Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/289

Rh principle of fertility, the maize-god being merely passive, and typifying the spirit of the maize, befriended by the beneficent powers and persecuted by the lord of the underworld and the various animals which plunder the growing crop. On the monuments he is distinguished by a foliated ornament, representing the corncob, which forms his head-dress, and he appears most conspicuously in the so-called "foliated cross" at Palenque (Fig. 49), which in reality represents a maize-plant like the Mexican Tree of the West, shown in Fig. 10; p. 79. In the manuscripts he wears a similar head-dress, but is usually shown also with a vertical line running down his face passing across his eye, just as Cinteotl is depicted in the manuscripts of Mexico.

The lords of the underworld held an important position in Maya mythology. The Yucatec recognized two destinations for departed spirits; one was a sort of paradise, where the souls of the dead rested in the shade of the mythical Yaxché tree, the other was called Mitnal, and corresponded to the Aztec Mictlan. Here presided a god called Hunahau or Uac Mitun Ahau, whose attributes are exactly similar to those of Mictlantecutli. He is usually, though not invariably, shown as a skeleton, and skulls and cross-bones, bell-like pendants and sometimes a feather ruff are his chief insignia (Schellhas' God A, Fig. 47, e). He is very frequently depicted in the manuscripts, and appears on the monuments chiefly in the form of a skull. The Kakchiquel spoke of him as Mictan Ahau, and associated with him two subordinate deities, Tatan Holon and Tatan Bak ("Father Bones and Father Skull). The Quiché termed the underworld Xibalba, a word which was also used with the same connotation by the Maya and Kakchiguel. The story of the demi-gods Hunahpu and Xbalanque gives a detailed description of Xibalba. The road to it lies downwards beneath the earth, and