Popol Vuh - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Popol Vuh is a corpus

Text corpus

In linguistics, a corpus or text corpus is a large and structured set of texts...

of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom

K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj

The K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj was a state in the highlands of modern day Guatemala which was founded by the K'iche' Maya in the thirteenth century, and which expanded through the fifteenth century until it was conquered by Spanish and Nahua forces led by Pedro de Alvarado in 1524.The K'iche'...

in Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People."
Popol Vuh's prominent features are its creation myth, its diluvian suggestion, its epic tales of the Hero Twins

Maya Hero Twins

The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Quiché document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in Quiché, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the...

Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and its genealogies. The myth begins with the exploits of anthropomorphic ancestors and concludes with a regnal genealogy, perhaps as an assertion of divine right rule.

As with other texts (e.g. the Chilam Balam
Chilam Balam
The so-called Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 18th-century Mayan miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Mayan and early Spanish traditions have coalesced...

), a great deal of Popol Vuh's significance lies in the scarcity of early accounts dealing with Mesoamerican mythologies. Popol Vuh's fortuitous survival is attributable to the 18th century Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez

Francisco Ximénez

Francisco Ximénez was a Dominican priest who is known for his conservation of an indigenous Maya narrative known today as Popol Vuh. There is, as Woodruff has noted, little biographical data about Ximénez...

Structure and narrative

Popol Vuh encompasses a range of subjects that includes creation, ancestry, history, and cosmology. There are no content divisions in the Newberry Library's holograph, but popular editions have adopted the organization imposed by Brasseur de Bourbourg in 1861 in order to facilitate comparative studies. Though some variation has been tested by Tedlock and Christenson, editions typically take the following form:

Preamble

A brief statement attesting to the antiquity of the mythistory, its perpetuation in oral form, and its post-conquest writing.

Part 1

Account of the creation of living beings. Animals are created first followed by humans. The first humans of earth and mud soak up water and dissolve. The second humans are created from wood, "but they did not have souls, nor minds." They lose favor with the gods who cause them to be beaten and disfigured before receiving a deluge of heavy resin.
Hero twins. Exploits of hero twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué also known as Hunter and Jaguar deer.
Their defeat of Vucub-Caquix
Vucub-Caquix
In the ancient Quichean document, Popol Vuh, Vucub-Caquix is a bird demon pretending to be the sun and moon of the twilight world in between the former creation and the present one. He is husband to Chimalmat, and father to the two earthquake demons, Cabracan and Zipacna...

and his sons Zipacná
Zipacna
In Maya mythology, Zipacna was a son of Vucub Caquix and Chimalmat. He and his brother, Cabrakan , were often considered demons. Zipacna, like his relatives, was said to be very arrogant and violent...

and Cabracán, presentation of ball-game motif.

Part 2

Lineage of principal figures. Xpiyacoc and Xmucané
Xmucane and Xpiacoc
Xmucane and Xpiacoc are the names of the divine grandparents of Maya mythology and the daykeepers of the Popol Vuh. They are considered to be the oldest of all the gods of the Maya pantheon, and are identified by a number of names throughout the Maya sacred text, reflecting their multiple roles...

beget Hun Hunahpú and Vucub Hunahpú; Hun Hunahpú and Xbaquiyalo beget Hunbatz and Hunchouén.
Demise of Hun Hunahpú and Vucub Hunahpú and origin of hero twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué. They are summoned to the underworld of Xibalbá
Xibalba
Xibalba , roughly translated as "place of fear", is the name of the underworld in Maya mythology, ruled by the Maya death gods and their helpers. In 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cobán, Guatemala. According to some of the...

for playing their ball game too noisily. They are killed; Hun Hunahpú's head
Human trophy taking in Mesoamerica
Most of the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica such as the Olmec, Maya, Mixtec, Zapotec and Aztec cultures practised some kind of taking of human trophies during warfare. Captives taken during war would often be taken to their captors' city-states where they would be ritually tortured and...

is placed in a calabash tree. This skull later impregnates Xquic, daughter of a Xibalbé lord, by spitting into her hand. She flees the lords and lives with Xmucané where she gives birth to "Hero Twins
Maya Hero Twins
The Maya Hero Twins are the central figures of a narrative included within the colonial Quiché document called Popol Vuh, and constituting the oldest Maya myth to have been preserved in its entirety. Called Hunahpu and Xbalanque in Quiché, the Twins have also been identified in the art of the...

" Hunahpú and Xbalanqué. Mistreated by their half-brothers Hunbatz and Huchouén, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué trick them into climbing a tree. Hunbatz and Huchouén transform into monkeys.
Rediscovery of ball game and defeat of the lords of Xibalbá. Upon finding the father's equipment suspended from the ceiling, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué are also summoned to Xibalbá for playing too boisterously. They outwit the lords and ascend to the night sky as constellations.

Part 3

Creation of humans, migration, and first dawn. Animals gather white and yellow corn from which the gods create Balam-Quitze, Jaguar Night, Naught, and Wind Jaguar. Their four wives are later created while they sleep. Their descendants travel to Tulán Zuiva to await the first dawn. The god Tohil gives fire, but it is extinguished by hail. Tohil requires concessions to restore their fire, but the Quiché hide themselves in smoke and obtain their fire without conditions. The Quiché rise to prominence over the other tribes. The first dawn appears, dries out the land, and turns original animals to stone. Distinct languages evolve.

Part 4

Migration and division. The Quiché travel into the mountains, find Q'umarkaj where Q'uq'umatz (the feathered serpent lord) raises them to dominance. Gucumatz institutes elaborate rituals. Cities are founded, significant architectural structures emerge to which fortifications are later added. Inter-tribal strife ensues. Anthropological correlation to terminal classic period (roughly 790 - 1000 CE).
Genealogy. States the lineages of several tribal rulers leading up to the Spanish conquest.

Excerpts

All editions of Popol Vuh come from the records of the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez

Francisco Ximénez

who lived around the turn of the 18th century. His manuscript, presently housed at The Newberry library

Newberry Library

The Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...

, is faded or stained in places, has no organizational divisions, and does not exhibit consistent punctuation or capitalization. For all of these reasons, editing the manuscript has been a challenge and even successful editors are forced to exercise a great deal of judgment in preparing print editions. Recently some editors (Tedlock, Colop, and Christenson) have endeavored to versify Ximénez's text. The preamble below is presented, with minor modifications, in Father Ximénez's prose and is followed by a sample of the versified renderings.

"Preamble"

Quiché
ARE V XE OHER Tzih varal Quiche vbi. Varal xchicatzibah vi xchicatiquiba vi oher tzih, vticaribal, vxenabal puch ronohel xban, pa tinamit quiche, ramac quiche vinac; arecut xchicacam vi vcutunizaxic, vcalahobizaxic, vtzihoxic puch euaxibal zaquiribal rumal tzacol bitol alom, qaholom quibi hunahpu vuch, hunahpu vtiu, zaqui nim ac tzÿz, tepeu, qucumatz, v qux cho, vqux palo, ah raxa lac, ah raxat zel chuqhaxic.
Spanish
ESTE ES EL PRINCIPIO DE LAS Antiguas historias aqui en el quiche. Aquí escribiremos y empezaremos las Antiguas historias, su principio, y comienzo de todo lo que fue hecho en el pueblo de el quiche, su pueblo de los indios quiches; y de aqui tomaremos su ser declarado y manifestado, y su ser relatado, la escondedura y aclaradura, por el formador, criador madre, y Padre q’ así se llaman, hunahpu vuch. hun ahpu vtiu. Zaquinima tzÿz tepeu. gucumatz. vguxcho. vguxpalo. [...] el de el verde cagete, el de la verde hícara son llamados.
[Translation]
THIS IS THE BEGINNING of the old traditions of this place called Quiché. Here we shall write and we shall begin the old stories, the beginning and the origin of all that was done in the town of the Quiché, by the tribes of the Quiché nation. And here we shall set forth the revelation, the declaration, and the narration of all that was hidden, the revelation by Tzacol, Bitol, Alom, Qaholom, who are called Hunahpú-Vuch, Hunahpú-Utiú, Zaqui-Nimá-Tziís, Tepeu, Gucumatz, u Qux cho, u Qux Paló, Ali Raxá Lac, Ah Raxá Tzel, as they were called.

"Part One"

Quiché
Are utzijoxik wa‘e

k‘a katz‘ininoq,

k‘a kachamamoq,

  katz‘inonik,

k‘a kasilanik,

k‘a kalolinik,

  katolona puch upa kaj.
Spanish
Esta es la relación de cómo

todo estaba en suspenso,

todo en calma,

   en silencio;

todo inmóvil,

callado,

  y vacía la extensión del cielo.
[Translation]
This is the account of how

all was in suspense,

all calm,

   in silence;

all motionless,

quiet,

  and empty was the expanse of the sky.

Creation myth

Chapters 1-3 contain Popol Vuh's creation myth. There are four deities, three in a celestial realm collectively called Tepeu and Heart of Heaven and another on the terrestrial plane called Gucumatz.

"This is the first account, the first narrative. There was neither man, nor animal, birds, fish, crabs, trees, stones, caves, ravines, grasses, nor forests; there was only the sky. The surface of the earth had not appeared. There was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky. There was nothing brought together, nothing which could make a noise, nor anything which might move, or tremble, or could make noise in the sky. There was nothing standing; only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil. Nothing existed. There was only immobility and silence in the darkness, in the night. Only the creator, the Maker, Tepeu

Tepeu

Tepeu is a word of the K'iche' Maya language meaning "sovereign" . The title is associated with the god Gukumatz of the K'iche'-Maya, one of the creation gods of the Popol Vuh; his whole name translating as "Sovereign Plumed Serpent"...

, Gucumatz, the Forefathers, were in the water surrounded with light. [...] Then Tepeu and Gucumatz came together; then they conferred about life and light, what they would do so that there would be light and dawn, who it would be who would provide food and sustenance. Thus let it be done! Let the emptiness be filled! Let the water recede and make a void, let the earth appear and become solid; let it be done. Thus they spoke. Let there be light, let there be dawn in the sky and on the earth! There shall be neither glory nor grandeur in our creation and formation until the human being is made, man is formed. [...] First the earth was formed, the mountains and the valleys; the currents of water were divided, the rivulets were running freely between the hills, and the water was separated when the high mountains appeared. Thus was the earth created, when it was formed by the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of Earth, as they are called who first made it fruitful, when the sky was in suspense, and the earth was submerged in the water."

Together, gods attempted to create living beings so that the they may be praised and venerated by their creation. Their first attempts (animals, mud man, and wooden man) proved unsuccessful because they lacked speech, souls, and intellect.

"This the Forefathers did, Tepeu and Gucumatz, as they were called. After that they began to talk about the creation and the making of our first mother and father; of yellow corn and of white corn they made their flesh; of cornmeal dough they made the arms and the legs of man. Only dough of corn meal went into the flesh of our first fathers, the four men, who were created. [...] And as they had the appearance of men, they were men; they talked, conversed, saw and heard, walked, grasped things; they were good and handsome men, and their figure was the figure of a man."

Women were created later while the first four men slept.

Father Ximénez's manuscript

In 1701, Father Ximénez came to Santo Tomás Chichicastenango

Chichicastenango

Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town in the El Quiché department of Guatemala, known for its traditional K'iche' Maya culture. The Spanish conquistadors gave the town its name from the Nahuatl name used by their soldiers from Tlaxcala: Tzitzicaztenanco, or City...

(also known as Santo Tomás Chuilá). This town was in the Quiché territory and therefore is probably where Fr. Ximénez first redacted the mythistory. Ximénez transcribed and translated the manuscript in parallel Quiché and Spanish columns (the Quiché having been represented phonetically with Latin and Parra characters). In or around 1714, Ximénez incorporated the Spanish content in book one, chapters 2-21 of his Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala de la orden de predicadores. Ximénez's manuscripts remained posthumously in the possession of the Dominican Order until General Francisco Morazán

Francisco Morazán

General Francisco Morazán was a Honduran general and a politician who ruled several Central American states at different times during the turbulent period from 1827 to 1842. He rose to prominence at the legendary Battle of La Trinidad on November 11, 1827...

expelled the clerics from Guatemala

Guatemala

in 1829–30 whereupon the Order's documents passed largely to the Universidad de San Carlos

Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala

The Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala It is the biggest and oldest university of Guatemala, also it is the fourth founded in the Americas....

.

From 1852 to 1855, Moritz Wagner

Moritz Wagner

Moritz Wagner was a German explorer, collector, geographer and natural historian. Wagner devoted three years to the exploration of Algiers: it was here that he made important observations in natural history, which he later supplemented and developed: that geographical isolation could play a key...

and Carl Scherzer traveled to Central America, arriving in Guatemala City in early May 1854. Scherzer found Ximénez's writings in the university library, noting that there was one particular item "del mayor interes" ('of greater interest'). With assistance from the Guatemalan historian and archivist Juan Gavarrete, Scherzer copied (or had a copy made) of the Spanish content from the last half of the manuscript, which he published upon his return to Europe. In 1855, French Abbot Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg

Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg

Abbé Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg was a noted French writer, ethnographer, historian and archaeologist...

also found Ximénez writings in the university library. However, whereas Scherzer copied the manuscript, Brasseur apparently "absconded" with the university's volume and took it back to France. After Brasseur's death in 1874, the Mexico-Guatémalienne collection containing Popol Vuh passed to Alphonse Pinart

Alphonse Pinart

Alphonse Pinart was a French explorer, philologist, and ethnographer. He was an early champion of the theory that the Americas were first populated by migration across the Bering Strait. To support his research, he made extensive travel in the Pacific, from Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to...

through whom it was sold to Edward E. Ayer

Edward E. Ayer

Edward Everett Ayer was an American business magnate, best remembered for the endowments of his substantial collections of books and original manuscripts from Native American and colonial-era history and ethnology, which were donated to the Newberry Library and Field Museum of Natural History in...

. In 1897, Ayer decided to donate his 17,000 pieces to The Newberry Library

Newberry Library

, a project that tarried until 1911. Father Ximénez's transcription-translation of "Popol Vuh" was among Ayer's donated items.

Father Ximénez's manuscript sank into obscurity until Adrián Recinos (re)discovered it at The Newberry in 1941. Generally speaking, Recinos receives credit for finding the manuscript and publishing the first direct edition since Scherzer. But Munro Edmonson and Carlos López attribute the first (re)discovery to Walter Lehmann

Walter Lehmann

Walter Lehmann is a Swiss gymnast, world champion and Olympic medalist. He competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London where he received silver medals in individual allround, horizontal bar and team combined exercises. He became world champion in individual all round in 1950.-References:...

in 1928. Allen Christenson, Néstor Quiroa, Rosa Helena Chinchilla Mazariegos, John Woodruff, and Carlos López all consider the Newberry's volume to be Ximénez's one and only "original."

Father Ximénez's source

It is generally believed that Ximénez borrowed a phonetic manuscript from a parishioner for his source, although Néstor Quiroa points out that "such a manuscript has never been found, and thus Ximenez's work represents the only source for scholarly studies." This document would have been a phonetic rendering of an oral recitation performed in or around Santa Cruz Quiché shortly following Pedro de Alvarado's 1524 conquest. By comparing the genealogy at the end of Popol Vuh with dated colonial records, Adrián Recinos and Dennis Tedlock

Dennis Tedlock

Dennis Tedlock is the McNulty Professor of English and Research Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his Ph.D. in 1968 from Tulane University...

suggest a date between 1554 and 1558. One theory (first proposed by Rudolf Schuller) ascribes the phonetic authorship to Diego Reynoso, one of the signatories of the Titulo de Totonicapán. Another possible author could have been Don Cristóbal Velasco, who, also in Titulo de Totonicapán, is listed as "Nim Chokoh Cavec" ('Great Steward of the Kaweq'). In either case, the colonial presence is clear in Popol Vuh's preamble: "This we shall write now under the Law of God and Christianity; we shall bring it to light because now the Popol Vuh, as it is called, cannot be seen any more, in which was clearly seen the coming from the other side of the sea and the narration of our obscurity, and our life was clearly seen." Accordingly, the need to "preserve" the content presupposes an imminent disappearance of the content, and therefore, Edmonson theorized a pre-conquest glyphic codex. No evidence of such a codex has yet been found.

A minority, however, disputes the existence of pre-Ximénez texts on the same basis that is used to argue their existence. Both positions are based on two statements by Ximénez. The first of these comes from Historia de la provincia where Ximénez writes that he found various texts during his curacy of Santo Tomás Chichicastenango that were guarded with such secrecy "that not even a trace of it was revealed among the elder ministers" although "almost all of them have it memorized." The second passage used to argue pre-Ximénez texts comes from Ximénez's addendum to "Popol Vuh." There he states that many of the natives' practices can be "seen in a book that they have, something like a prophecy, from the beginning of their [pre-Christian days], where they have all the months and signs corresponding to each day, one of which I have in my possession." Scherzer explains in a footnote that what Ximénez is referencing "is only a secret calendar" and that he himself had "found this rustic calendar previously in various indigenous towns in the Guatemalan highlands" during his travels with Wagner. This presents a contradiction because the item which Ximénez has in his possession is not Popol Vuh, and a carefully guarded item is not likely to have been easily available to Ximénez.

Antecedents in Maya iconography

Contemporary archaeologists (first of all Michael D. Coe

Michael D. Coe

Michael D. Coe is an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher and author. Primarily known for his research in the field of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican studies , Coe has also made extensive investigations across a variety...

) have found depictions of characters and episodes from Popol Vuh on Maya ceramics and other art objects (e.g., the Hero Twins, Howler Monkey Gods

Howler Monkey Gods

The howler monkey god was a major deity of the arts - including music - and a patron of the artisans among the Classic Mayas, especially of the scribes and sculptors. As such, his sphere of influence overlapped with that of the Tonsured Maize God...

, the shooting of Vucub-Caquix

Vucub-Caquix

In the ancient Quichean document, Popol Vuh, Vucub-Caquix is a bird demon pretending to be the sun and moon of the twilight world in between the former creation and the present one. He is husband to Chimalmat, and father to the two earthquake demons, Cabracan and Zipacna...

and, as many believe, the restoration of the Twins' dead father, Hun Hunahpu). The accompanying sections of hieroglyphical text could thus, theoretically, relate to passages from the Popol Vuh. More recently, Richard D. Hansen

Richard D. Hansen

Dr. Richard D. Hansen, Ph.D, is a prominent American archaeologist and currently Senior Scientist at the Institute for Mesoamerican Research in the Department of Anthropology at Idaho State University. Dr. Hansen is a specialist on the ancient Maya and also a director of the Mirador Basin...

has found at the site of El Mirador

El Mirador

El Mirador is a large pre-Columbian Mayan settlement, located in the north of the modern department of El Petén, Guatemala.-Discovery:El Mirador was first discovered in 1926, and was photographed from the air in 1930, but the remote site deep in the jungle had little more attention paid to it until...

a stucco frieze showing two floating figures that might represent the Hero Twins.

Following the Twin Hero narrative, man is made from white and yellow corn, demonstrating the crop's transcendent importance in Maya culture. To the Maya of the Classic period, Hun Hunahpu may have represented the maize god; his decapitated head became a calabash, or, as some believe, a cacao pod, or an ear of corn. In this line, decapitation and sacrifice correspond to harvesting corn and the sacrifices accompanying planting and harvesting. Planting and harvesting also relate to Maya astronomy and calendar, since the cycles of the moon and sun determined the crop seasons.

Modern editions

Since Brasseur's and Scherzer's first editions, the Popol Vuh has been translated into many other languages besides its original Quiche. The Spanish edition by Adrián Recinos

Adrian Recinos

Adrián Recinos was a Guatemalan historian, essayist, Mayanist scholar and translator, and diplomat. Recinos was a great student of national history, mainly of the Maya civilization and the ancient history of the K'iche' and Kaqchikel people....

is still a major reference, as is Recino's English translation by Delia Goetz. Other English translations include those of Munro Edmonson (1985) and Dennis Tedlock (1985, 1996). Tedlock's version is notable because it builds on commentary and interpretation by a modern K'iche' daykeeper, Andrés Xiloj

Andrés Xiloj

Andrés Xiloj Peruch was a K'iche' "daykeeper" from Momostenango in Guatemala. he was also one of the four "chuchkajawib" of Momostenango. . After his death his son Angél became Chuchkajaw of the Santa Isabel lineage...

. Augustín Estrada Monroy published a fascimile edition in the 1970s and Ohio State University has a digital version and transcription online. Modern transcriptions of the K'iche' text have been published by, among others, Sam Colop

Luis Enrique Sam Colop

Luis Enrique Sam Colop or Sam-Colop is a Guatemalan linguist,lawyer, poet, writer, newspaper columnist, promoter of the K'iche' language,and social activist....

(1999) and Allen J. Christenson (2004). The tale of Hunahpu and Xbalanque has also been rendered as an hour-long animated film by Patricia Amlin.

Contemporary culture

The Popol Vuh continues to be an important part in the belief system of many K'iche'. Although Catholicism is generally seen as the dominant religion, some believe that many natives practice a syncretic blend of Christian and indigenous beliefs. Some stories from the Popol Vuh continued to be told by modern Maya as folk legends; some stories recorded by anthropologists in the 20th century may preserve portions of the ancient tales in greater detail than the Ximénez manuscript.

Reflections in Western culture

Since its rediscovery by Europeans in the 19th century, the Popol Vuh has attracted the attention of many authors. For example, the myths and legends included in Louis L'Amour

Louis L'Amour

Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American author. His books consisted primarily of Western fiction novels , however he also wrote historical fiction , science fiction , nonfiction , as well as poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into movies...

's novel The Haunted Mesa
The Haunted Mesa
The Haunted Mesa is a science fiction novel by Louis L'Amour, set in the American Southwest amidst the ruins of the Anasazi. L'Amour attempts, as in others of his works, to suggest a reasonable explanation for the phenomena attributed to The Bermuda Triangle, i.e., portals between worlds or...

are largely based on the Popol Vuh. The planet of Camazotz in Madeleine L'Engel's A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle, first published in 1962. The story revolves around a young girl whose father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. The book won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and...

is named for the bat-god of the hero-twins story. The text was also used by German film director Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...

as extensive narration for the first chapter of his movie Fata Morgana (released 1972).
In 1934, the Franco-American early avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse

Edgard Varèse

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....

wrote his Ecuatorial - a setting of words from the Popol Vuh for bass soloist and various instruments. The Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera

Alberto Ginastera

Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...

began writing his opus 44 symphonic work 'Popol Vuh' in 1975, but left the work incomplete at his death in 1983.

In Munich, Germany in 1969, keyboardist Florian Fricke—at the time ensconced in Mayan myth—formed a band named Popol Vuh with synth player Frank Fiedler and percussionist Holger Trulzsch. Their 1970 debut album, Affenstunde, reflected this spiritual connection. The band is notable especially for its extremely early experimentation with forms that became popularized through the modern electronic, new age/ambient music that was to follow years later. They also worked together with Werner Herzog for 5 of his movies. Another band by the same name, this one of Norwegian descent, formed around the same time, its name also inspired by the Quiche writings.

Murals at El Mirador

Recently discovered ancient murals at El Mirador