Description
MAYAN CREATION – 2012
ORIGINAL PAINTING HAND-PAINTED IN BLACK CALLIGRAPHY INK ON PAPER BY EMMA J V HOGG
PRINT DIMENSIONS | UNFRAMED –
A4 – 21 X 29.7 CM / 8 X 12″
A3 – 29.7 x 42 CM / 12 x 16.5″
A2 – 42 x 59.4 CM / 16.5 x 23.4″
‘Mayan Creation’ – Mayan mythology – Creation myth
The ancient Mayan civilisation inhabited the area of present-day southern Mexico and the Yucatan peninsula, reaching their height of development during the 1st century AD.
Chichen Itza was one of the largest Mayan cities to be built. It is the location of the Pyramid of Kukulcan, one of the creator gods, and the “Group of a Thousand Columns”. It is thought to have been the centre of Mayan mythology.
A summary of the Mayan Creation Myth is as follows:
Together, the gods attempted to create living beings so that they may be praised and venerated by their creation, but the gods made several false starts in setting humanity upon the earth.
Animals were created first, deer, birds, panthers and serpents and all the creatures that today roam the earth. However, when the gods asked the animals to praise them they only howled and squawked, they could not speak and so could not worship their creators and were thus banished forever to the forest.
The first race of Man was then created from wet clay, but they just crumbled and dissolved away.
The gods wanted to create a harder race and so man was next carved from wood. They were much stronger and were able to walk and talk, but they had no mind or heart, and they soon forgot their makers, so the gods turned all of their possessions against them and sent a great flood to destroy them. The gods commanded the animals to attack and tear apart the survivors. Those who escaped fled to the woods and became monkeys. The creators left them there to act as a reminder to the next race of man of their wrath.
The gods thought for a long time about how to make the race of men they wanted, but there seemed to be no perfect material to make them from.
Then some of the animals brought the gods corn from the far side of the earth, which the gods ground to a paste and from this made four individual men. They were sturdy and their minds rich with thoughts and feelings. Their first act was to worship and thank the gods for their lives. The gods were pleased.
The gods asked the corn men, “What do you see”? They replied, “we can see forever, through rocks, trees and mountains, to the edges of the earth. We can see your entire creation, all of its animals and plants. We see and understand everything.”
The gods looked at each other. “Perhaps we have made these beings too well. They should not see as we do”. And so the makers removed some of their vision so they could only see things close to them and not through or above them, and so their great understanding of the world was weakened. But they still sang their creators praises and settled to live on the new land.
The gods then made four women to be their mates. These eight were the ancestors of all the Mayan people today. And still today their sight and understanding of the world is not perfect.
Animals were regarded as fellow members of the Mayan’s society and as spiritual beings in their religion. They play a major role in the myth of creation as the first created attempt at beings to worship the gods and later as creatures to assist the gods in their destructive and creative paths. Today’s Mayan people are still part of a large population in the same area of their ancestors. In recent years there has been a noticeable breakdown of cultural restraints on hunting.
This lack of awareness of their environment and the impact of their hunting on it may lead to the extinction of many indigenous animal species which are being heavily relied upon as a source of food.
Written by Emma J V Hogg
