Bacabs: Four Atlantean Gods Were Giants And Sons Of Itzámna, Maya God Of Heaven And The Sun
A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Among certain groups of the Maya of Yucatan, it was believed that the Bacabs — mythical figures in Mayan beliefs — were four brothers placed by the gods at the four corners of the world to support the heavens and keep them from falling. According to Diego de Landa Calderón (1524 - 1579), a Spanish Franciscan bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yuca, their collective names were Uayayab, "they by whom the year is poisoned."
They were sons of Ixchel, the Moon goddess of medicine, childbirth, and weaving, and the great god Itzámna (his name in Mayan means “Lizard House”). However, the Bacabs’ father had many different names.
One of them was Itzámna, who was the Yucatán Maya sky god, the most important and powerful god of heaven and the Sun, usually considered the supreme deity and lord of all the gods.
These four gods stood at the corners of the world and held up the heavens with their upstretched hands. In the center grew a giant ceiba tree—the cosmic tree, the sacred tree of the Maya and others, such as the Aztec and Mixtec.
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See also:
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