Religion, Myth & Folklore

Nearly 90% of Mexicans embrace Roman Catholicism, but Catholicism in much of Mexico is laced with pre-Hispanic spiritual tradition. You need only to visit the curandero section of a Mexican market (where you can buy copal, an incense agreeable to the gods; rustic beeswax candles, a traditional offering; the native species of tobacco used to ward off evil; and other talismans), or watch pre-Hispanic dances performed at a village festival, to sense the supernatural beliefs running parallel with Christian ones.

Spanish Catholicism was disseminated by pragmatic Jesuit missionaries who grafted Christian tradition onto indigenous ritual to make it palatable to their flock. Nearly 500 years after the conquest, a large minority of Mexicans -- devout Catholics every one -- adhere to this hybrid religion, nowhere more so than in Chiapas and the Yucatán.

The padres' cause enjoyed a huge boost when a dark-skinned image of the Virgin Mary appeared to an Aztec potter near Mexico City in 1531. The Virgin of Guadalupe, fluent in the local language and acquainted with the indigenous gods, provided a crucial link between Catholic and native spiritual traditions. She remains Mexico's most beloved religious symbol, a comforting figure smiling from countless shrines, saloons, and kitchen walls. Millions of pilgrims walk and crawl to her Mexico City shrine on her December 12 feast day.

The equally pragmatic native people chose the path of least resistance, dressing their ancestral beliefs in Catholic garb. They gave their familiar gods the names of Christian saints and celebrated their old festivals on the nearest saint's day. Thus we find the Catholic feasts of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day superimposed on the ancient Day of the Dead celebration, and the cult of the "Black Christ" -- an amalgam of Jesus Christ and the cave-dwelling Maya god Ik'al -- entrenched in the Yucatán, Chiapas, and Tabasco. In one of the most dramatic examples of this spiritual hybridization, the Tzotzil Maya of San Juan Chamúla in highland Chiapas carpet their church with pine needles, kneeling among candles and Coke bottles to pray in an archaic dialect under the painted eyes of helpful saints. They bring offerings of flower petals, eggs, feathers, or live chickens prescribed by local curanderos (medicine men) in an effort to dispel the demons of disease.

Common themes in the Catholic and Maya belief systems also made the Jesuits' task easier. The Catholics had the Bible, the Maya had the Popol Vuh. Both had long oral and written traditions (although Bishop Diego de Landa burned the Maya codices of Maní in the infamous Auto de Fe of 1562). Ceremonial processions with elaborate robes and incense were common to both religions, as were baptism by water and the symbol of the cross.

But the differences intrigue us most. The Maya's multitude of deities, 166 by some counts, is just the beginning. The Popol Vuh's creation myth, similar to Genesis in making man on the last day and striking down imperfect creations with an apocalyptic flood, departs from the Genesis plot in striking ways, not the least of which is fashioning man from corn (after failed tries with mud and wood). Maya mythology is a collection of convoluted tales, full of images placing nature on a level equal to man, that attempt to make sense of the universe, geography, and seasons.

The tall, straight ceiba tree was revered as a symbol of the cosmos. Its leaves and branches represented the 13 levels of heaven, the tree trunk the world of humans, and the roots the nine-level underworld -- not hell but a cold, damp, dark place called Xibalbá. The manner of death determined one's resting place: Men who died in battle or women who died in childbirth, for example, went straight to the sun. Everyone else had to journey first through the underworld.

Foremost among the Maya pantheon were those who influenced the growth of corn. The Maya worked hard to please their gods through prayer, offerings, and sacrifices, which could be anything from a priest giving his own blood to human sacrifice. They were obsessed with time, maintaining both a 260-day religious calendar and a 365-day solar calendar that guided crop planting and other practicalities. In fact, religion, art, and science were so entwined that the Maya might not even have perceived them as separate pursuits. So from a kernel of corn grew some of civilization's earliest and greatest accomplishments.

The Maya Pantheon

Every ancient culture had its gods and goddesses, and their characteristics or purposes, if not their names, often crossed cultures. Chaac, the hook-nosed rain god of the Maya, was Tlaloc, the squat rain god of the Aztecs; Quetzalcóatl, the plumed-serpent man/god of the Toltecs, became Kukulkán of the Maya. Sorting out the ancient deities and beliefs can become a life's work, but here are some of the most important gods of the Maya world.

Itzamná -- Often called the Supreme Diety; creator of mankind and inventor of corn, cacao, writing, and reading; patron of the arts and sciences.

Chaac -- God of rain, striking the clouds with a lightning ax; sometimes depicted as four separate gods based in the four cardinal directions.

Kinich Ahau -- Sun god, sometimes regarded as another manifestation of Itzamná; appeared in the shape of a firebird.

Kukulkán -- Mortal who took on godly virtues, sometimes symbolized as Venus, the morning star.

Ixchel -- Wife of Kinich Ahau; multitasking goddess of the moon, fertility and childbirth, water, medicine, and weaving.

Bacab -- Generic name for four brothers who guarded the four points of the compass; closely associated with the four Chaacs.

Yumil Kaxob -- God of maize, or corn, shown with a crown or headdress of corn and distinguished by his youth.

Balam -- One of numerous jaguar spirits; symbol of power and protector of fields and crops.

Ixtab -- Goddess of suicide; suicide was an honorable way to die, and Ixtab received their souls into heaven.