The Maya Myths

Highly complex and divided into politically fragmented noble houses, the Maya civilization produced a diverse and complicated mythology that varies between groups and retellings. For example, there are three different myths about the origins of the sun and moon, in one creation myth animals and objects rise up to torment humanity; whilst in another, pots shatter and speak, unleashing demons upon the people. Elsewhere, heroes descend to the ballcourt of the underworld where trees grow fruit in the likeness of severed heads, the ancestors converse with animals and the Maize God is caught in a perpetual cycle of death and rebirth. In this book, Mallory Matsumoto skilfully evokes the enduring vibrancy of Maya culture, from the peak of the Maya hieroglyphic tradition in the eighth century AD, through the invasions of the Spanish conquistadors up to the present day.