Popol Vuh

The cultivation of maize is an important symbol of creation throughout the Popol Vuh. Before the earth is formally made, the Framer and the Shaper measure the four corners and sides of the earth in preparation for creation. Their method of measurement emulates the practice of maize cultivation. In descriptions of this preparation, the Popol Vuh calls the process the “germination of all the sky and earth—its four corners and its four sides” and “All then was measured and staked out into four divisions, doubling over and stretching the measuring cords of the womb of sky and the womb of earth” (56). In this passage, the language of creation and maize cultivation collide. According to Christenson, this overlap is intentional, given what is known about Quiché relationship with the maizefield as a divinatory space where creation can occur.

Maize also plays a significant role in the creation of the first successful people. In earlier attempts to create god-worshipping people, the use of mud and wood are unsuccessful. When the gods discover maize, they are delighted to know that it is suitable material to create human flesh and shape it to the container that they desire.

Oftentimes, the enchantment of maize reveals information concerning life and death. In the case of Lady Blood, she must create a miracle of a maize harvest out of a single ear of maize in the field to convince Xmucane that she is carrying One Hunahpu’s children. Dismayed at first at the impossibility of the task, Lady Blood cries out, “See, I am a sinner!” (124). However, as Lady Blood is truthful about bearing a dead man’s children in Xibalba, the earth responds in her favor by filling her basket with maize. The flourishing of maize also appears in the case of Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Before the brothers leave for Xibalba, they set up a maize plant in their grandmotherXmucane’s house that will let her know if they are dead or alive. If the brothers die in Xibalba, the plant will wither; if they live, the plant will thrive. At the house, Xmucane watches the maize plant shrivel up when the brothers sacrifice themselves the first time, and sees the plant grow again when they resurrect themselves. Due to the plant’s miracles, she grants them sacred names, “Center House, Center Ancestral Plot, Revitalized Maize, and Leveled Earth” (178). Thus, their names reflect maize’s ability to serve as both a memorial and resurrected place, or death and life.