Hun Hunahpu - Hun-Hunahpu and The Maize Deity

Hun-Hunahpu and The Maize Deity

Although, in the Popol Vuh, Hun-Hunahpu does not revive, it has been asserted that the Mayas of the Classical Period took a more optimistic view, and believed the sad paternal figure to have been reborn as the maize. In this theory, the scene of the Tonsured Maize God rising from a turtle carapace (the 'tomb' of the earth) is interpreted as Hun-Hunahpu resurrected, and the flanking Hero Twins assisting him are accordingly taken to be the maize deity's sons. In consequence of this view, Hun-Hunahpu is often referred to as a 'maize deity', and the maize deity as a 'first father'. In support of the Maize Deity theory, reference is often made to a pottery scene showing a cacao tree assimilated to the Tonsured Maize God, and having a trophy head suspended among its branches. The trophy head is taken to be that of Hun-Hunahpu, and the head of the Tonsured Maize God as its transformation.

The identification of Hun-Hunahpu with the Classic Mayan Maize Deity has become popular, but is still to be treated as a theory in need of corroboration. It remains problematic that the hieroglyphic name of the Tonsured Maize God (although including the prefix 'One') is not recognizable as that of Hun-Hunahpu. Moreover, the tree with the suspended trophy head in it is not a calabash tree, as in the Popol Vuh, but a personified cacao tree.