Ek Chuah
Yucatec Maya · deity · Yucatec Maya traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ek Chuah, the 'Black Scorpion,' is the Yucatec Maya patron of long-distance merchants, of the cacao that served as currency, and of travelers on the road. Landa describes him as a god painted black, with a long drooping lip and, in the codices, a scorpion tail and a merchant's pack borne on a tumpline. Traders on the trail built a small cairn of three stones each night, laid copal upon it, and burned incense to him for protection, while cacao planters honored him alongside Chaac and the Bacab Hobnil in a festival of the month Muan. He corresponds to God M and, in his darker martial aspect, is also linked to war.
Domains
- commerce
- cacao
- travel
Powers
- protect merchants on the road
Epithets
- Ek Chuah — Black ScorpionJ. Eric S. Thompson, Maya History and Religion (1970) (secondary)
Sources
- Ek Chuah is the black-painted Yucatec patron of merchants, cacao, and travelers, corresponding to codical God M.: Landa, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, trans. Tozzer (1941) (primary); Mary Miller & Karl Taube, An Illustrated Dictionary (1993), pp. 76-77 (secondary)
- Landa records that cacao growers held a festival in the month Muan for Ek Chuah, Chaac, and Hobnil.: Landa, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, trans. Tozzer (1941) (primary)