Hun Hunahpu

According to the Popol Vuh, Hun-Hunahpu 'One-Hunahpu' (a calendrical name) is the father of the Maya hero twins, Hunahpu and Ixbalanque. As their shared calendrical day name suggests, however, he is first and foremost the father of Hunahpu. He is also stated to be the father of the twins' half-brothers, the patrons of the artisans and writers, Hun-Chowen and Hun-Batz (see Howler Monkey Gods). Hun-Hunahpu 'One-Hunahpu' is paired with his brother, Vucub-Hunahpu 'Seven-Hunahpu'. The brothers were tricked in the Dark House by the lords of the Underworld (Xibalba) and sacrificed. His head was suspended in a trophy-tree and changed to a calabash. Its spittle (i.e., the juice of the calabash) impregnated a daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba, Xquic. She fled the underworld and conceived the Twins. After defeating the lords of the Underworld, the Twins recovered the remains of their father and father's brother, but could not resuscitate them.

Hun-Hunahpu Maize Deity Theory

Although, in the Popol Vuh, Hun-Hunahpu does not revive, it has been asserted that the Mayas of the Classical Period took a more optimistic view, and believed the sad paternal figure to have been reborn as the maize. In this theory, the scene of the Tonsured Maize God rising from a turtle carapace (the 'tomb' of the earth) is interpreted as Hun-Hunahpu resurrected, and the flanking Hero Twins assisting him are accordingly taken to be the maize deity's sons. In consequence of this theory, Hun-Hunahpu is often referred to as a 'maize deity', and the maize deity as a 'first father'.

In support of the Maize Deity theory, reference is often made to a pottery scene showing a cacao tree assimilated to the Tonsured Maize God, and having a trophy head suspended among its branches. The trophy head is taken to be that of Hun-Hunahpu, and the head of the Tonsured Maize God as its transformation.

Problems with the Maize Deity Theory

The identification of Hun-Hunahpu with the Classic Mayan Maize Deity has become very popular, but is still to be treated as a theory in need of corroboration. It remains problematical that the Popol Vuh itself does not support the view (first formulated by Karl Taube) of Hun-Hunahpu as a resurrected maize deity. Nowhere is Hun-Hunahpu unequivocally stated to be, or to become, identical with the maize, nor is he resurrected by his sons. Approaching the matter from the iconographical side, the hieroglyphical name of the Tonsured Maize God, although including the prefix 'One', is not recognizable as that of Hun-Hunahpu. In the 'resurrection scenes', no age difference between the Maize Deity and the Twins is discernible. Even assuming that the Twins are indeed 'resurrecting' the main Maya maize god, there still is no compelling reason to identify the latter as Hun-Hunahpu, or the Twins as his sons. As to the tree with the suspended trophy head in it, it is not a calabash tree, as in the Popol Vuh, but a personified cacao tree, and the trophy head itself is anonymous. Suspending trophy heads in trees once seems to have been common practice. There is thus no need to identify the trophy head in the cacao tree as that of Hun-Hunahpu.

ources

*Dennis Tedlock, "Popol Vuh." New York: Simon and Schuster 1986.
*Karl Taube, "Aztec and Maya Myths." The British Museum / University of Texas Press 1997.
* |authorlink=Karl Taube |year=1985 |title=The Classic Maya Maize God: A Reappraisal |booktitle=Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983 |url=http://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT07/Maize.html |format=PDF |editor=Virginia M. Fields (volume ed.) |others=Merle Greene Robertson (general ed.) |edition=Online publication:November 2003 |location=Monterey, CA |publisher=Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute |accessdate=2007-01-11