Maya Death Gods

The Maya death gods, known by various names, are two basic types of death gods who are respectively represented by the 16th-century Yucatec deities Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau mentioned by Spanish Bishop Landa. Hunhau is the lord of the Underworld. Iconographically, Hunhau and Uacmitun Ahau correspond to the Gods A and A'.

In recent narratives, particularly in the oral tradition of the Lacandon people, there is only one death god (called "Kisin" in Lacandon), who acts as the antipode of the Upper God in the creation of the world and of the human body and soul. This death god inhabits an Underworld that is also the world of the dead. As a ruler over the world of the dead (Metnal or Xibalba), the principal death god corresponds to the Aztec deity Mictlantecuhtli. The Popol Vuh has two leading death gods, but these two are really one: Both are called "Death," but while one is known as "One Death," the other is called "Seven Death." They were vanquished by the Hero Twins.

The two principal death gods count among the many were-animals and spooks (wayob) inhabiting the Underworld, with the God A way in particular manifesting himself as a head hunter and a deer hunter.

Kisin is the name of the death god among the Lacandons as well as the early colonial Choles,kis being a root with meanings like "flatulence" and "stench." Landa uses another name and calls the lord of the Underworld and "prince of the devils" Hunhau, a name that, recurring in early Yucatec dictionaries as Humhau and Cumhau, is not to be confused with Hun-Ahau; hau, or haw, means 'to end' and 'to lay on its back (mouth up)'. Other names include Yum Kimil, "Lord of Death" in Yucatán and (Ah) Pukuh in Chiapas. The name Hun Ahau ("One Lord") appears frequently in the Ritual of the Bacabs, but is never specified as a death god. Ah Puch, though often mentioned in books about the Mayas, does not appear to be an authentic Maya name for the death god. (An Ah Puch is mentioned in the opening of the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel in passing as a ruler of the North, and one of the Xibalba attendants in the Popol Vuh is called Ahal Puh.)

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