Hun Hunahpu
K'iche' · deity · K'iche' traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
One Hunahpu, son of the primordial elders Xpiyacoc and Xmukane, is a ballplayer god whose story frames the central drama of the Popol Vuh. With his brother Seven Hunahpu he disturbs the lords of the underworld with the noise of their game and is summoned down into Xibalba, where both are defeated by trickery, sacrificed, and buried; One Hunahpu's severed head is hung in a calabash tree. When the underworld maiden Xquic approaches, the skull spits into her palm and so begets the Hero Twins, ensuring the eventual defeat of the death lords. Iconographic and epigraphic study identifies One Hunahpu with the Classic Maya maize god, whose decapitation and regeneration mirror the planting and sprouting of maize.
Parentage
Children
Domains
- maize
- fertility and rebirth
Powers
- engenders offspring from his severed head
Epithets
- Jun Junajpu — One Blowgun-HunterTedlock, Dennis. Popol Vuh. Simon & Schuster, 1996. (secondary)
Relations
- child: XpiyacocChristenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh. University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. (secondary)
- child: XmucaneChristenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh. University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. (secondary)
- lover: XquicHis skull's spittle miraculously impregnates Xquic.Tedlock, Dennis. Popol Vuh. Simon & Schuster, 1996. (secondary)
- parent: HunahpuXimenez, Francisco. Popol Vuh manuscript, c. 1701-1703. (primary)
- parent: XbalanqueXimenez, Francisco. Popol Vuh manuscript, c. 1701-1703. (primary)
- enemy: Hun CameSummoned and sacrificed by the lords of Xibalba.Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh. University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. (secondary)
- enemy: Vucub CameChristenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh. University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. (secondary)
Sources
- One Hunahpu, son of Xpiyacoc and Xmukane, is lured to Xibalba, sacrificed, and his skull fathers the Hero Twins upon Xquic; he is widely read as the maize god.: Ximenez, Francisco. Popol Vuh manuscript, c. 1701-1703. (primary); Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh. University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. (secondary)