundles often guarded by god K (Mayer 1983: figs. 18, 51, 52, 59) betray his function as
an agricultural deity similar to the Rain God, and make him literally into a ‘carrier of the germs’.
with the aquatic element itself. Inhabiting the ‘caves’ of the turtle’s body, with their heads
sticking out into her watery surroundings, they bring to mind Sahagún’s parallel description
of the aquatic realm (Bk. XI Ch. XII = Garibay 1979: 700). It appears to put a subterranean
Tlalocan, mythical source of all terrestrial waters,26 on an equal footing with the sea, which
is seen as actually penetrating the earth through all its veins and apertures. With the added
precision of the mythological image, the anonymous ‘Historia de Mexico’ |>p.133| (Garibay
1965: 108) relates how the eyes of the female earth monster floating on the primordial sea
were made into wells, springs and small caves, while her beak was converted into rivers and
wider caves. In having an aquatic god N emerge from the turtle’s beak (CC fig. 57) and in
substituting various aquatic creatures for the head in its entirety, the Mayan representation
of the 'foster mother’ provides its own variation on this theme.
From a geographical point of view, the lateral ‘caves’ of the carapace would primarily
represent the earth’s fringes, i.e., the coastal areas where the rivers issue into the sea or,
conversely, where the sea penetrates the terrestrial body. About one of these marginal areas,
the Nahuas of the Gulf Coast regions (Northern Puebla and Veracruz) hold quite specific
ideas. They situate Tlalocan, conceived as a sort of paradise, not just somewhere in the sea,
but precisely in the depths of a subterranean lake - alternatively called ‘sea’ - in the east (T.
Knab, in Broda 1988: 107 - 108); and more specifically, in the great lagoon of |>p.134|
Tamiahua (Reyes García 1976: 16).27 They believe these waters to be inhabited by various
sorts of deities implicated in the pluvial cycle, a host of thunder and lightning gods (i.e.,
tlaloqueh) amongst them. Presiding over the lagoon of Tamiahua is a deity called, with his
Christian name, St. John the Baptist, but known elsewhere along the Gulf Coast under
different indigenous names, particularly that of ‘Old Thunder God’. This deity is generally
considered to be the Lord of the Sea and, as such, the originator of the rainy season (cf.
Sandstrom 1986: 80, 207 - 208, 289).28 The ‘Old Thunder God’ is comparable, therefore, to
the Kekchi Mam who is the Lord of the Seas - the Mam being similarly associated with the
thunder - and consequently, comparable also to god N, seated on a turtle exactly as various
Gulf Coast sea deities are said to be (García de León 1968: 354 - 355; 1969: 298 - 299).29

26
For an insightful discussion of this ‘true Tlalocan’, see Broda 1988: 99-102, 107- 108, and
corresponding notes.
27
Similarly, among the Tojolabales, a certain rivulet disappearing into a cave is believed to issue into
a paradise full of fruit trees (Macleod and Puleston 1979: 73).
28
The Veracruz Nahuas, Tepehuas, Sierra Totonacs and Huaxtecs have all assimilated this particular
deity (variously called ‘Sireno’, ‘Old Thunder God’, Aktsini’, and Muxi’) to St. John the Baptist, whose
feast falls on the 24th of June, or the approximate onset of the rainy season (cf. Reyes García 1976: 16,
Williams García 1963: 196, Ichon 1969: 108 ff, and Alcorn 1984: 58).
29
The old god N with the turtle on his back appears to correspond to the so-called ‘Two-horned
God’ in Aztec art, an old deity whose most distinctive attributes are (a) the turtle(s) on his back, and
(b) the double maize ear on his head (cf. Nagao 1985: 15), a familiar symbol of fertility. Many statues
of the god have been found in the body of the main temple of Tenochtitlan, as parts of marine
assemblages. This deity seems to be without an exact counterpart in he codices. Various traits -
notably the predominantly blue facial colour - point to a certain affinity with the old Tecciztecatl,
 In accordance with fundamental Mesoamerican conceptions of the pluvial deities,
these inhabitants of ‘sea and lagoon’ bear epithets such as ‘carriers of the germs’
(tlaitskalohkeh) and, more profound, ‘creators of the human body’ (tlamasewalchihkeh); in
particular the ‘Old Thunder God’, or his equivalent, is stated to “confer life upon the maize
and make it sprout” (Reyes García 1976: 16). For it is here, in these outer reaches of the
earth, that the seeds of all food plants originate - the maize seed, or the embryonic
Chicomexochitl, being first among them.30

4. Taming the Rain Deities

4.1 The Quest for Life

From a mythological perspective, the Carapace Emergence Theme evinces a finality of its
own, and the motif of the turtle carapace is modified accordingly. The orphaned Maize
Child is reborn with a mission: To restore life to his father and thereby make all individual
life permanent. After violently parting with his would-be parents, the cannibalistic Old
Woman and her lover, he undertakes a voyage to Tlalocan’s heartland where the grave of
his true father lies. In the first instance, therefore, Tlalocan appears as a realm of the dead,
ruled by various gods of thunderstorm and lightning (referred to here by the generic term
‘Rain Deities’) who are viewed as the murderers of the father and thus, in some sense, as
death gods. As we have seen, emphasis is being laid on the funerary aspect of the aquatic
realm in various scenes related to the Tonsured Maize God’s rebirth.
The close bond of Maize Hero and turtle is maintained throughout. Whereas, at the
very outset, a turtle had saved the Maize Child’s remains by taking them on her back, it is
now again a turtle who offers the hero its back, to carry him through the waters and on into
the heart of the Rain Deities’ realm, where the ancestral grave is to be found. In gratitude,
the Maize Hero ‘paints’ (Foster 1945: 193) or ‘embroiders’ (Elson 1947: 207; Barón Larios 1978:
449) the turtle’s carapace, just as, in the Totonac version, he had done for the turtle who
had fostered him.31
The adornment of the carapace not only has an unmistakeable agricultural
symbolism, but it also leads up to a significant transformation; for a native |>p.135|
comment adds (Barón Larios 1978: 449) that in this way, the god made the carapace

son of Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue (Olmos), who was transformed into an aquatic body, viz. the
moon.
30
Essentially the same idea can be noticed among Otomis and Tepehuas. They celebrate the renewal
of the cut paper images of their seed gods - including the maize - at the edges of a lake, where the
Lady of the Waters, counterpart to the Old Thunder God, is believed to confer the ‘spirits of the
seeds’ on the images (Gessain 1952: 205, 209; cf. Williams García 1963: 200- 202, 295).
31
The role of the turtle has a certain parallel in the Kekchi Sun Hero myth, where its carapace
protects the hero against the violence of the Lords of ‘Tlalocan’ (cf. Thompson 1970: 364).
attractive for use as a turtle drum on All Saints Day,32 the day on which the ancestors
temporarily return to their descendants. And indeed, one finds that it is on this day that the
Tepehuas make use of a turtle drum to receive the ‘Old Ones’, viz. two impersonators of
Rain Deities, who are said to arrive from the eastern Ocean and carry the dead with them
(Williams García 1963: 226- 227). In this usage, the Tepehuas not only implicitly follow the
Maize Hero’s prescript, but also his own example, for an arriving in Tlalocan’s heartland to
bring his father back from among the dead, it is precisely with a turtle drum that he
challenges his opponents (Elson 1947: 209).
Although the Rain Deities are finally forced into submission, the father - just like the
father of the Quichean Twins33 - cannot be resuscitated definitively and thus becomes the
prototype of the dead (Elson 1947: 212 - 214; Ichon 1969: 66, 75; Münch 1983: 168). The Maize
Hero, however, fulfilling his vocation as a culture hero, does succeed in securing life for
mankind as a whole.

4.2 Bringing Order to Tlalocan

Not only in the Popol Vuh, but in various other aquatic emergence tales as well, a sacrificial
moment assumes prominence. The Chorti Solar Hero, for instance, thrown into a river,
beaten to death and reborn in an eddy, constitutes merely one particular example of the
children who, according to many Chorti stories, are sacrificed to a lagoon and reach their
destiny, an aquatic serpent and giver of rain, through “the inevitable swirl” (Girard 1949 II:
588).34 It is, however, the Maize Child - sometimes stated to be killed, ground, and
scattered into the water because of its unbearable crying (Elson 1947: note 16; Münch 1983:
163) - which is to be considered the true prototype of the child-sacifices customarily
presented to the Rain Deities. The tears of the little victims were taken as a portent of the
oncoming rains that would confer life upon the maize seed.35 It is precisely this effect -
prefigured by the transformation of the bitter flour into an egg - that will have to be wrested

32
The Tzotziles of Zinacantan give a similar explanation for their use of the turtle drum at Christmas
(cf. note 35). The (mute) turtles in the river are said to have burst into song at the birth of the two
Christ children (Vogt 1977: 238-239).
33
Actually, the Popol Vuh distinguishes three modalities of death and exemplifies these in three
personifications of the XXth day, a day generally associated with the dead among the Mayas (cf.
Braakhuis 1987b: 253). Hunahpu is the hero who dies and revives; Hun-Hunahpu dies without
reviving, but survives in his children (and so embodies the ancestral principle); whereas Vucub-
Hunahpu dies without reviving and without leaving progeny (PV 1704 – 1705), thus representing
death in its absoluteness.
34
Customary child sacrifice could offer an explanation for the sacrifial knife which is sometimes set
in the beak of the Lily Pad Headdress Monster (e.g., CC 117; Hellmuth 1987: figs. 322, 323, and pl.
XXXVII).
35
In such a context, a curious detail regarding the turtle drum of the Chamula Tzotziles may be
understood (aptly mentioned by Robicsek and Hales 1981: 154 note 1). When beaten at Christmas –
i.e., the beginning of the dry season - its noise is said to resemble the “rattling of the bones of dead
children.” These ‘dead children’ would appear to refer primarily to the seeds. Cf. note 32.
from the Rain Deities by the Maize Child. Whereas the father went to Tlalocan in order to
obtain the maize (Elson 1947: 204) and failed, it is the son who will now go and succeed.
Carried across the Ocean by his faithful turtle, the Maize Hero, through a series of
contests, defeats the Rain Deities. In the process, his enemies’ weapons are converted into
agricultural implements (González and Anguiano 1984: 223; Münch 1983: 167). The defeated
Rain Deities borrow the hero’s lightning instrument, created from the tongue of an alligator,
and are instructed in its proper use, so as to produce the rain. Thus, the rainy season is
demarcated for the first time (Ichon 1969: 70, cf. 80), and the Rain Deities are shown how to
cultivate the maize (García de León 1968: 351-352). Beforehand, the hero had already laid out
and sown the first maize field (Alcorn 1984: 62, 341) and, moreover, instituted agricultural
ritual (Ichon 1969: 69, cf. 79), in order henceforth to maintain the equilibrium so laboriously
won. In short, the Maize Hero brings order to Tlalocan, arranging it for the benefit of
mankind.
Contrary to a commonly held view, this concept of a Maize Deity actively |>p.136|
subduing the unruly forces of nature is not entirely absent from present-day Mayan
tradition. Telling examples - evincing a not uncommon shift towards the female - are a
Tzotzil Maize Goddess, X’ob, slaying an aquatic serpent (Guiteras 1961: 216 -218), and an
Achí Maize Goddess rendering harmless the hostile Earthquake Deity, Sipac (Neuenswander
and Shaw 1971: 48 - 51). As the overall parallelism between Maize Hero and Twin Hero
mythology might lead us to expect, the Achí Maize Heroine here fills a part which the Popol
Vuh (PV 1355 - 1485) assigns to the Hero Twins (cf. Neuenswander and Shaw 1971: 47 note 1;
Shaw 1971: 21).36
To conclude this overview of the Maize Hero myth, we should consider the question
as to how these Rain Deities who have to be forced into agreement relate to the specific
aquatic and pluvial deities inhabiting the carapace and involved in the Tonsured Maize
God's aquatic rebirth. Since all of these deities somehow belong to the life-giving aquatic
cycle, it is rather tempting to assume that the same gods depicted as living in the turtle’s
interior could adopt a more antagonistic stance further on in the myth. A case in point
would be the impressively attired god K giving audience to the Tonsured Maize God (Coe
1982: no. 21).
Clearly, however, such an explanation can only be a tentative one. In various
Carapace Emergence scenes (e.g., Taube 1986: fig. 4; NC 1), Rain Deities other than those in
the carapace are in evidence. Among them is the Shell-eared Rain God (or ‘zoomorphic G-I’)
who, in a particularly frightening manifestation, entirely dominates another aquatic

36
Cf. also note 8 (the Yucatec myth of Ez). - Instead of combining the Tonsured Maize God and his
heroic counterparts, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the Classic Mayas could alternatively assimilate the
Foliated Maize God to Hunahpu and give him Xbalanque - provided with some of the characteristics
of his new partner - as a companion (Robicsek and Hales 1978: vase D-2, pls. 197 - 200). This way of
representing the Foliated Maize God is exceptional, however; Quirigua C (glyph block h) mentions
the Tonsured Maize God instead of the Foliated Maize God together with Xbalanque.
emergence (CC 120).37 In view of representations such as these, it would only be prudent to
leave ample room for a more differentiated picture.38

5. An Eschatological Perspective

The origin of the maize is one of the principal themes of Mesoamerican mythology. Often, it
is situated at the beginning of a new era, and associated intimately with the renewal of the
earth and mankind after the flood. A Tzotzil myth (Gossen 1974: 335 = Tale 163) uses the
drastic imagery of the whole world being called into existence by the sowing of the ‘seeds of
creation’, in the shape of maize kernels, whereas a Totonac informant of Ichon (1969: 71)
hardly went less far, designating the Maize Hero as the ‘true creator of the world’.39
Not unexpectedly, therefore, the turtle – being ‘foster mother’ to the maize - appears
to have fulfilled an important calendarial function in Maya culture. As K.A. Taube has
recently pointed out (1988: 183-203), the turtle icon with its two lateral apertures occupied
by aquatic deities was carved on Classic Period altars, and once on a cliff, with an Ahau
period-ending date inscribed on the carapace. The Post-Classic Period apparently continued
this tradition, since stone turtles bearing Ahau dates played a significant role in the ritual
life of Mayapan. One of these turtles (Taube 1988: fig. 2a) exhibits thirteen Ahau signs
around its carapace, thus wearing the complete katunic cycle on the fringe of its ‘shawl’.
Taube was able to demonstrate that this particular turtle, representing the earth, served as a
spatial correlate for the thirteen katuns, which were projected, |>p.137| wheel-like, on a
terrestrial surface conceived as circular.
Equally important, however, is the fact that the earth was associated with the first
day of the main cycles. This day, Imix, was symbolized by a waterlily, which, rising from the
waters, could evoke the earth itself. It was the day not only of the earth crocodile – i.e., the
turtle’s counterpart - but also of the emerging maize(Thompson 1966: 72-73). On 1 Imix, the
Post-Classic katunic cycle, which had ended on 13 Ahau, recommenced. At the cycle’s
conclusion, the world was believed to perish in a flood, caused by the earth crocodile (Itzam
Cab Ain), which was subsequently fertilized. The four Bacabs, represented iconographically
by god N, were similarly involved. On 1 Imix, the cosmological order - both spatial and, in

37
The head of the emerging figure on CC 120 is similar in shape to that of the youthful deity on CC
82, whose hieroglyph identifies him as the Tonsured Maize God (even though the tonsure itself has,
in this case, been omitted).
38
In the aquatic emergence of Princeton no. 12 (Coe 1978), one might even be inclined to recognize
the arrival of the divine hero in Tlalocan’s heartland, if the type of the youthful protagonist
conformed more closely to the usual one.
39
M. Graulich has justly called the Maize and Twin Hero myths the ‘indispensable complement of
the myths of the creation of the earth’ (1983: 30). Less fortunate, however, is his tendency to reduce
the Maize Hero myth entirely to the Twin myth, in its idiosyncratic Popol Vuh redaction (id.: 27,
30).
accord with the Bacabs’ function as Year Bearers, also temporal - was restored by these
gods.40
Transposed to the turtle, these events would imply that at the end of the cycle, the
turtle disappeared beneath the surface of the waters, carrying with it both the earth and all
completed time; whereas at the cycle’s recommencement, the turtle would re-emerge and,
fertilized, give birth to the maize. It is not difficult to imagine how the Maize Hero myth
would fit in here. The child’s remains being prepared as maize food announce the advent of
culture and mankind. Seemingly useless, they are cast into the primeval waters - just as
happens to the Twins, who, transformed into fishes, temporarily partake in the fate of a
human generation drowned by the flood (cf. Taube 1986: 52-53ff).41 Paradoxically, it is that
same bitter flour so thoughtlessly discarded which suddenly causes the earth to surface
from the primordial waters and in this way heralds world renewal. The ‘foster mother’
collects the grains on her carapace, and so is ‘fertilized’; she disappears again to her cave,
symbol of origins par excellence, only to re-emerge with the sprouting maize on her back.42
The child quickly grows into a culture hero, travelling on turtles and rearranging Tlalocan.
Agriculture is instituted and the earth is prepared for another human generation, which,
according to Quiché and Cakchiquel tradition, will he kneaded from maize dough. What
was begun as the embroidery of the turtle's carapace, now turns into the skilfull weaving of
the fabric of civilized life itself, inaugurating the reign of the arts.43

6. Two Views of the Maize

The emergence of the Maize God from a carapace has a parallel in another, more familiar
episode. The aquatic deities inhabiting the turtle’s carapace - the gods B, K and N - appear
40
Itzam Cab Ain - flood, see Barrera Vásquez and Rendón 1972: 87. According to the Relación de
Mérida (Relaciones de Yucatán, 1: 51, apud Thompson 1970: 217), the lagarto symbolized both the
flood and the earth. Itzam Cab Ain fertilized, Roys 1967: 101. Role of the Bacabs, Barrera Vásquez and
Rendón 1972: 91-92, cf. Roys 1967: 99-100. The katuns involved are 13 Ahau and its ‘guest-katun’, 11
Ahau, which starts on 1 Imix.
41
Unfortunately, Taube’s 1986 paper on ‘emergence mythology’ came to my notice only when the
text of this article was largely completed. Our conclusions on a number of points, though reached by
different routes, are similar. I have tried to indicate, particularly in the notes, where our views
diverge.
42
The assistance of the Sun Hero at the birth of the Maize Hero could be interpreted as the renewal
of time leading to the renewal of space. The katun is delimited by the days Imix and Ahau
/(Hun)Ahpu, and the aquatic rebirth of the Sun Hero, or (Hun)Ahpu, could therefore express the
katun’s renewal. (See Braakhuis 1987b for a different calendarial symbolism implied in Sun Hero
mythology).
43
The Tonsured Maize God is not only shown dancing, but also writing. As a civilizing hero and
‘true creator of mankind’, the Maize Hero apparently instructed mankind not only in the arts of
weaving, dancing, and music (cf. note 49), but in all other arts as well. The arts of writing and
sculpting could, separately or together, refer to the reshaping of mankind. When the head being
carved is that of the Tonsured Maize God himself, this appears to symbolize the birth of the divine
precursor of mankind, in a medium particularly appropriate to him (cf. note 12 and Braakhuis 1987a,
esp. pp. 37-38).
to have their modern representatives in the ‘Angels’ (or Rain Gods), ‘Lightnings’, and Mams
who, according to a widespread tale, took the maize from a mountain which they had first
split with their lightning bolts (cf. Thompson 1970: 349 ff). The analogy with the Maize
Mountain and the Turtle Carapace which thus arises is further enhanced by the
mountainous swelling of the carapace.
Behind this analogy, however, there lies a fundamental difference. Where the
cracking of the Maize Mountain is connected to the Maize Hero myth, it does not serve as
its initial moment, but instead follows on its conclusion. |>p.138| Among the Huaxtecs
(Alcorn 1984: 62 - 63), it is the Maize Hero himself who stores away the maize - his harvest -
in a mountain; then, after his disappearance, a Rain Deity, viz. the Mam of the East, arrives,
and takes out the crop. Thus, whereas the Carapace Emergence concerns the resilient,
sprouting maize in need of water, the maize emerging from the Maize Mountain is its very
opposite, the dried, harvested corn which has been reduced to inactivity, up to the point of
completely losing its character as a distinct personality. Unable to pierce the mountain’s
crust by itself, it has to be freed from the rock - not the humid womb of the earth, but
rather a sort of dry storage room - through the violence of the Rain Deities or Mams.
Although the gift which the eldest Huaxtee Mam thus bestows upon mankind is not
really his, elsewhere it is unequivocally derived from the Rain Deities themselves. Indeed,
the cracking of the Maize Mountain is only one episode in what amounts to an alternative
mythological tradition. Instead of the Maize God, this has the Rain Deities or Mams (and
one of them in particular) for its protagonists.44
In the tradition tied up with the Carapace Emergence, however, the situation in
which the Rain Deities are all-powerful and the Maize God is at their mercy serves only as a
point of departure. In contrast to the Maize Mountain, the Turtle Carapace is alive and
moving through its aquatic ambience, with the deities inside it at peace. The latter
participate in bringing forth the maize, an event which, according to the notions discussed
above, they had prepared by enlivening the seed. Rather than being forcibly split through
some external agency, the carapace appears to burst under the internal pressure of the
sprouting maize and thus to exhibit the spontaneity of birth itself.45 The Carapace

44
This alternative tradition is widespread. A particularly instructive example is a myth from the
Pipiles of Izalco, El Salvador (Schultze Jena 1935: 22-35), which has the junior Rain God as its hero
while varying many motifs from Sun and Maize Hero mythology.
45
The flanking figure of a Rain Deity extending an unidentified object in one of the Carapace
Emergence scenes (CC fig. 58-B = Taube 1986: fig. 4) has led Taube (1986: 57-58) to interpret the
entire scene as the ‘cleaving of the carapace’. Although a mutual influence of the two emergence
traditions cannot be excluded, the case in question is not clear. Firstly, the crack, or cleft, is a fairly
common device for indicating emergence which in itself does not require the assumption of an
exterior agent. Secondly, a moment subsequent to the bursting of the carapace is indicated. The
Rain Deity concerned is kneeling, i.e. in a posture of subordination commonly associated with
presenting a tribute – which is precisely what the other Rain Deity appears to be doing. Thirdly, the
rounded object in the deity’s hand indeed appears to be some sort of rain-making implement, as a
comparison of its personified forms (CC 19-31) with Tlaloc’s left-hand attribute on C. Borgia p. 27
Emergence leaves ample room for the Maize God to shed his deceptive inactivity - already
belied by that curious restlessness of the floating maize egg - and to develop into a hero in
his own right, confronting, and eventually defeating his opponents.
And yet, there remains in the other tradition a truth not easily denied. Whereas most
versions take leave of their hero after his subjugation of the Rain Deities, a Nahua version
from Hidalgo (Barón Larios 1978: 452-453) ends in another mood. The god is harassed by
anonymous enemies and has to flee. He attempts to cross a river, fails, and is dragged along
by the stream. The river “left him at a remote shore. At dawn they say a nice maize field was
found there.”
In other words, what would already have happened at the very beginning of the god’s
life - were it not for the miraculous vivacity of the egg, the hold offered by aquatic plants,
and the good services of the turtle - now inexorably takes place: The hero drowns, and drifts
away in the direction of the sea.46 Somewhere on this other final voyage, the body is washed
ashore,47 and converted into a maize-field. As is well known, the bodies of those drowned
were sacred, since they belonged ipso facto to the Rain Gods, into whose dominion they
were received. The myth, which began with a child sacrifice to the Rain Deities, thus ends,
in this version, with another, related way of being dedicated to these awe-inspiring gods.
Although embodying an active principle, the Maize Hero therefore also embraces - at
its most extreme - the vegetative, passive aspect of the maize and |>p.139| the utter
dependency on the Rain Deities that goes with it. Precisely this duality enables him to
transcend an otherwise inescapable fate and to create the conditions that will secure the
crop’s future life and consequently, the permanence of mankind.
True enough, after his disappearance, the antagonistic gods are bound to regain most
of their power. Henceforth, however, they can at least be ritually induced to respect the
limits set by the hero. Indeed, his precedent provides the underlying rationale for trying to
persuade these capricious rulers through sacrifice. Originally cultivated on the field of the
Maize Hero and emanating from his very being, safeguarded by his arrangement with the
Rain Deities, and eventually passed on to them, the maize is thus forever to flower on the

rather strongly suggests. The object would thus point to what is a central theme of the Maize Hero
myth (see par. 4.2).
46
The Gann-bowl (Schele and Miller 1987: pl. 106a) could represent the drowned Maize God (turned
on his back) drifting towards the sea. The frontispiece of Hellmuth’s ‘Tikal/Copan Travel Guide’
reproduces part of a dark-background vase with a subaquatic Tonsured Maize God having the eyes
closed and lying on his back between the jaws of a serpent. (The representation has in its entirety
been published in the same author’s ‘Portfolio of Rollout Drawings’.)
47
Until recently, the Totonacs buried the bodies of the drowned at the very spot where they had
drifted ashore (Ichon 1969: 114).
fields of man.48 This, I would suggest, is the message conveyed by the iconographic
distinction between the Foliated, or passive, and the Tonsured, or active Maya Maize God.49

FIGURES

Fig. 1 Carapace Emergence (NC 4, redrawn) [K731: Carapace emergence with three canoes,
Boston Museum of Fine Arts]

48
The base-panel of Bonampak stela 1 could be taken to illustrate the relation between the two
Maize Deities: The resurgence of the Tonsured Maize God (full figure) makes the heads (ears) of the
Foliated Maize God grow. The same relation is found on the Palencan Temple of the Foliated Cross
relief (cl. Taube 1985: 174); an analogous one on DC 34a.
49
To avoid complicating matters unduly, I have postponed a comparison with Aztec sources. There
can be but little doubt, however, that the Foliated Maize God corresponds to Cinteotl and the
Tonsured Maize God to Xochipilli (cf. also Taube 1985: 175). When understood as a date, the Maize
Hero’s alternative name, Chicomexochitl, can indicate a major feast of Xochipilli. Xochipilli, the
Maize Hero, and the Tonsured Maize God can each be shown to function as a patron of the arts,
particularly those of dance and music.
Fig. 2 Emergence from a skull (CC 116, redrawn: centre Hans Sprangers, border Hellmuth
1987, fig. 162’) [Musée du Quai Branly, Paris]

Fig. 3 Carapace Emergence (CC 117, redrawn: Hellmuth 1987, fig. 439) [K1892, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts; Schele drawing]
REFERENCES

CC = Ceramic Codex, see Robicsek and Hales 1981

NC = November Collection, see Robicsek and Hales 1982
PV = Popol Vuh, see Edmonson 1971

Alcorn, Janis B.
1984 Huastec Mayan Ethnobotany. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Barón Larios, José
1978 ‘Chicomexochitl’, Estudios Indígenas VII-3: 443-453. Coyoacan (Mexico): CENAMI.
Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo & Silvia Rendón (transl.)
1972 El Libro de los Libros de Chilam Balam. Colección Popular No. 42. Mexico: Fondo de
Cultura Económica.
Braakhuis, Edwin
1987a ‘Artificers of the Days; Functions of the Howler Monkey Gods among the Mayas’,
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