The Many Faces of Chaahk: Exploring the Role of a

Complex and Fluid Entity within Myth, Religion and

Politics1
Carlos Pallán Gayol
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE ANTROPOLOGÍA E HISTORIA

Abstract
A ubiquitous serpentine-like figure, the rain-god Chaahk constitutes one of the main deities of the Maya
pantheon, but also one of the most challenging to interpret. Ever since the advent of a more complete
decipherment of the hieroglyphic texts, it has become increasingly apparent that God B’s multiple
manifestations played a most significant role within Maya myth and religion, as well as in politics. In this
paper, the relationship between these three crucial aspects is explored, along with its connections with other
entities previously regarded as differentiated (such as K’awiil) and the underlying reasons why Classic Maya
rulers used to such great extent descriptive epithets for Chaahk embedded into their personal names.
Altogether, Chaahk’s Classic cult spread from the southernmost boundaries of the lowlands to the north of
Yucatan peninsula. To advance towards reconstructing Chaahk’s complex role within Maya religion, I suggest
a conjunctive approach, where Classic references (in monuments, ceramic vessels and codices) are to be
understood within a broader perspective, ample enough to consider Izapan sculpture, Sapotek Kosiyo
representations and Teotihuacan’s Tlālok-related imagery, but also prone to be integrated and confronted with
ethnohistoric data and ethnographic fieldwork. Such an approach is regarded as plausible, given that the very
concept of a “rain-god” represents the continuance of a shared set of beliefs inherited since at least Preclassic
times from different civilizations throughout Mesoamerica, which still remains current today.

Resumen
La ubicua figura serpentina del dios de la lluvia Chaahk constituye una de las principales deidades del panteón
Clásico maya, aunque también representa uno de los mayores retos a la interpretación. Con la llegada de un
desciframiento más preciso de los textos jeroglíficos mayas, se hace cada vez más evidente el papel
predominante que desempeñó el dios B en sus múltiples manifestaciones dentro de la mitología y religión
mayas, aunque también en la esfera política. Esta ponencia explora los vínculos entre estos tres aspectos
cruciales, a la vez que aborda la estrecha relación entre Chaahk y otras entidades sobrenaturales, previamente
consideradas separadamente (tal y como K’awiil), así como las razones subyacentes por las cuales los
gobernantes mayas del Clásico emplearon con tanta frecuencia epítetos descriptivos de Chaahk incorporados
en sus nombres personales. En su conjunto, el culto Clásico al dios de la lluvia abarcó desde las porciones más
al sur de las tierras bajas hasta el extremo norte de la Península de Yucatán. A fin de avanzar en la
reconstrucción de la compleja función desempeñada por Chaahk dentro de la religión maya, se sugiere aquí un
enfoque integral, donde las manifestaciones clásicas (en monumentos, vasijas y códices) son entendidas desde
una perspectiva suficientemente amplia para tomar en cuenta el arte monumental de Izapa, las manifestaciones
sapotekas de Kosiyo y la iconografía teotihuacana relativa al culto a Tlālok, a la vez que hace posible integrar y
confrontar los datos etnohistóricos y el trabajo de campo etnográfico. Tal enfoque es posible en la medida que
el concepto mismo de un “dios de la lluvia” representa la continuidad de un sistema de creencias compartido,
el cual fue heredado desde al menos el Preclásico a partir de distintas civilizaciones mesoamericanas y aún
permanece vigente en nuestros días.

1
The title and paper were inspired by Joseph Campbell’s (1949) seminal book on Comparative Mythology, The Hero with a
Thousand Faces. This paper was largely possible by the support, important comments, discussions and sharing of
information with many colleagues and friends, among which I would like to mention Ana García Barrios, Alfonso Lacadena,
Juan Ignacio Cases, David Stuart, Simon Martin, Karl Taube, Stephen D. Houston, Nikolai Grube, Elisabeth Wagner, Marc
Zender, Ricardo Armijo Torres, Erik Velásquez García, Cessia Chuc, Erik Boot, Harri Kettunen, Antonio Benavides Castillo,
Sara Novelo, Otto Schumann Gálvez, Katja Winkler, Antonio Poot. Geneviève Le Fort, Frauke Sachse and Christophe
Helmke from Wayeb, Dmitri Beliaev, Albert Davletshin and Alexandre Tokovinine, from the Advanced Hieroglyphic
Workshop, Geneva EMC 2007, Ian Graham and Barbara Fash at Harvard and Lucia Henderson from UT Austin. Many
thanks also to Susan Baker for her valuable help in correcting the preliminary English draft. Any mistakes or
misinterpretations are solely the responsibility of the author.
18 Carlos Pallán Gayol

Who was Chaahk2 and who is Cháak3 God D’s presence dominates Codex Madrid,
with 84 depictions (Schellhas, ibid.). This
It is due to its intimate relationship with the brings us to the question of a dichotomy, either
vital agricultural cycle that the cult to the rain- real or scholarly-perceived, between an elite,
deities has been one of the most enduring and state-controlled “official” religion versus a
deliberately emphasized components of Maya more “paganized” set of beliefs practiced by
and Mesoamerican religion, spanning over 25 farmers and commoners to ensure fertility and
centuries and encompassing aspects that still success in activities related to the agricultural
prevail in modern-day Maya villages. cycle (cf. Thompson 1970: 199; Villa Rojas
According to Thompson (1970: 251), modern- 1985: 176-77), with the later cult not only
day <cháak> entities or Yukatek rain-gods are going further back in time, but also being more
still the recipients of more prayers and prone to have endured the European Conquest
offerings in a “pagan” context than any other due to a relatively greater inaccessibility to
supernatural being. Figure 1 shows the Catholic sanction and suppression.
hieroglyphic forms of Classic Chaahk’s name,
usually spelled with a logographic head-variant
complemented by a ki syllable (Fig. 1d), and
alternatively rendered in fully-phonetic form
(cha-ki), as in the Postclassic codical name of
God B (Fig. 1f), as designated by Paul
Schellhas (1904).
In order to estimate Chaahk’s relative
importance within the Maya pantheon,
Schellhas accounts for 218 occurrences of God
B’s name in all three codices4 and 141 in the
Dresden alone (Schellhas 1904: 46-47;
Thompson 1970: 253), representing just over
half of the total portraits of gods. In contrast,

2
The Classic-Maya reconstruction of *Chaahk as a
transliteration for the spellings cha-ki and RAIN.GOD-ki
is based on the work of Lacadena and Wichmann (2004:
124-25) and a theory that favors the existence of complex
syllabic nuclei of the type –VVh in Classic Ch’olan, first
advanced by Brown and Wichmann (2004: 139). In
contrast, Houston et al. (2004: 87) and Robertson et al.
(2007: 34) regard the former reconstruction as
implausible and offer *Chahk instead. At present, the
author regards both proposals for reconstructing this
theonym as almost equally well supported by different
sets of evidence in their favor, both published (cf.
Houston et al. 1998; Robertson et al. 2007; Brown and
Wichmann 2004; Lacadena and Wichmann 2004) and
unpublished (Houston, pers. comm. 2008; Lacadena,
pers. comm. 2008; D. Law, pers. comm. 2008;
Robertson, pers. comm. 2008; Wichmann, pers. comm. Fig. 1. Hieroglyphic examples of the name Chaahk.
2008) to a degree that makes it difficult to weigh and a) ’u-CHAK. Copan, Stela 9 (after drawing by L.
determine which one should be correct. As a result, even Schele inked by M.Van Stone, 1995); b) CHAK.
though the reconstruction of *Chaahk is used throughout Palenque, Tablet of the Foliated Cross, pos. N11
for the sake of clarity, the contending reconstruction of (after photograph by Jorge Acosta, Archivo Técnico
*Chahk should be regarded – in my opinion – as equally INAH); c) Naranjo, St. 20 (after drawing by Ian
plausible until more evidence is brought to bear on the Graham in Graham and Von Euw, 1975, CMHI Vol.
fundamental question of which reconstruction paradigm 2 part 1 page 51); d) CHAK-ki (Yaxchilán Lintel 25
is better suited to explain not only this, but all Classic- after drawing by Ian Graham, in Graham 1977,
Maya attested spelling conventions as a whole. CMHI Vol. 3 part 1 page 56); e) Vase Kerr No. 1813
3 (after photograph by Justin Kerr); f) cha-ki phonetic
Orthographic distinction is made here between the
Classic-period theonym Chaahk and modern-Yukatek spelling. Codex Dresden (after drawing by
Cháak. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic orthographies Schellhas 1904). All vectorial renderings made by
provided by other authors will be bracketed by < > signs. the author, 2008.
4
The Dresden, Madrid and Paris manuscripts are
unanimously regarded as authentic, which is not yet the
case for the Grolier.
The Many Faces of Chaahk
As for the etymology of the Classic-Maya
name of the rain-god, Chaahk, agreement has
been reached among epigraphers and linguists
nowadays that this root derived from proto-
Mayan *kahwoq, meaning “thunder” (Grube
2004: 72; Houston et al. 2004: 87; Lacadena
and Wichmann 2004: 124-25). According to
Søren Wichmann, the proto-Mayan root
underwent a number of evolutionary stages
until it reached the form Chaahk during the
Classic period, used to designate both the
name of the rain-god and the term for
“lightning”. Interestingly, as Lucero Meléndez
and myself have noted in previous work
(Pallán and Meléndez, in press), it may also
have followed a divergent and extremely
conservative path, where the proto-Mayan root
was preserved under a fossilized form as the
name of the 19th day-sign, which possibly
progressed from an intermediate stage
reflected on attested early-Classic forms
spelling kaywak5 – a hieroglyphic designation
for jade celts resembling the flint-axe of the
rain-god – before becoming the colonial-
Yukatek day-name Kawak reported by Landa
and other ethnohistorical sources.
Chaahk within a pan-Mesoamerican
cult: relationships with Tlālok and
Kosiyo
Veneration addressed to the rain-deities
stems from a truly pan-Mesoamerican set of
beliefs which origin arguably predates the
middle-Preclassic period, when we have the
first traces of evidence that it became an
organized cult among the Olmec civilization
that flourished in Central Veracruz and
Tabasco, with outposts at Morelos and central
Mexico (Taube 2004: Fig. 15), but that
centuries later also appears to have been
present across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
among epi-Olmec settlements and more
notoriously represented on Sapotek art and
sculpture (Urcid 2005: chapter 7). Within the
Petén lowlands, the cult was already well
established as early as the third or fourth
centuries BC, as indicated by recent findings at
San Bartolo (Saturno et al. 2005; Saturno
2006). There are clear associations and shared
5
Although kaywak has also been analyzed by Terrence
Kaufman and other scholars as a foreign loanword
introduced into Mayan languages from Mije-Sokean or
other sources, as we have explained on earlier work
(Pallán and Meléndez, in press).
19
traits between cognate rain-deities embraced
by each of these cultures. Slightly divergent
developments eventually led to particular
manifestations, such as early-Classic versions
of Tlālok attested in Teotihuacan; Sapotek
Kosiyo imagery and later Gulf-coastal
depictions of Tajin. Later, during the post-
Classic period, Nawa and Mixtek re-
adaptations – possibly stemming from a
Teotihuacano version of Tlālok – kept
developing steadily. Meanwhile among the
Maya, different versions of Chaahk
experienced noticeable transformations
through time, from highly zoomorphic
Preclassic and early-Classic prototypes
through its codical and colonial versions, we
seem to witness a process towards an
increasing anthropomorphism.
Covarrubias’ famous diagram – further
developed later by Karl Taube – shows the
evolutionary path that rain-gods underwent,
deriving from an original Olmec prototype
(Covarrubias 1946: Fig. 4, 1957: Fig. 22;
Taube 2004: Figs. 14-16). On this diagram
(Fig. 2), we can appreciate how the leftmost
branch derives in manifestations of Sapotek
Kosiyo, while the central axis leads to
Highland Mexican variants of Tlālok. The
rightmost path shows the transition from a
Preclassic Chaahk – still sharing many of its
pronounced zoomorphic attributes with its
Sokean, Mexican and Sapotek cousins – until
it reaches the late-Postclassic form of codical
God B. Since Taube’s reappraisal of this
original synthesis by Covarrubias, such pan-
Mesoamerican relationships have been further
substantiated by a number of scholars, such as
Simon Martin (Martin 2004, 2007; Miller and
Martin 2004: 165-66), Javier Urcid (2005) and
Ana García Barrios (2005, 2007, 2008), among
others. Current views place the start of an
institutionalized cult to Chaahk by Middle-
Preclassic times, however, a greater antiquity
could be implied by the fact that even its
earliest-known representations already begin to
show an important degree of differentiation
into particular aspects.
Among the most notorious earliest examples
is the central figure from a recently discovered
20-meter-long frieze in excavations conducted
by Ramón Carrasco and the Calakmul
archaeological project (Vázquez 2007). Both
Simon Martin (2007a), and Ana García Barrios
(2007) have identified this depiction as a
Preclassic form of Chaahk. This Calakmul
finding lends itself to a readily comparison
20 Carlos Pallán Gayol

Fig. 2. Evolution of the rain and lightning deities throughout Mesoamerica. As illustrated by Taube (2004: Fig. 14;
adapted from Covarrubias 1957: Fig. 22).
The Many Faces of Chaahk 21

with a cognate rain-deity appearing at late-

Preclassic Izapa Stela 1 (Taube 1992a: Fig.
7a), which shows transitional features between
Mixe-Zoquean and Mayan representational
conventions. Some of these Izapan traits would
later reappear in Classic and Postclassic Maya
imagery, as we shall see below. Stela 1
presents a rain-god engaged in the act of
fishing, holding a net from where water pours
down, carrying a large water-jar on the back
and wearing his distinctive serpent-belt.
Another magnificent early-Classic example
appearing on vessel Kerr No. 1258 already
shows all the major diagnostic features of
Chaahk, including a possible hieroglyphic
interplay on the back of the figure that might
identify it as the earliest-known manifestation
of a directional aspect known as Chak Xib’
Chaahk (Stuart1987); García Barrios 2005,
2006, 2008: 496-509), through the usage of a
composite glyphic name which includes both a
mandible sign and a youthful head-variant that
were deciphered respectively as CHAK and
XIB’ by David Stuart (1987; credited by
Schele and Miller 1986: 60 note 55). During
this stage, Chaahk obtains his characteristic
barbel-like mouth curls and reptilian eye
(Taube 1992a: 23), as well as a distinctive
Spondylus shell earflare. Another diagnostic
early-Classic feature is the full-form snake –
often with fiery scrolls attached – that
resembles a bifid tongue emerging from
Chaahk’s mouth, as shown in examples from
Copan (Margarita Str.); Yaxha (Stela 4); vessel
K1258 itself and a very intriguing stone-ring or
“Mace-Head” that Yuriy Polyukhovych was
documented with us while collaborating with
AGIMAYA-INAH project in Tabasco.
The Tabasco “Mace-Head” (Fig. 3) shows
what I identify as an early depiction of Chaahk
or another cognate Mesoamerican rain-god, on
the basis that it exhibits pronounced
zoomorphic features similar to other early-
Classic examples, holding Chaahk’s
characteristic lightning-axe with his left hand
while showing on its mouth the diagnostic
snake discussed above. Furthermore, it exhibits
two rows of glyphs – seemingly dedicatory in
nature – that quite uniquely blend what appear Fig. 3. The Tabasco ‘Maize-Head’ a) top-left:
to be early Maya glyphs with non-Maya general view; b) bottom-left: detail of rain-god head;
(possibly Sapotek) calendric day signs. A c) top-right: detail of left hand wielding axe; d)
glyphic nominal phrase for either the portrayed bottom-right: comparison between name-glyph and
deity or a ruler bearing its name seems to Zapotec Glyph M (after Urcid 2005: Figs. 1.18; 5.12;
7.5, etc.). Photographs for AGIMAYA-INAH by Yuriy
follow, surely another epithet for an axe- Polyukhovych 2006. All drawings made by the
holding rain-god. Alternatively, it can author, 2008.
22
constitute an early example of the
KALOMTE’ title, also strongly associated
with Chaahk, as is discussed further below
(see section 6). At the same time, it is
intriguing to note certain similarities between
the sign in question with Sapotek Glyph M
(Fig. 3d), which Javier Urcid identifies as a
theonym for Kosiyo, the Sapotek god of
Lightning (Urcid 2005: 135-36).
For the late Classic, the number of examples
hitherto discovered increases dramatically. It is
during this stage that Chaahk acquires his
characteristic Spondylus-shell earflare and
prominent zoomorphic snout. Also diagnostic
is the miter-like device with the crossed-bands
motif reminiscent of sign T552. Very often
Chaahk appears wielding the canonical
lightning-axe and the stone-manopla on each
hand (Taube 2004: 84-85), the later associated
with thunder-production. Both instruments
often become personified and turn into
separate animate entities, the former as K’awiil
and the later as a compact entity related to the
“Kawak Monster” (Miller and Martin 2004:
159; Taube 1992a; 2004: 84). Prestigious elite
artifacts and adornments were modeled after
God B’s features, like an incised jade earflare
that resembles the Spondylus shell of Chaahk
(Houston et al. 1999: II-41), or a ceremonial
axe excavated in Yaxchilan, elaborated with
obsidian from a region formerly controlled by
Teotihuacan, as archaeologists R. Garcia Moll
and C. Brokmann have shown (Miller and
Martin 2004: 184), indirectly linking the Maya
rain-god with his distant highland Mexican
cousin Tlālok once again.
Moving on to the Terminal Classic and
Postclassic, the imagery and codical
representations of Chaahk gradually becomes
more anthropomorphic, as attested on a vessel
from the Dzibilchaltun-Mérida region
depicting a supernatural surrounded by fire
scrolls that has been identified as belonging to
the rain-god complex by Miller and Martin
(2005: 146) on the grounds of his shell ear-
ornament and mouth barbels. It also holds
Chaahk’s characteristic belt and “thunder”
manopla weapon personified as the “Kawak
Monster”. By late-Postclassic, God B acquires
his “long and pendulous nose” (Taube 1992a:
17), as well as a “cruller” underneath the eye,
although he shares this last trait with a number
of other deities. He still retains the hi-pointed
head ornament with the crossed bands,
although his overall shape has become less
ophidian than in earlier depictions.
Carlos Pallán Gayol
During colonial times, both Bishop Landa’s
Relación de las Cosas de Yucatan and the
Chilam Balam from Chumayel contain
mentions of a particular aspect of the rain-god
called Yax Ha’al Chaahk, “the Chaahk of the
first rains”, possibly alluding to the beginning
of the rainy season around June 1. According
to Erik Boot’s translation (Gordon 1913:
translation by Erik Boot 2005: 355), the
description given is “[Y]axal Chak is the
burden of the sky; Yaxal Chak is its face in his
lordship; Yaxal Chak is the burden in his
lordship […]” (cf. Bastarrachea 1970: 110). As
evidence of the continuity that his specific
manifestation represents, Classic examples of
the name Yax Ha’al Chaahk appear at places
like Copan, linked to the death of Ruler
Waxaklaju’n ’Ub’aah K’awiil on AD 738
(Looper 2003: 78, Fig. 3.3); at Piedras Negras
Lintel 2, as a deity supervising a ritual
performed by Ruler 2 ’Itzamk’anahk and also
on Vessel 20 (Robiscek and Hales 1981: 40),
here with strong associated iconography.
The impact of European thought into the cult
of the rain-gods cannot be underestimated.
Ethnohistorical and ethnographic accounts
often describe Chaahk’s features as more
human-like, while certain supernatural
attributes still prevail, varying from a great
size and strength to a luminous glow. Further
notions that survived the Conquest were the
ingrained ideas that rain-gods often dwelled
inside caves and were able to master snakes
and other beasts, as attested by the work of
Vogt and Stuart (2005: 166-77), who present
an eloquent ethnographic depiction of a
Chamula Tzotzil conversing with the Earth-
Owner and his wife inside a cave. Despite
strongly embedded catholic elements – such as
the wings of the female expressing the
association of earth owners with angels – the
snake is still the “familiar” of these Tzotzil
earth owners, a role that finds multiple
parallelisms in pre-Columbian thought, such as
the scene on Codex Madrid (p. 52c), where
God B and Goddess I are engaged on
preparing ritual food and floral offerings, also
in the company of a rattlesnake. Implicit
within these depictions is a pan-Mesoamerican
conception regarding parentage bonds between
the rain-god and the moon goddess (and their
different cognate sets), either as husband and
wife ruling together (likely at vessel K2772;
Codex Rios, folios 1v-2r; cf. Milbrath 1999:
97), as possibly mother and son (i.e. vessels
K719; K1081; K1382; K1813; K3716; K4485;
The Many Faces of Chaahk
K6063; K7838, etc.); and with Tlālok as father
of the Moon (Historia de los Mexicanos por
sus pinturas 1973: 35; Milbrath 1999: 197).
According to Thompson (1970: 252), “[…] the
present-day Maya of Yucatan think vaguely of
Chacs as old, white-haired men, often bearded,
and, in the opinion of a few people, tall […]
it’s taken for granted that their features are
human […]”. This last assumption, however, is
not always to be verified in communities such
as those of northern Campeche, where Cháak
was described to the author as resembling a
“glowing and seated statue of Tlālok that
illuminates all the surroundings” by an hmen
informant.
Introducing Chaahk’s role within myth
It is through such examples as the above that
we can assess the impact of European religion
upon Chaahk’s cult, which – however dramatic
– was not able to suppress certain core
elements of the rain-god complex, not only in
the Maya region, but throughout Mesoamerica.
On a manner extremely similar to the five-fold
<tlaloque> brandishing their lightning serpents
in the Mexican Codex Borgia (p.27), Redfield
and Villa Rojas (1934: 115; Vail 2000: 126)
reported that villagers at Chan-Kom worshiped
a series of directional sky gods called the Xib’
Cháako’ob’, which amounts to say that
modern religious agricultural practices still
refer to a particular aspect of Cháak witnessed
by Landa during Colonial-period Yucatan.
Further back in time, this appellative also
appears on Classic-period ceramics, on the
collocation Chak Xib’ Chaahk that Stuart first
deciphered (quoted in Taube 1992a: 17).
Furthermore, Thompson (1970: 252) also
described that in modern-day belief, there exist
four leading rain-deities known as <nucuch
chacob>, “the Great Chacs”, with the same
color and directional associations as those
reported by Landa and the Chilam Balam of
Chumayel. Often another <Chac> appears at
the center, as the most powerful and real chief,
called <Kunku Chac> (“kindly god”). When
rains are due in Yucatan around June 1, the
Chacs assemble at <Chun Caan>, “the bottom
of the sky”, situated in the east. Thence they
ride forth on their horses – or before the
Spaniards arrived, on their lightning-serpents
<chijchan> as well as on deers – issuing from
a doorway called <holhun taz muyal>
(translated by Thompson [1970: 254] as
23
“thunder opening in the cloud layer”) with
<Kunku Chac> at their head. They ride across
the skies, each with a gourd containing the rain
water in one hand, brandishing a machete-like
implement called <lelem> or “lightning”
because it produces this phenomenon, and so
they take up their positions at the four world
directions. That these notions had solid
antecedents in the Postclassic and even earlier
is attested on relevant depictions where
Chaahk rides his lightning serpent or appears
mounting deers at Codex Madrid (p. 12b);
Codex Dresden (p. 45c), as well as on late-
Classic Oxpemul Stela 9 (Ruppert and Denison
1943: Plate 55b).
As for sacred narratives where Chaahk is
involved, according to Frauke Sachse and
Allen Christenson (2005: 2), “[T]he life-cycle
of the maize plant is the archetypal metaphor
for Mesoamerican creation mythology […]”.
These authors (ibid.: 20) refer a mythical place
of origin that appears in the Popol Vuh under
the name of <Paxil Cayala>, which they
translate as “Split-Place; Bitter-Water Place”.
This mythological place name has multiple
cognates that also found under different names
throughout pre-Columbian, colonial and
ethnographic Mesoamerican literature.
Basically, it describes a mountain or rock
where Maize was first found and delivered to
mankind after being broken-open by the force
of lightning, the agent being either Chaahk,
Tlālok, Kosiyo or other closely related deities.
This myth has been eloquently rendered on a
number of late-Classic Maya vessels (i.e. Fig.
4), which clearly correspond to present-day
ethnographic accounts. One version has been
preserved among the Mopan Maya of Belize,
as it was registered by Otto Schumann Gálvez
(1971). Below I present a transcription and
English translation of the same myth, made
available by the work of Lieve Verbeek et al.
(2005):
– Ka yanaji a yok’olkaba ma’ yan ma’ax k’u’i
a yan a janteje, ka a wuk’u
– U k’aatajoo’ ti’i a dioso, u k’aatajoo’ ti’i a
witzi tuba u talel, tuba u lik’il k’u’i a ku
jantoo’, a ixi’imi
– Pwes ki, ka’ a wile’ex – ku t’an – Bel in kin
bete. Ka’ wile’ex – ku t’an a Chaaka. U tz’aj a
lemleme. Tan ilik u jatz.– Pa’axi a tunichi,
noxi jabix jun p’eel naj.Jebi a tunichi.
24
Fig. 4. The pan-Mesoamerican myth about the splitting of ‘maize-mountain’ by the rain-gods, as depicted on a
late-Classic unprovenanced vessel (drawing by Marc Zender, in Zender 2005: Fig. 10a).
– U yilaj a Chaaka i u yilaj ilik u moso to
tanoo’ u yokol aj say yalam a tunichi.
– Te’eji okoo’ u moloo’. U molajoo’ a
kich’pana, a ma’ chuweni, le’ek tun a säk
ixi’imi.
U molajoo’ ilik a chen kän k’aak’ajiji, leek
tun a kän ixi’imi. U ka’ molajoo’ ilik a k’äs
chäkä umen k’aak’a, le’ek a chäk ixi’imi. U
ka’ molajoo’ a chuwen ti ki’i, le’ek tun a box
ixi’imi.
– Balo’ ti yanaji a ixi’imi
– “When the earth was created there was
nothing to eat or to drink.
– People asked the gods, they asked the lord of
the mountains where their food would come
up, where they would find corn.
– Well, look out – Chaak said – I am going to
do it. Look out!, and Chaak sent his lightning
down with a heavy thunderbolt.
– The lightning struck a big rock. That rock, as
big as a house, cracked.
– Then Chaak saw that his helpers, the
zompopo ants, started to bring the corn outside.
– People picked up the beautiful corn-ears that
had not been burnt by the lightning. That is the
white corn.
They picked up the ears that had hardly
Carlos Pallán Gayol
been touched by the heat of lightning. That is
the yellow corn.
They also picked up the ears that had been
burnt red. That is the red corn.
They also picked up the fully burnt corn. That
is the black corn.
– This is how corn came into the world.”
Chaahk’s fission: unfolding into
multiple aspects
According to Villa Rojas (1985: 176), the set
of “pagan” deities most revered by the
indigenous people from Yucatan concerns
those related to agriculture. These
supernaturals are mentioned with the generic
name of yumtzilo’ob’, meaning “patrons” or
“owners”, a concept that provides a framework
where Cháak interacts with other closely
related beings. Etnographic sources explain
that the yumtzilo’ob’ subdivide into three
groups: the b’alamo’ob’, or “jaguars”, whose
favor can be attained by showing enough
devotion through the proper offerings, so that
they can protect the village, the milpas and the
people; the kuilo’ob’-kaaxo’ob’ are the ones
who watch and protect the forested hills, also
known as “dueños de los montes”, while the
cháako’ob’ are responsible of controlling the
clouds and deliver the highly-prized rain.
There is debate whether this set of beliefs was
already present in Classic times. If it was, it
would be important for understanding the
wider context in which ancient Chaahko’ob’
The Many Faces of Chaahk
operated. However fragmentary, there may be
suggestive evidence to favor this possibility.
At the village of Chan Kom, Redfield and
Villa Rojas (1934: 114) found that “[…] the
world, the milpa and the village are thought of
as squares with four corners lying in the four
cardinal points of the compass […]”. Above
each of these entrances hovers one of the
balams that watch over the village, ready to
seize upon any evil that may attempt to cross
the threshold (Bastarrachea 1970; Thompson
1970). In areas of present-day Yucatan
peninsula, the <balamo’ob> or <balam-
caho’ob> (“town-jaguars”) are still in charge
of protecting the villages, as I could attest
while doing ethnographic work at Chunyaxnic,
Campeche. Generally four <balamo’ob> are
“stationed” at the directional entrances of
villages on a nightly basis, while sometimes a
fifth guards the center. I was told at
Chunyaxnic that their names are fourfold:
<B’alan-ch’el> <B’alan-muyal>; <B’alan-
kol> and <B’alan-cháak>.
To begin exploring the possibility of pre-
Columbian antecedents for these ethnographic
descriptions, a possible referent from
9.17.0.0.0 (AD 771) appears at Pomona Panel
1, where the name of the ruler who
commissioned the monument was written as
“CLOUD”-B’ALAM-CHAK, seemingly
alluding to concepts not unlike those carried on
the combined names of modern-day <B’alan-
cháak> and <B’alan-muyal> guardians
mentioned above. A number of painted vessel
scenes further substantiate associations
between the rain-god and different jaguar-
beings, including an entity referred to as the
“waterlily-jaguar” (i.e. Kerr No. 1197; Taube
1992a: Fig. 24e), although these vessels alone
do not provide sufficiently-clear indications of
the function performed by these jaguar entities
within mythic narratives in which they appear.
To gain additional understanding, we need to
turn our attention to hieroglyphic evidence
which may prove relevant.
The Palace hieroglyphic stairway at Palenque
contains a passage that describes an attack on
this city perpetrated by a certain K’ox Luka’
from the site of “Maguey-Throne”, closely
related then to Calakmul’s hegemony. Thus, as
a result of this military defeat, which occurred
in AD 599 (according to a recent re-
examination by Simon Martin, see Miller and
Martin 2004: 283 note 3), Palenque’s Triad
patron deities – or their effigies – were
“brought down” (yalej <GI-GII-GIII>).
25
Although the following passage has proved
difficult to decipher, one possible reading
could be: “and then the […] being(?)/
existence(?) of Nu’un B’ahlam(nal) Lakam
Chaahk was revealed” (’i pahsaj ?...a’an
Nu’un B’ahlam(nal) Lakam Chaahk), this
being the proper name of Calakmul’s own
patron god, as attested elsewhere. The same
jaguar-rain-god entity reappears in AD 695,
when Tikal’s forces inflicted a major defeat to
king Jaguar-Paw (Yuhkno’m Yihch’aak
K’ahk’) of Calakmul. As widely known, Tikal
wooden lintels from Temple I describe how
Jaguar Paw’s own Patron-god effigy Nu’un
B’ahlamnal Chaahk was captured by his Tikal
nemesis, Jasaw Chan K’awiil (Martin 1996). It
is possible that this entity could be also related
with the appellative (’u)y-ajaw maan, attested
both at Tikal and on the so-called Cancuen
looted panel, with the possible implication of
color-directional associations with the north.
However disastrous this defeat may have
been for Calakmul, the cult of these jaguar-
patron deities endured, and a few days before
the commemoration of the 15th k’atun by the
next ruler, Yuhkno’m Took’ K’awiil, a
reference is made to the very same – or another
– jaguar deity, as recorded on the side of Stela
89, and although the passage is eroded, it is
likely that the entity was named Sak Nu’un
B’ahlamil, which would once again imply an
association with the north, through the usage
of the color “white” as a modifier. The text
goes on to describe how the deity’s effigy or
palanquin was apparently “lifted”. At any rate,
Grube and Martin (1996) have already
mentioned the possibility of these
supernaturals beings serving as “guardians of
cities”, and it will be surely worthwhile to
continue exploring further lines of evidence on
this regard.
The Yopaat aspect
Just like God D could unravel into the
celestial Principal Bird Deity or become the
terrestrial ’Itzam Kab’ Ahiin – as Taube (1989:
2-4) has described – one of Chaahk’s aspects
could manifest as the celestial lightning deity
Yopaat above or as the earthly “Kawak
Monster” below. According to Looper (2003:
4), “Yopaat is a lightning-deity” and he is
closely associated with Chaahk. He is
identified mostly by “cloud-volutes” that
emerge from the top of his head, which may
26
allude to dense cloud formations, as well as by
“kawak” stony markings on his body. At
places like Copan or Quirigua, the hieroglyphs
involved on the spelling could be rendered in
full-figure form, as for example in the
Fig. 5. The Yopaat aspect of Chaahk conflates with K’awiil. Drawing by Simon Martin after a photograph by Justin
Kerr [K2772]. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Stuart6 has proposed that Yopaat might be
responsible for particularly violent storms that
eventually could cause earthquakes, noting that
vessel K2772 might depict one of such
catastrophic events (Fig. 5). The snake that
originates in Yopaat’s foot here is highly
reminiscent of the one that constitutes the main
diagnostic feature of K’awiil, showing the
great degree of overlap between these two
entities, even allowing for the possibility of
seeing them as different aspects of the rain-god
itself. On Classic-period ceramics, the snake
issuing from K’awiil’s foot is often named
Chijchan or Chijilchan on accompanying
glyphic-captions. It then appears plausible to
correlate it with modern Ch’orti’ conceptions
about earthquakes being caused by the
movements of the chijchans inside the hills, as
described by Wisdom (1940), Girard (1949:
6
Quoted by Alexandre Tokovinine at the advance
glyphic workshop, EMC Geneva, 2007.
Carlos Pallán Gayol
“Sepulturas bench” text. Iconographically, it is
also beautifully rendered at Quirigua Altar O’
(Looper 2003: Fig. 6.6). These depictions
allow us to fully appreciate Yopaat’s
diagnostic features.
582-87) and more recently, by Kerry Hull
(1999, 2003).
Before a more-complete decipherment of
Maya hieroglyphics took place, collocations
spelling YOPAT were loosely dubbed as the
“Penis” or “Penis-Crown” title (Grube 1990:
132; Macri and Looper 2003: 166). After
Stuart’s full phonetic decipherment of the term
(credited by Martin 2001: note 5; Martin and
Grube 2002: 231; cf. Macri and Looper 2003:
167), it was tempting to relate Chaahk’s
distinctive headgear displaying the crossed-
bands motif with the Yukatek lexical entry
Yo’pat, attested as “a manner of coroza or
miter that was used by ancient Indians”
(Barrera Vásquez 1980: 980, English
translation by the author). While Marc Zender
(2004: 127) and others have shown how miters
were a fundamental part of the accouterments
of Classic priests, in the absence of more direct
data, many epigraphers and iconographers are
still reluctant to fully accept that the glyphic-
term Yopaat refers indeed to the headgear
The Many Faces of Chaahk
worn by Chaahk, and thus have continued
exploring its etymology in search for more
likely explanations.
One of such proposals derives from recent
work by Dmitri Beliaev, who on the basis of
new iconographic evidence from San Bartolo
made available by William Saturno and his
team (Saturno 2006: 75) has provided ground
for reconsidering a more straightforward
interpretation of the Yopaat appellative as
consisting of the nouns YOP (an acrophony
for “leaf”7) and ’AT (“penis”; cf. Kaufman
2003: 385), given that one of the figures at San
Bartolo – likely a deity – appears adorned with
an oversized-leaf hanging from his mid-
section, a feature for which Beliaev has
suggested a plausible connection with earlier
or contemporary sets of deities from
neighboring regions of Mesoamerica8, as
attested within the epi-Olmec/Isthmian
imagery of Cerro de las Mesas Stela 6
(Beliaev, group comm. Geneva, Dec. 2007).
As for Yopaat and Chaahk existing as
differentiated entities, available evidence is
admittedly scant, although Caracol Altar 12 –
as redrawn by Nikolai Grube – provides an
intriguing expression that, to my knowledge,
constitutes the only-known example where the
names of Yopaat and Chaahk function together
within the same sentence. Although there are
still problems pertaining to the decipherment
of one of the signs involved (ZH7 in Macri and
Looper 2003), we know from other contexts
that its iconic value and semantics may be
associated with palanquins, an element that
along with the presence of occasional final
phonetic complementation by a ta syllable, has
led D. Beliaev and A. Davletshin to propose a
tentative reading of PIT? based on relevant
lexical entries.9 Their proposal allows me in
turn to suggest that in this particular context at
Caracol, we might have the descriptive name
of a ruler that incorporates: YOPAT-AT-ta
PIT?-ta CHAK-XIB’-cha-ki, “Yopaat
palanquin(?) red male rain-god”.
7
CHR yopor n. “hoja, leaf” (Hull 2005: 117); CHL yopol
te’ n. “ojas” (Boot 2005: 34 after Morán 1695: 48).
8
Beliaev’s suggestion also rests on a YUK lexical entry
for le’ aach as the proper name of a deity worshipped in
Yucatán (A. Davletshin, pers. comm. 2007), although the
precise source where they found this entry in the past
remains to be re-located.
9
Beliaev and Davletshin (pers. comm. 2007) pointed out
to me the existence of a Yukatek entry for piit as “andas
para llevar a los santos” (a litter devised to carry holy
effigies in religious parades) registered by Beltrán 1859
[1746].
27
Chaahk, Caves and the “Kawak
Monster”
As I will now try to show, a most intimate
connection existed between Chaahk and stony
places and objects, which is in keeping with
the close association between lightning,
thunder and stones found throughout
Mesoamerica. Multiple archaeological,
ethnohistorical and ethnographic sources of
evidence can be found to support such
assertion. The same goes for many of the
ancient cultures of the world, as Mircea Eliade
(1963) pointed out time ago, from Celtic
menhirs to Scandinavian axes, the link
between thunder or lightning with stone
artifacts was ubiquitous in antiquity.
Whenever they were not busy performing
rain-making activities in the sky above, Maya
lightning-deities had a preference for dwelling
inside caves, while humans below became
aware of this particular predilection of Chaahk
since at least Preclassic times, as attested at the
middle-Preclassic Olmec outpost of
Chalcatzingo, Morelos, where a figure seated
inside a Cave has been identified as a
precursor of the rain-god by both Joanne Spero
(1991: 3) and Elisabeth Wagner (quoted in
Sachse and Christenson 2005: note 19), while
the latest iconographic research of Karl Taube
at San Bartolo has identified a magnificent
Preclassic rain-god seating inside a quatrefoil-
cave with an eloquent gesture (Saturno 2006:
75; Taube 2007). Later, during Late-Classic
times, there is evidence that the notion of long
processions made to present offerings to rain-
deities dwelling inside caves was sufficiently
ingrained in the collective imagery, as shown
on vessel Kerr No. 530.
This particular cave component within the
rain-god’s cult survived the European
Conquest, as we have seen already among the
Tzotzil (Vogt and Stuart 2005: 166-67) and
among the Lacandon, where caves were
regarded as home to their deity Mensabak
(Duby 1944: 65-66; Soustelle 1961: 47; Palka
2005). These notions were far from being
restricted only to the Maya lowlands.
According to the late anthropologist Julio de la
Fuente (1949: 265-66), the Sapotek from
Oaxaca also believed that “rain is formed deep
inside caves in the earth”.
In 1967, while exploring deep inside the
Petén, Ian Graham (1997) discovered a
magnificent and unique statue of Chaahk at a
cave named La Pailita, which since has been
28
vandalized. Vogt and Stuart (2005: 163) have
described it as “[…] a life-size masonry effigy
of the rain god Chaahk, seated on a throne and
covered with modeled stucco. The figure held
an axe against his chest and was wearing a
breechclout, a pectoral ornament and
elaborate earspools. Its style and the vast
number of sherds found nearby suggest a Late
Preclassic or Early Classic date […]”
Among the Classic Maya, it was David Stuart
– to my knowledge – who recently called
attention to an evident “overlapping” and
intimate association between the so-called
“Kawak Monster” and the rain-god Chaahk
(Stuart 2006a, 2007). As we have seen earlier,
this intimate relationship happens also at the
linguistic level between such cognates as
Chaahk, Chahuk and Kawak. We have called
attention in the past (Pallán and Melendez in
press) to morphological similarities with the
seemingly related proper name of jade plaques,
spelled ka-ya-wa-ka (kaywak). Throughout
the Maya region and Mesoamerica,
archaeological artifacts made of flint or
obsidian are still believed nowadays to have
“fallen from the sky” every time the rain-god
splinters his flint or jade axe while producing
lightning. As Justeson et al. (1985:43) have
reported, throughout Mesoamerica, these
fragments of stone are called “piedra de rayo”
(“lightning-stone”) and are closely related to
both the 18th and 19th day names, Etz’nab’,
which represents a flint stone (reading took’ in
non-calendric contexts), and Kawak, a more
generic type of stone (reading tuun in non-
calendric contexts). For instance, the Mopan
Maya of southern Belize call the small celts of
polished stone <baatchac> or “Chaac’s axes”,
which they frequently find in clearing land for
milpa, believing them to be thunderbolts
hurled by the <chacob> (Thompson 1970:
253-54).
These ethnographic references might help to
explain associations provided by Classic
hieroglyphic terms. On Machaquila Stela 11,
for instance, we can find the expression “he
planted the stone, Yax Pas Chan ‘ajaw”
followed by the glyph for the day-sign
Etz’nab’ combined with that of Chaahk, on a
nominal phrase belonging to a later king of this
site that altogether might translate as “Lord
who first Opened the Sky, the Flint-(day) Rain
God”, as Erik Boot (2005: 50-51) has
proposed.
However, there is more direct evidence that
intimately links Chaahk with stones and the
Carlos Pallán Gayol
so-called “Kawak Monster”. An instance to
illustrate this relationship was pointed out to
me recently by David Stuart (pers. comm.
2007). On Copan Stela 9, right after the 8
Ajaw 13 Pax, Calendar Round, we find the
verbal expression wa’laj, “it was stood up”,
followed by a descriptive name for the stela
itself, called here the Yaxk’in(?) stone. An
intriguing passage follows, as this “Yaxk’in
Stone” is in turn described as “the proper
name” (’u-k’ab’a’) of the stela itself. Most
surprisingly, the usual term for “stela”
(lakamtuunil) is substituted here by the name
of the rain-god in possessed form (’u-Chaahk,
see Fig. 1a). Since all of the deity’s diagnostic
features are present, this constitutes a well
controlled context where the rain-god’s name
was preferred over the more widely-used term
to describe stone stelae, thus: “(it) was erected,
the Yaxk’in Stone, (which is) the holy name of
the Chaahk of the Ch’aho’m Lord”. This
passage may provide us with important emic
insights about the close interrelationship
between the terms Chaahk and Kawak. It
shows us how they could be used as functional
cognates within the context of monument
dedication, beyond the widely accepted fact
that both derive from the proto-Mayan word
for “thunder/lightning”.
Far from being an isolated case, this intimate
association between Chaahk and Kawak was
noted again by Stuart (2007) at Step 21 of
Copan Hieroglyphic Stairway, where after a
distance number best reckoned as 5.7.10.10,
the date 9 Kawak 7 Mak has been abbreviated
as only 9-Chaahk. Quite intriguingly, instead
of the usual head variant for the “Kawak-
monster”, Stuart identifies the head of the rain-
god himself. Although we lack a phonetic
spelling for the ancient eastern Ch’olan name
of the 19th day sign, this example strongly
suggests that it could have been cognate with
the term preserved in colonial Yukatek as
kawak.
Chaahk, politics and power
The fission process described above –
Chaahk unfolding into particular aspects –
produces important political overtones, where
Rulers made use of particularized aspects of
deities to their advantage. There is little doubt
that Chaahk’s cult became institutionalized
since early in Maya history, and that specific
structures of shrines may well have been
The Many Faces of Chaahk
dedicated in Chaahk’s honor.10
Within monumental sculpture, by far the
most prominent way in which Chaahk appears
is embedded within the personal glyphic
names of rulers. It can be argued that these
modifiers appearing before Chaahk’s name are
in fact epigraphic epithets or appellatives that
describe either a myriad of specific
manifestations of the rain-god, or activities
involving Chaahk which for some reason
rulers wanted to recall. Many times it is
possible to relate such activities to mythic
episodes or narratives. Previous and recent
research by scholars such as Ana García
Barrios (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008) and Alfonso
Lacadena (2004, 2006: 111) has shown that
many of these epithets can also be correlated
with available ethnohistoric or ethnographic
data.
Moving forward in history, authors such as
Thompson (1970: 254), Redfield and Villa-
Rojas (1934), Bastarrachea (1970) and others
thoroughly report on ethnographic versions of
related epithets. For instance, a general
ethnographic term for all cháako’ob’ is <ah
hoya’ob>, meaning “sprinklers” or “urinators”
(Redfield and Villa 1934: 115; Bastarrachea
1970; Thompson 1970: 253), an aspect that
was surely present since Pre-Columbian times,
judging from depictions of God B carrying or
pouring rain-producing jars, or even urinating
rain. To illustrate how these particular aspects
further ramify in their complexity, a sub-
grouping of these “sprinklers” might include
more specified manifestations of the rain-god,
such as <Ah Bulen Caan Chac> (from <buleb>
“jar”) “he with the Jar Sky-Chac”, a being who
carries a small gourd known as <zaayab chu>
“virgin-water gourd”. As he rides over cenotes,
the water, with a roar, shoots upward to refill
the vessel, a phenomenon that was also
familiar to the ancient scribes of Codex
Dresden (page 39c).
As we shall see, ever since Classic times or
before, these descriptive epithets were used by
rulers as mythical referents in order to gain
political power and prestige. The incised bones
from Burial 116 at Tikal depict what surely
formed part of a mythic episode where
multiple Chaahko’ob’ are engaged into the act
10
Examples of the above may be the structures called
Chahuk Naah at Piedras Negras Throne 1, legs (Lacadena
and Wichmann 2004: 140), the Chaahk Naah at Dos
Pilas (Tokovinine 2007) and the K’inich K’uk’ Naah of
Palenque, associated with an aspect of the Rain God
known as 3-9 Chaahk (Stuart 2006b: 92-93).
29
of fishing, some diving underwater and some
on a canoe or cayuco. The dedicatory glyphic
text above specifies that the “Canoe Chaahk”
is the proper name of the bone itself, which
belonged to the mighty ruler Jasaw Chan
K’awiil (ca. 682-734), here referred to by his
funerary name (see Colas, this volume).
Within mythic narrative, this role of Chaahk as
a fisherman finds further substantiation in
iconographic depictions such as Izapa Stela 1
(Taube 1992a: Fig. 7a) and epigraphically on
Palenque’s “Creation Stone”, as discussed
below on the section about Patron deities.
To illustrate a few possible relationships
between attested ethnographic epithets for the
rain-god with those preserved in monuments
and vessels from the Classic period, Thompson
(1970: 254-55) quotes an aspects called <Ah
Hadz’en Caan Chac>, “Lash or Blow Sky-
Chac”, for he makes thunderclaps which sound
like the crack of a whip. Another named <Ah
Lelem Caan Chac> “Lightning Sky-Chac”,
was possibly related to epithets that allude to
Classic lightning deities, such as Copan’s Yax
Pahsaj Chan Yopaat or Naranjo’s K’ahk’ Tiliw
Chan Chaahk. This last ruler liked to display
his close affiliation with the rain-god by using
an elaborate headdress with an effigy of
Chaahk that spelled out his name, as Martin
and Grube (2002: 74, 209) explain. Another
ethnographic deity that causes the phenomenon
of lightning is called <Hopop Caan Chac>
“Sets-light-to-the-sky Chaac” was recorded by
Thompson (1970: ibid.), and it has been related
by Martin and Grube (2002: 206) to the name
of the 14th ruler of Copan, K’ahk’ Johplaj
Chan K’awiil, which they translate as “K’awiil
that stokes the sky with fire”, essentially
similar in meaning to that of his successor, the
15th ruler, K’ahk’ Yiplaj Chan K’awiil
(“K’awiil that fills the sky with fire”). As we
shall see below, here K’awiil might actually
refer to a possible descriptive term for
Chaahk’s own lightning-axe.
Turning our attention to Edzná, Campeche,
perhaps the most powerful ruler known so far
– according to our own reconstruction of the
dynastic sequence of the site – seemingly bore
the name of Kal Chan Chaahk (ca. AD 647-
662), as I currently understand the signs
involved in the various spellings where it
appears. If so, this name could be related to the
one of Naranjo ruler K’ahk’ ‘Ukalaw Chan
Chaahk. Although the precise meaning of the
logogram KAL is still under debate (see
discussion further below), its logographic
30 Carlos Pallán Gayol

version depicts the rain-god holding his and for reassuring permanence in power –
lightning-axe. Defining this etymon is also cannot be underestimated. It is widely known
crucial for any further understanding of the that many Classic major cities had their own
highest-ranking political title Kalo’mte’. sets of patron deities, who where “present”, in
Within the name of the Edzná ruler, the sign a quite a literal sense, to supervise all the
KAL appears conflated with a CHAN bird important rituals and ceremonial life
(T746v), a creature commonly found at the performed by the lineages responsible of
extremes of celestial bands. The occasional use worshipping them. The usual pattern, as
of the na syllable (T23) suffixed as a phonetic Houston and Stuart (1996) have described, is
complement reinforces the possibility of this that some form of sacred ritual is performed
being the intended value. Furthermore, “before the presence” [(’u)y-ichnal)] of the
Alfonso Lacadena (pers. comm. 2007) pointed local patron deities, thus denoting a
out to me that this hieroglyphic name could hierarchical relationship.
well correspond to the colonial and
ethnographic epithet <Mizen Caan Chaac>, or
“Sweeps the sky Chac” (cf. Bastarrachea 1970;
Thompson 1970: 255).
Rulers bearing the name of Chaahk also
appear frequently at Pomona, Tabasco, as is
the case mentioned above of MUYAL?-
B’ALAM-CHAAHK from Panel 1. As we
presented elsewhere (García Moll, Mathews
and Pallán 2007), another early-Classic ruler
called Chanal Chaahk or “heavenly Chaahk”
witnessed the period ending of 9.4.0.0.0 in AD
514, as recorded in Hieroglyphic Panel 8.
Furthermore, an earlier event occurred at AD
305 was recorded on Hieroglyphic Panel 10
(Fig. 6) and it reveals important clues about
how Rulers made use of Chaahk’s name when
performing specific rituals, surely for political
legitimacy and other purposes, but also for
recalling mythical narratives that provided
strong religious foundations to their exercising
of power. Interestingly, the ritual recorded on
Hieroglyphic Panel 8 may echo the above-
mentioned myth about the origin of Maize and
Chaahk’s crucial role in delivering the
precious seed to humanity:

paskab’-(i)j-iiy-Ø Wak Chan Muyal

Witz ’u-kab-(i)j-iiy-Ø Chak B’alu’n
Chaahk K’uh(ul) Pakbu’ul ’ajaw

“The earth (was) opened at Six-Sky-
Cloud Mountain, he ordered it, Chak
B’alu’n Chaahk, the God-like Ruler of
Pomona”
Patron deities
How this mythic complex permeated within
the realm of politics? The fact that
institutionalized religious practice was often
used for political purposes – such as legitimacy
Fig. 6. Chaahk rituals and impersonations: Pomoná
Hieroglyphic Panel 10 (photograph by Carlos Pallán
2007, AGIMAYA-INAH PMT_HPAN_010).
Comalcalco
At the western-most Maya site of
Comalcalco in the Chontalpa region of
Tabasco, archaeologist Ricardo Armijo
excavated the impressive Funerary Urn 26,
which contained a number of Stingray spines
The Many Faces of Chaahk
with incised glyphic texts that were thoroughly
analyzed by Marc Zender (2004). Spine 2
shows that a local nobleman called Aj Pakal
Tahn, bearing the priestly rank of yajaw k’ahk’
“vassal of fire”, performed a ritual before the
presence of the local patron deities, Tziho’m(?)
Chaahk and ’Unen K’awiil (GII). Pendant 7B
further reinforces Chaahk’s status among these
local deities by stating that the same individual
performed another ritual before the presence of
a similar – although undeciphered – aspect of
Chaahk accompanied by ’Ohl-is k’uh (“heart
god”), another tutelary deity or set of deities.
Pendant 12B describes yet another advocation
– here Chak Xib’ Chaahk – as literally “the
god of” priest ’Ajpakaltahn (Zender 2004:
257). Furthermore, pendant 14B records a
ritual performed by priest ’Ajpakaltahn “in
front of” [(’u)y-ichnal)] an additional
appellative, possibly transliterated as Xob’te’
Chaahk. These Comalcalco examples provide
insight into the way these practices of adoring
very particular patron deities were conceived,
while at the same time raises the question of
whether different aspects of the rain-god were
revered at Comalcalco or if a single deity went
under several appellatives. At any rate, these
instances reflect a highly specialized cult to the
rain-deities taking place at the western limits
of the Maya region.
Piedras Negras
Panel 2 from Piedras Negras was
commissioned to show the dominion acquired
by the site over other Usumacinta centers such
as Yaxchilán, Bonampak and Lacanjá. It also
specifies how Ruler 2 ’Itzamk’anahk received
five war-helmets before the presence of a set
of PNG patron deities, where Yax Ha’al
Chaahk or “First-Rain(s) Chaahk” appears
among other supernaturals, who are later in the
text described as the “conjured gods” of
’Itzamk’anahk. It is worth noting that a fuller
version of the name of Ruler 2, bears
embedded, among its components a theonym,
the name of an enigmatic “Parrot” aspect of
Chaahk (K’ahk’ ’O’ Chaahk), a mythical
creature with strong Teotihuacano overtones
which was also revered as a patron-deity at
nearby Yaxchilán. I suggest that this particular
aspect of the rain-god could functionally
compare to how an avian aspect – represented
by the Principal Bird Deity – unfolds from
God D through the same process of fission. As
31
for the avian avatar of the rain-god, K’ahk’ ’O’
Chaahk might correspond to the same creature
depicted in vessels such as K5228, K6809,
K8486 and K8504, among other examples.
Palenque
Aside from the widely-known set of patron
deities known as the “Palenque Triad” (GI, GII
and GIII), there is an “expanded” set of patron
deities – as Stuart (2006b: 96) has recently
shown – which includes a particular aspect of
Chaahk called the ’Ihk’ Wahy Chaahk, either
the “Black-Coessence Chaahk”, maybe an
underworldly aspect of Chaahk, related to the
location ’Ihk Way Nal that often appears
associated with the rain-god in such scenes as
that on the “Cosmic Plate” (K1609). That local
versions of the rain-god cult were developed
and practiced at Palenque finds additional
support from the so-called “Creation tablet”,
which not only shows a beautiful rendering of
Chaahk, but also contains a text that seems to
qualify the deity as a day-fisherman (k’inil
kayo’m) and a night-fisherman (’ak’ab’
kayo’m), terms that are possibly related to
other depictions of Chaahk engaged in the act
of fishing (i.e. Izapa Stela 1; Tikal Burial 116
bones, etc.).
Chaahk impersonations
First discussed thoroughly by Houston and
Stuart (1996: 5), the representations of Rulers
incarnating supernatural entities usually
comprised a three-part formula, starting with
the glyphic expression ’ub’aahilan, “he is the
personification of”, and followed by 2) a given
god’s name, and immediately after 3) the name
of a historical individual impersonating this
god, normally a ruler (see Knub et al. this
volume). The marked distinction in Maya
thought between an actual god and its simple
impersonation or effigy is analogous to that
found within the central Mexican concepts of
<teotl and teixiptla> (Hvidtfeldt 1958;
Townsend 1979; Boone 1989).
Impersonation rituals are relevant for our
understanding of the political usage of diverse
concepts emanating from Chaahk’s complex,
since they imply a reenactment by the head of
state (the king) of selectively emphasized
aspects of a given mythic narrative or a deity’s
role on it. An example illustrating this process
at work is found on the famous Dumbarton
32
Oaks tablet, which according to Stuart (2006b:
92-93) could have been originally placed at the
Sak K’uk’ Naah shrine on top of the Mirador
hill in Palenque. Here we can see how ruler
K’inich K’an Joy Chitam performs a sacred
dance while impersonating a particular version
of Chaahk called 3-9-CHAK, an appellative
that might correlate with the ethnographically-
attested <Ah Bolon Caan Chac> or
“Many/Nine Sky-Chac” reported by
Thompson (1970: 254-55), Bastarrachea
(1970) and others. We can see how he wears
the characteristic Spondylus-shell ear
ornaments and the diagnostic lightning-axe and
pectoral of the rain-god.
Fig. 7. Chaahk rituals and impersonations:
Yaxchilán, Stela 11. Photograph by César Lizardi
Ramos, courtesy of INAH Archivo Técnico, digitized
by AGIMAYA, Reference YAX_LR_C04_S09_F05-
06.
Yaxchilán
An old and complex cult to the rain and
storm deities spread across the Usumacinta
River and reached particular intensity at
Yaxchilán. As we have seen, the very founder
of Yaxchilán’s lineage was called Yopaat
Carlos Pallán Gayol
B’ahlam, maybe hinting at overtones related to
the mythical B’alamo’ob’ who still guard the
entrances to villages and cities. Furthermore,
on Lintel 35 – an Early-Classic monument –
we can read that a number of captives,
including one from distant Calakmul, were
described as sacrificial “food” for nourishing
the local set of patron deities, including the
advocation known as “Fire-Parrot-Chaahk”
mentioned before.
Moving forward to late Classic times, the
ruler Bird Jaguar IV appears in the guise of the
rain-god Chaahk at an impersonation ritual
conducted in AD 750 (Fig. 7). He was depicted
through a clever iconographic convention
known as the “X-Ray mask” (Velásquez
García 2007), which allows the viewer to “see
through”, allowing to discern the human
impersonator behind the mask of the
supernatural entity. Note the cross-bands leafy
miter-like head ornament, the ophidian
features in the mask, the Spondylus-shell
earspools and the pectoral worn by Bird
Jaguar, all diagnostic features of Chaahk.
Xcalumkin and the Puuc region
Given the fact that Maya Chaahk, Sapotek
Kosiyo and highland-Mexican Tlālok are
intimately associated with fire and lightning
serpents – which they frequently yield – it
should not surprise us to find depictions such
as that on Xcalumkin Jamb 6, previously
discussed by Houston and Stuart (1996).
Interestingly, the impersonator (ruler ’Ukit
Pa’) appears not in the guise of Chaahk, but in
that of Teotihuacan’s Tlālok, wearing a mask-
headdress with protruding fangs and goggle
eyes flanked by the two heads of the fire and
lightning serpent that was known as Xiwtekoatl
during Postclassic Mexico. A further attempt
to link this impersonation with the Central
Mexican metropolis occurs at the glyphic text,
which spells:
’u-b’aahil-a’n Waxaklaju’n ’u-b’aah
Chan
“He is the impersonation of
Waxaklaju’n ’Ub’aah Chan”
The name of the supernatural being
impersonated can translate as “eighteen are the
heads/images of the serpent”, an attested name
for the Teotihuacan war-serpent – as shown by
Taube (1992b) – which also occurs in other
The Many Faces of Chaahk
Maya inscriptions associated with Teotihuacan
symbolism, thus possibly referring to a deity
that was “appropriated” from that site, as Maya
lords often liked to link themselves to this
greater Mexican metropolis, even long after its
decline as a major force in Mesoamerica
(Stone 1989; Taube 1992b; Freidel et al. 1993:
308-12; Stuart 1994).
Interestingly, as both this serpent and God K
(K’awiil) are known to personify the
phenomenon of lightning, it is no surprise that
variations upon this appellative appear as
waxaklaju’n ’u-b’aah K’awiil (“18 are the
heads/images of K’awiil”), as it will be
examined below.
Judging from the evidence recently examined
at Piedras Negras, Yaxchilán, Palenque and
other sites, it seems reasonable to suggest that
rulers whose royal names contained
appellatives of these Gods – these either being
Chaahk or Yopaat – may have sponsored and
fostered during their terms different cults
addressed to the rain and storm patron deities
favored by their lineages and even built
additional shrines to honor them. However,
more carefully integrated archaeological and
epigraphic evidence is needed before fully
accounting for this pattern as valid in the vast
majority of sites where traces of this cult had
been detected so far.
The Fusion: Chaahk merges with other
gods: God K or K’awiil
Different gods could also be merged
together, as noted by López Austin’s (1983:
76) concept of “fusión” of the deities, also
connecting to the concept of theosynthesis that
Simon Martin (2007b) has recently introduced
to Maya religious studies. For instance, in
post-Classic highland Mexico, the rain-god
Tlālok could readily merge with other deities
such as Tlaltekutli lord of the earth (Markman
and Markman 1992: Image 43).
Returning to the Maya rain-god, a
considerable degree of overlap exists between
Gods B and K, whose ancient names we can
now read phonetically as Chaahk and K’awiil,
respectively. This phenomenon has been
discussed by scholars such as Karl Taube
(1992a), Helen Alexander (n.d.), Gabrielle
Vail (2000) and Miller and Martin (2004: 159).
Aside from sharing ophidian attributes, both
Chaahk and K’awiil command the elemental
forces of lightning and thunder. Furthermore,
33
upon examination of the evidence, there may
be grounds to propose that there exists a
hierarchical relationship between these two
supernaturals, with Chaahk as the dominant
force. To spell it more precisely, K’awiil may
be one – however complex – of the aspects
belonging to a larger set of characteristics and
forces that the rain-god represents, and through
an opposite process – defined by López Austin
(1983: 76) as the “fission” of the gods – these
aspects can separate to a point where they
appear to us as distinct animated entities.
Specifically, K’awiil seems to be the
personified form of Chaahk’s lightning axe, an
idea that Miller and Martin (2004: 159) have
previously expressed: “[f]or the Maya, the axe
was the instrument of the storm-god Chaahk
and symbolized his lightning bolt: a
combination of stony core, fire and serpent
qualities that finds its fullest personification in
the snake-footed character of K’awiil […]”.
Such principle operates analogously to the way
in which the so-called “Jester-God” (hu’unaal)
embodies the royal headband worn by the god-
like kings k’uhul ’ajawtaak as a supreme
insignia of royal power. This overlap between
Chaahk and K’awiil also explains why
previous scholars such as Thompson (1970)
saw the cult of the rain-god Cháak as one
largely restricted to the lowlands, while
colonial and present-day highland Maya
villages put their prayers on figures such as
<Tojil> and <K’awil> (Van Akkeren 2000:
176-181; Sachse and Christenson 2005: 16).
Modern Tz’utujil villages neighboring lake
Atitlán in the Guatemalan highlands still
conceive <K’awil> as an axe-wielding entity,
sometimes resembling a boy, that produces the
“rayo” or lightning (Katja Winkler, pers.
comm. 1997).
That K’awiil was intimately related to the
thunder aspect Yopaat finds support in the
nominal phrase of the seventh ruler from
Quirigua, K’awiil Yopaat from 9.11.10.11.11
(Looper 2003: 211). The four stucco-coated
wooden effigies of God K retrieved from
Burial 195 at Tikal not only portray K’awiil as
the personification of a lightning-producing
axe (Martin and Grube 2002: 41), but also
manifest K’awiil’s quadripartite directional
nature. Among the most important pieces of
evidence to link Chaahk and K’awiil are the
directional kalo’mte’ titles, such as ’ochk’in
Kalo’mte’ or “West Kalo’mte’ “. As Erik Boot
(2005: 226) has convincingly shown, such
titles can be readily substituted by collocations
34
spelling ’OCH-K’IN K’AWIL, recorded on
Uaxactun Stela 22 and Tikal Stela 31.
A logograph that reads KAL or
KALOMTE’ is very often depicted as an axe
infixed into the head of the rain-god
(T1030l,m,n). Before these signs could be read
phonetically, a value of <chahc te’> was
proposed for the title formerly known as
“batab” (Berlin 1958:114; Davoust 1995: 615).
It was not until Stuart, Grube and Schele
(1989) full phonetic decipherment based on
ka-lo-ma-TE’ syllabic spellings that a
kalo’mte’ (or kaloomte’) value became fully
established. Scholars like Elisabeth Wagner
(1995) and more recently, Simon Martin
(2004), Erik Boot (2005, 2006) and Albert
Davletshin (2006) have further investigated the
etymology of the KAL root, rendering
possibilities such as KAL “to open” (Boot
2005: 224-27), and agentive expression
meaning “someone who kals” (Martin 2004)
and other related to either directional trees or
the Ch’orti’ verbal root chajr, “limpiar el
monte”, “to clean/clear weeds” (A. Davletshin,
pers. comm. 2006). It is perhaps significant
that Yukatek has preserved the term Kolomte’
as “pájaro carpintero de cabeza roja y cuerpo
negro” apparently diffused before the
characteristic change /t/ > /ch/ took place
(Bastarrachea et al. 1992: 129), given that
woodpecker-birds appear in mythology as the
helpers of Chaahk to break open the Maize-
mountain (Schumann Gálvez 1964, 1971) and
by analogy, whatever they do upon trees might
shed light on the general meaning of Yukatek
kolom as related to Classic-Ch’olan kalo’m.
While at present it is difficult to specify the
precise etymology of kal beyond this point,
careful integration of the evidence at hand
allows for suggesting the following equation,
which basis I will then proceed to discuss:
K’awiil = Kalo’mte’ = Chaahkte’
As seen above, the terms K’awiil and
kalo’mte’ can be regarded as functional
equivalents, on the basis of the substitutions
from Uaxactun and Tikal, for this paramount
title. As for kalo’mte’, instead of a standard
agentive, Maya syntax allows for analyzing it
as a noun being modified by an agentive in the
following manner11:
11
Abbreviations for the grammatical analysis are taken
from Zender (2004: xxiii).
Carlos Pallán Gayol
Kal-o’m-te’
VERB-ag-STICK12
“the stick of the one who kal-does”
Lastly, a crucial hieroglyphic context for
understanding this title has been pointed out by
Erik Boot (2005: 236) and appears at the Dos
Pilas “Tetrapod Plate”13 (Fig. 8), where a one-
of-a-kind example of a clear substitute spelling
demonstrates that Kalo’mte’ is a semantic
equivalent of Chaahkte’ (Chaahk’s stick), thus
implying that “the stick of the one who kal’s”
is but a more elaborate description of
“Chaahk’s stick” (or Chaahk’s own axe, which
is exactly what logograms T1030l,m,n for
KAL or KALO’MTE’ represent). To further
disambiguate the spelling at Dos Pilas, ancient
scribes even provided both initial cha
(T108v/T135v) and final ki (T102) phonetic
complementation to the main sign T1030v,
thus leaving little doubt that the intended
reading was cha-CHAK[“AXE”]-ki-TE’ or
Chaahkte’. Thus, this collocation possibly
confirms that the kalo’mte’ title might indeed
refer to the very object it depicts: Chaahk’s
lightning-axe, which in turn is personified as
K’awiil, the animated force of lightning, as still
regarded today at highland Maya villages
(Katja Winkler, pers. comm. 1997).
Chaahk as culture hero: sacred
narratives of Chaahk and Maize
Despite his ominous and sometimes fierce
appearance, the role of Chaahk as a culture
hero – both a protector and benefactor as well
of friend of humankind – has not been, to my
knowledge, sufficiently emphasized in the
available literature. Thompson (1970: 252)
stated that <Chac>, according to the Motul
dictionary, was a man of great stature who
taught agriculture to people and whom the
Indians held to be the god of bread, water (in
12
Widely distributed, te’ can also mean “wood” and
“tree” in many Mayan lowland languages, although in
this context I favor the connotation of an instrument,
based mostly on the close association between Kalo’mte’
and K’awiil. While K’awiil specifically acts as the
personification of an axe, trees are known to be
personified by entities other than K’awiil (i.e. by
Sib’ikte’, the patron of the month Pax).
13
My appreciation to Erik Boot for pointing out this
example and to Harri Kettunen for providing the high-
resolution image shown in Fig. 7, which also provided
the basis for me to elaborate the accompanying line
drawing.
The Many Faces of Chaahk
Fig. 8. The Dos Pilas Tetrapod-Plate with a unique spelling cha-CHAK-ki-TE’ substituting for Kalo’mte’ (as noted
by Boot 2005: 236). Photograph by Harri Kettunen, used with permission. Drawing of the glyph-collocation by the
author, 2008.
the sense of rain), thunder and lightning, a role
which sometimes overlaps to that of
Ketsalkoatl in Postclassic central Mexico.
To conclude, I would like to focus now on
another very colorful mythic narrative complex
– most certainly associated with the one
previously discussed, perhaps even
complementary – that I was able to record in
October 2007, while performing ethnographic
research at Chunyaxnic in Campeche. My
informant – a hmen priest – told me that this
account was transmitted to him by his late
father, who in turn learned it from his, and so
on. Along with the Mopan narrative presented
above, I take this myth as evidence that
exemplifies the prevailing role of Chaahk as
Cultural Hero and benefactor of mankind still
prevails. The following is a condensed version
based on a translation from Yukatek Maya that
my colleague Cessia Chuc kindly helped me to
prepare:
–Kaj taale u leembal le cháako, ikil u léembal
le cháako ka tu pula junp’éel ixi’im te’ lu’umo.
Le ixi’im lúub te’ lu’umo ka’ jóokij
35
–Ka taal juntúul Rey yilaj u Diosi le lu’umo’
ka tu yilaj yaan junp’éel naal jok’a’an.
–Sin que yotejik le kaajo’, sin ke yojetko’obe.
–Pero, como de por si sabio le úuchben
rnáako’obo’ u Diose le maya, u Dios u ti’al le
lu’umo’ le Dios cháak. Letie’ tu ts’a tu tuukul
le u Rey xaan le mayaobo’ ka’ u ya’alobe’
ba’ax planta le jook’oj, ba’ax planta le ku
nojochta’alo’, ba’ax ti’al ku servir ba’ax ti’al
ku meyaj.
–Le reye’ ka’ tu ya’alaj, le matao je’elo’ u
mata ixi’im, u mata ti’al nalo’, yéetel le planta
kun u kuxtal. Ka’ p’aati’ ma’ tu jook’obi, ka’
tu p’aato’ob u nojochtal ka’ tu ts’aa u jéek ka’
tu ts’a u naal, ka’ t’iji’.
–Ka’ tiajo’ob letio’obe, le naal ts’o’ok
joochka’ ko’ox pak’ik, ka’ tu pak’o’ob ka’
ya’abchaji, ka’ tu chuukaj mas ti’ 200 plantas,
ma’s ti’ 200 matas ixi’im tu ts’a.
–A’alabti’ tumen le Dios cháako’, de ke teen
kin joyak tik te’ex, ma’ tuklike’ex mixba’al
36
te’exe’ paak’e’ex te’ lu’umo, teen kin in
joyabtik. Beey tu ya’alaj le Dios cháako’.
–Ka’ tu ya’alaj le Rey mayao’ : tuláakal le
je’ela paak”e’ex ti’e batsilo’ob, ts’ook u D, God E and Goddesses I and O, etc.
ya’alik yuum cháako’ yuum cháak beey u However, his role as a cultural hero and friend
k’aabao’ob de ke leti’ kun u joyab tik le
ixi’imo’
–”When the flashes of lightning started, the
rain-god Cháak threw down a seed of maize to
earth. The seed that befell on earth sprouted”
–”Then came a King, the God of the earth and
saw that a maize plant had sprouted.
–”The populace didn’t know what sort of plant
it was. Nobody could tell which plant was the
one that sprouted.”
–”But ancient men were wise and the Earth
God and the God Chaahk put into the
understanding of the King of the Maya, so that
he could tell which plant was the one that had
sprouted and which plant was growing, how it
should be used”
–”The King said: ‘this plant is the Maize plant,
the plant of the corncob, and with this plant we
are going to live’ so no one plucked it from the
soil and they allowed it to grow”
–”And it produced many corncobs, and when
they dried, all of them said: `from this crop we
are now going to sow’, and so they did and it
increased, reaching over 200 maize plants”
–”Then the rain-god Cháak spoke to the
farmers: “I will sprinkle these plants myself.
Do not concern yourselves about that, just sow
the seeds into the soil, that I shall sprinkle
them”, so he said, the rain-god Cháak
himself.”
–”Then the King of the Maya said: “All of
these seeds are to be sown for all our brothers,
for so has been said by the Lord of Rain, Yuum
Cháak, such is his name, that he will sprinkle
the maize.
Closing remarks
We have only taken a brief glimpse of the
complex and myriad manifestations of
Chaahk, a fluid entity of paramount
importance for penetrating Maya religious
Carlos Pallán Gayol
thought. Many aspects of Chaahk remain to be
fully explored, as lines of research in this
direction are manifold: relationship with the
“Kawak Monster” and other gods such as God
of mankind is becoming more apparent, and
even in our troubled times, he still seems to
respond to carefully addressed prayers, many
centuries after the Classic divine lords k’uhul
’ajawtaak have forever vanished. Despite
Chaahk’s fierce aspects – such as Yopaat or
the still active Chijchan sierpes which
sometimes startle and frighten humankind with
devastating thunderstorms and earthquakes –
part of Chaahk’s success has rested perhaps in
that, to large segments of Maya core
population (namely peasantry), he represented
more than a deity imposed by the royal
hierarchies – as probably were other state-
sponsored cults instituted at some point during
Preclassic history – but an incarnation of the
vital principles that regulated the agricultural
cycle which later the elites tried to elaborate to
their advantage, although the existence of such
dichotomy and our ability to detect it within
the archaeological record that far-back in time
are issues that remain controversial (cf.
Thompson 1970: 199; Houston and Stuart
1996; Taube 1985, 1992a, 2004; Reilly 2005;
Guernsey 2006; Freidel 2008: 198). Be that as
it may, large-scale worshipping of the rain-
gods ultimately survived two major junctures
that completely obliterated or, at best,
drastically reduced many other Mayan and
Mesoamerican cults: the first being the demise
of the divine kings during the Terminal Classic
collapse, and the second, European Conquest.
As a result, in existing parts of the Yucatan
Peninsula, Maya farmers still continue to show
Cháak their devotion, and – to them – he
continues to answer their prayers by sending
both the welcome rain and the fearsome
thunder, while the fierce b’alamo’ob’ still
roam around the villages guarding the milpas
and the miraculous frogs called Wo’ still
announce the coming of rain, fulfilling their
role as Cháak’s musician pet-companions. At
present, just as it occurred nearly 2,500 years
ago, the beat at which Cháak plays his
deafening thunder-drum keeps marking the
rhythm of social and religious life on a few
scattered and remote Mayan villages. But now,
as globalization advances even there, could
Cháak’s sacred cult once again overcome the
threat of extinction?
The Many Faces of Chaahk 37

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