How Our Mother Beloved Maiden was Saved from an Untimely Death:  A christianized version of the Xkik’ tale of the Popol Wuj

Creation of New Era

The personage of Xkik’ links the vanishing epoch of Xib’alb’a with the new era of the sun and moon, and people made of corn. I believe that the Xib’alb’a tale is in its essence a literary comment on the historical decline of the Classic Maya civilization of the lowlands, cast in a myth that was in fashion at that time. As repulsive as the lords of Xib’alb’a may be, the hero twins Junajpu and Xb’alanq’e are still related to them through the maternal line. If the twins are the alter egos of the scribes of the Popol Wuj, these authors (of the Kaweq lineage) may want to convey the message that they are descendants of Classic lowland Maya lineages. And indeed, that is a notion that is gradually confirmed by the reconstruction of the Late Classic and Early Postclassic history of the highlands (Van Akkeren, 2000; 2002a; & n.d.).

History aside, the Xkik’ saga is also unquestionably a creational story, about the emerging of a new era and centered on the genetrix of the new generation. As said, it announces the era of the sun and moon, and its denizens shaped of corn. These features of the new times, are embodied in the hero twins who after their adventures change into the sun and full moon (the male moon which acts like a sun at night, rising in the east and setting in the west, hence the Q’eqchi name Xb’alan Q’e or Hidden Sun). However, they are also related to corn by planting an ear of green corn in the courtyard of Xmukane’s house before they part for their challenge with Xib’alb’a. The regeneration of the plant symbolizes their victory over the Xib’alb’a lords.

In colonial times, highland Maya were forced to forget about their former gods and divine heroes. In a remote place like Rab’inal though, Spanish influence was reduced to a few Dominican friars within the first two centuries. Maya scribes and narrators, assuming ecclesiastical positions as those of "maestro de iglesia" or "sacristan mayor", adapted to the cultural and religious principles of the new power, and merged their own stories with the ones taught by the friars (Van Akkeren, 2000b:note 21). Our Mother Beloved Maiden became the new genetrix, and her son the substitute for the hero twins. Her story also exemplifies the beginning of a new epoch. Our modern era initiates with the supposed birth of her son.

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