Popol Vuh - cultura Maya

The Creation

At first everything was silence, there was great calm. There was nothing standing on the face of the earth; only the sea lay at rest and the sky was peaceful.

Everything was dark. Only Tepeu and Gucumatz (the progenitors) were in the water, surrounded by light. They are the ones who determine the creation of trees, vines, the birth of life, and of man. The heart of the sky took form.

Through their word they caused the earth to emerge. They said “earth,” and it was made. In the same way day and night arose in succession, as did mountains and valleys, and pine forests sprang forth. The streams of water were also created, and the brooks ran freely.

Then they created the animals: the deer, birds, lions, tigers, serpents, snakes, vipers, guardians of the vines, and others. These were made to watch over the trees and plants. The animals dispersed and multiplied, and the creators assigned them their respective dwellings—sea, land, or air.

The creators then told them to speak so that they might praise their creators (themselves), but the animals did not speak; they only squawked, screeched, or cackled. The creators therefore changed their dwelling places, because they could not get them to worship or venerate them. They made a second attempt, but these too did not speak, and they were therefore condemned to be eaten and killed.

Faced with this failure—that the animals did not venerate them—the creators said to themselves that before the dawn they had to make some being that would venerate them, and so they wished to make man. To this end they made several attempts:

  1. In this attempt they tried to make man from clay; he could not hold himself up, could not walk or multiply, and he fell apart.

  2. They then tried with wood, which was a great advance, since these beings spoke and multiplied; but they had no memory (and therefore did not remember their creator), no understanding, they wandered aimlessly and went about on all fours. These were the first to inhabit the face of the earth, but they perished in the flood created by the heart of the sky. Those who survived hid themselves and were turned into gnomes.

  3. Man was made from tzite, and woman from espada grass, but these beings neither thought nor spoke. They were annihilated with resin and were disfigured by the grinding stones. This was a punishment for having thought neither of their mother nor of their father.

  4. The Sun, the Moon, and the stars were not far from appearing above the creators when they discovered what truly had to enter into the flesh of Man. The Yac, Utiu, Quel, and Hoh were the ones who brought the food for the formation of man. This food became blood, and thus maize entered by the work of the progenitors. The four men who were created were: Balam-Quitze, Balam-Acab, Mahucutah, and Iqui-Balam.

“These are the names of our first mothers and fathers.”