[Aztlan] Chac or Principal Bird Deity

[Elaine Schele]

I agree with Karen about the need to use other terminology than the
"principal bird deity" - also known as the PBD, but does anyone have an
alternative name?  One of the problems with the term is that it implies that
he is simply a bird.  Bardawil's article was an excellent example of Maya
iconographic analysis and he made note of the fact that the creature in
question also had serpent/snake characteristics, an observation that is not
reflected in the PBD title.

Elaine

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 12:42 PM, Karen Bassie <rick.bassie at nucleus.com>wrote:

> Lawrence Bardawil (1976: The Principal Bird Deity in Maya Art: An
> Iconographic Study of Form and Meaning) grouped together a number of
> supernatural birds that he referred to as the Principal Bird Deity. Such
> birds appear in a number of contexts, perching on trees, serpents, sky
> bands, or the Milky Way crocodile. While these birds exhibit several
> common features, such as wings in the form of serpents and the talons of
> a bird of prey, they also exhibit subtle but distinct characteristics
> that indicate they are not all the same bird. One of these supernatural
> birds wears the headdress of Itzamnaaj and he is the avian form of this
> creator deity. And I will go to my grave arguing that the Itzamnaaj bird
> is based on Herpetotheres cachinnans (the laughing falcon or guaco).
> Nick Hellmuth in his 1987 dissertation (The Surface of the Under Water
> World) identified the Tikal stucco mask as an Itzamnaaj bird.
>
> The supernatural bird perched on the corn plant on the Tablet of the
> Foliated Cross and the supernatural bird perched on the tree on the
> Palenque Tablet of the Cross and sarcophagus lid are distinct from the
> Itzamnaaj bird. I think that the term Principal Bird Deity should be
> retired.
>
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