[Aztlan] The Wok bird and Muwaan Mat

[Karen Bassie]

This posting is in response to several off-list inquires concerning Wok 
and the Tablet of the Cross bird. The Popol Vuh describes the three 
Heart of Sky thunderbolt gods called Huracan Thunderbolt, Youngest Born 
Thunderbolt and Sudden Thunderbolt as one deity with three 
manifestations. In council with each other, the creator grandparents and 
the Heart of Sky thunderbolt gods decided to create human beings who 
would honor and respect them, and together they created the earth and 
human beings. The Popol Vuh states that when One Hunahpu, Seven Hunahpu 
and the monkey twins played ball together at the Honor and Respect at 
Carcha ballcourt, Wok would arrive to watch over them, and that he was 
the messenger of Huracan Thunderbolt, Youngest Thunderbolt, and Sudden 
Thunderbolt. In regards to Wok, the story states "the face of the earth 
was not far for him. Nor was Xibalba far for him. In an instant, he 
could return again to the sky with Huracan".

Like many cultures, the Maya frequently named birds after their calls 
and songs. The similarity between the names Wok and Wak suggests that 
these two bird messengers might be closely related birds. A bird who is 
often mistaken for the laughing falcon Wak is the collared forest falcon 
(Micrastur semitoguatus). This falcon differs from the laughing falcon 
in its habitat and diet. Unlike the laughing falcon who is a clumsy 
flyer that perches in trees in open areas, and waits for its snake prey, 
the collared forest falcon is a rapid flyer whose hunts birds in the 
deep forest. Its call is described as being like that of the laughing 
falcon, but of slower tempo and longer duration, and it ends with a 
human-like quavering moan which Sutton characterized as "an 
astonishingly human cry, almost a moan". For those of you who are 
familiar with the bird names that have been identified in Maya art, you 
will already know where I am heading with this. The word muwaan is found 
as a word for hawk in Mopan, Ch'olti' and Ch'orti', and it is 
specifically used to describe the collared forest falcon in Yucatec Maya 
and Itza' Maya. In the Classic Period texts, the sign that represents 
the word muwaan is a bird of prey that is in the process of swallowing a 
large bird. The muwaan bird sign was initially thought to be an owl 
because of its owl-like features. The indigenous people in Veracruz 
consider the collared forest falcon to be a kind of owl because of its 
large eyes and shade loving habits. It also has facial ruff that aids 
the bird's hearing just like the ruff on an owl. In some examples of the 
muwaan bird sign, the feathers, talons and legs of the bird being 
swallowed by the muwaan are depicted. The collared forest falcon 
primarily eats birds, and often the birds are bigger than he is. Hawks 
and falcons do not swallow their prey whole, they strip away parts of 
the flesh with their beaks. This act of swallowing a whole bird may be a 
convention for indicating the predatory nature of this bird. I think it 
is reasonably certain that the Muwaan bird is a collared forest falcon, 
and that Wok was such a bird.

In addition to GI, the Tablet of the Cross focuses on the deity Muwaan 
Mat. Although this deity was initially thought to be female and was 
given the nickname Lady Beastie or First Mother, it is now apparent from 
the work of Dave Stuart that this deity was male, and was likely a 
manifestation of One Ixim. It has also been argued by numerous 
researchers that GI was a manifestation of One Ixim. Although the u-baah 
u-ch'ab phrase used to describe the relationship between Muwaan Mat and 
the three Palenque thunderbolt gods is also used to describe the 
relationship between a parent and their child, it is not a genealogical 
relationship phrase like the child of the father or the child of the 
mother phrases. As Stuart has noted "the phrase u-baah u-ch'ab contains 
no direct reference to a child-parent relationship, but instead can be 
glossed as "his person is the creation of ...". In One Hunahpu's speech 
to his wife Lady Blood, he indicated that the children of a lord were 
not just his replacements, but that they embodied the very essence of 
the lord. I think it is very possible then that the u-baah u-ch'ab 
phrase indicates that the three Palenque thunderbolts were not just 
created by Muwaan Mat, but rather they were manifestations of him. In 
other words, One Ixim, Muwaan Mat and the three Palenque thunderbolt 
gods were all different aspects of the same deity. If we apply this 
interpretation to the Popol Vuh creation story, the dialogue between the 
creator grandparents and the Heart of Sky thunderbolt gods was really a 
dialogue between the creator grandparents and the thunderbolt 
manifestations of their son One Hunahpu. There are many illustrations of 
One Ixim, GI, GII and GIII in Maya art, but no illustration of Muwaan 
Mat has been identified. The obvious choice is the bird on the top of 
the tree on the Tablet of the Cross.

Karen Bassie