Maya Hero Twins facts for kids
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The Maya Hero Twins are two very important characters in ancient Maya stories. Their names are Hunahpu [hunaxˈpu] and Xbalanque [ʃɓalaŋˈke]. You can find their adventures in an old Maya book called the Popol Vuh. This book tells the oldest complete Maya myth we know today.
The Twins are often shown as two parts of a whole. They represent ideas like life and death, day and night, or the Sun and Moon. Many Native American cultures have stories about hero twins. The Maya Twins were seen as important ancestors for Maya leaders.
Contents
Who Were the Hero Twins?
We learn about the Hero Twins from old Maya art and writings. These include Maya pottery from around 900 AD and the Dresden Codex.
Hunahpu is easy to spot because he has black spots on his skin. Xbalanque, sometimes called the 'War Twin', looks more like an animal. He has jaguar spots and whiskers.
Some pictures show scenes from the Popol Vuh. For example, the Twins shooting a bird with blowguns might show them defeating Vucub-Caquix. Another scene shows the Maya maize god rising from a turtle shell. This could be the Twins bringing their father, Hun-Hunahpu, back to life. The Twins are often seen with the main maize god. This shows they were thought to be very connected. In the Popol Vuh, the Twins are even shown as two stalks of corn.
Their Names and Meanings
The name "Xbalanque" (pronounced [ʃɓalaŋˈke]) has a few meanings. It could mean 'Jaguar Sun', 'Hidden Sun', or 'Jaguar Deer'. The first part of his name might come from yax, meaning 'precious'.
"Hunahpu" (pronounced [hunaxˈpu]) usually means 'One-Blowgunner'. A blowgun is a tool for hunting birds. This name shows that Hunahpu was a skilled hunter.
The head of Hunahpu is sometimes used as a symbol for the 20th day in the Maya calendar. The head of Xbalanque can be a symbol for the number nine.
The Hero Twins' Amazing Story
This is a summary of the Popol Vuh story about the Hero Twins. It starts after their father and uncle passed away.
The Twins' Early Life
The Twins' mother was Xquic, the daughter of a lord from Xibalba. Their father was Hun Hunahpu. Xquic went to live with Hun Hunahpu's mother, who was not very welcoming at first.
Hunahpu and Xbalanque were not treated well by their grandmother or their older half-brothers. Their older brothers were named One Howler Monkey and One Artisan. When the Twins were born, their grandmother wanted them out of the house because they cried. Their older brothers took them away. The older brothers were jealous because they were famous artists. They feared the new babies would take away their attention.
But the Twins grew up without holding a grudge. When they were young, the Twins had to work hard. They hunted birds for meals. Their older brothers got to eat first, even though they spent their days singing and playing.
The Twins were very clever, even when they were young. One day, they came home without any birds. They told their older brothers that they had shot birds, but they were stuck high in a tree. The older brothers climbed the tree to get the birds. Suddenly, the tree grew much taller, trapping them! This was one of the first times the Twins showed their special powers.
Hunahpu made his older brothers even more embarrassed. He told them to take off their loincloths and tie them around their wa waists to climb down. The loincloths turned into tails, and the brothers became monkeys! When their grandmother heard they were safe, she wanted them to come home. But when they returned, she laughed so hard at their monkey look that they ran away in shame.
Defeating Seven Macaw and His Family
Later, a god named Huracan asked the Twins for help. There was an arrogant god named Seven Macaw. Seven Macaw was very proud and claimed to be the sun or the moon. He was also very vain. He wore metal ornaments in his wings and had teeth made of gemstones.
The Twins first tried to surprise him while he was eating in a tree. They knocked him down, but he was only hurt. As Hunahpu tried to escape, Seven Macaw injured him.
Even though they failed at first, the Twins came up with a clever plan. They asked two gods to pretend to be old grandparents. These "grandparents" went to Seven Macaw. They said they were poor doctors and dentists caring for their grandchildren. Seven Macaw asked them to fix his teeth and eyes. The "grandparents" replaced his jeweled teeth with white corn. They also took out the ornaments from his eyes. Seven Macaw lost all his greatness and died, probably from shame.
Seven Macaw's sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan, were also very arrogant. Zipacna claimed to create mountains, and Cabrakan claimed to destroy them. The Twins tricked Zipacna with a fake crab. They buried him under a mountain.
The god Huracan again asked the Twins to deal with Cabrakan, the Earthquake god. The Twins used their cleverness to defeat him. They found him and used his pride against him. They told him about a huge mountain that kept growing. Cabrakan was proud of destroying mountains, so he demanded to be shown it. Hunahpu and Xbalanque led him to the non-existent mountain. On the way, they hunted birds and roasted them. Cabrakan was hungry and asked for some meat. They gave him a bird prepared with plaster and gypsum, which was poison to him. He became weak, and the boys were able to defeat him.
Finding Their Father's Ballgame Gear
After their older brothers left, the Twins used their special powers to do their gardening chores quickly. One swing of an axe would clear a whole day's worth of land. They covered themselves in dust to make it look like they had worked hard. But the next day, forest animals undid their work. The Twins hid and waited. When the animals returned, they tried to catch them.
Most animals got away. They caught the rabbit and deer by their tails, but the tails broke off. That's why rabbits and deer have short tails today! But they did catch a rat. The rat promised to tell them a secret if they let it go. The rat told them that their grandmother had hidden their father's and uncle's ballgame equipment. She was sad because playing ball had led to their deaths.
The Twins came up with another trick to get the equipment. They snuck the rat into their home during dinner. They asked their grandmother to cook a meal with hot chili sauce. They then demanded water. Their grandmother went to get it, but the water jar had a hole, so she couldn't bring it back. When their mother left to find out why, the Twins were alone. They sent the rat into the roof to chew the ropes holding the hidden equipment. They got the ballgame gear their father and uncle used. Playing ball had been their father's favorite pastime, and soon it became theirs too.
Ballgames in Xibalba
Hunahpu and Xbalanque played ball in the same court their father and uncle had used. When their father and uncle played, the noise bothered the Lords of Xibalba, who ruled the Maya Underworld. The Xibalban Lords had called them to play in their court.
When the Twins started playing, the noise again disturbed the Lords of Xibalba. They sent a message for the boys to come to Xibalba and play in their court. Their grandmother was worried they would suffer the same fate as their father. She sent the message in a strange way: to a louse, hidden in a toad's mouth, hidden in a snake's belly, hidden in a falcon. But the boys still got the message. To their grandmother's sadness, they left for Xibalba.
When their father had gone, he and his brother faced many tricks to confuse them. But the younger Twins were smarter. They sent a mosquito ahead to bite the Lords. This helped them find out who the real Lords were and what their names were. When they arrived, they easily knew the real Lords and spoke to them by name. They also refused to sit on a bench for visitors, knowing it was a hot stone. The Lords were frustrated. They sent the boys to the Dark House, the first of many deadly tests.
Their father and uncle had failed these tests. But Hunahpu and Xbalanque outsmarted the Xibalbans. They survived the night in the dark house without using their torch. The Xibalbans were upset. They skipped the other tests and invited the boys to play the game. The Twins knew the Xibalbans used a special ball with a hidden blade. Hunahpu stopped the ball with a racquet and saw the blades. They complained that they were called only to be killed and threatened to leave.
The Lords of Xibalba let the boys use their own rubber ball. A long and fair game followed. In the end, the Twins let the Xibalbans win. This was part of their plan. They were sent to Razor House, the second deadly test. It was full of moving knives. But the Twins talked to the knives and convinced them to stop. They also sent leafcutting ants to get petals from the Xibalban gardens. This was a reward for the Lords' victory. The Lords had picked flowers that were impossible to get, but the guards didn't notice the ants. The guards were punished for failing to protect the flowers.
The Twins played a rematch and lost on purpose again. They were sent to Cold House, which they also defeated. They kept losing games on purpose to be sent to the other tests: Jaguar House, Fire House, and Bat House. They passed all of them. The Lords of Xibalba were frustrated until the Twins were put in Bat House. They hid inside their blowguns from the deadly bats. But Hunahpu peeked out to see if it was daylight. The bat god Camazotz killed him.
The Xibalbans were happy that Hunahpu was defeated. But Xbalanque called the animals of the field. He made a new head for Hunahpu. Hunahpu's original head was used as the ball for the next day's game. But the Twins secretly swapped it with a squash or gourd. They got Hunahpu's real head back, leading to an embarrassing defeat for the Xibalbans.
The Fall of Xibalba
The Xibalbans were embarrassed but still wanted to destroy the Twins. They built a large oven and called the boys again. They planned to trick them into the oven to their deaths. The Twins knew this was a trick, but they went along with it. The Xibalbans were happy when the Twins seemed to die and threw their ashes into a river. But this was part of the Twins' plan! In the river, the ashes turned into bodies. First, they became catfish, then young boys.
No one recognized them. The boys stayed among the Xibalbans. Stories spread about them turning from catfish and how they entertained people. They performed amazing tricks. They set houses on fire and then brought them back whole from the ashes. When the Lords of Xibalba heard these stories, they called the boys to their court. They demanded to see these miracles themselves.
The boys came and offered to entertain the Lords for free. They kept their identities secret, pretending to be orphans. The Lords didn't suspect a thing. They performed their tricks, making the Lords' house burn around them without harming anyone. Then they brought the house back from the ashes.
The highest lords of Xibalba, One Death and Seven Death, were amazed. They demanded that the miracle be performed on them. The Twins killed the lords, but they did not bring them back to life. Then the Twins shocked the Xibalbans. They revealed they were Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the sons of One Hunahpu, whom the Lords had killed years ago. The Xibalbans were filled with despair. They confessed to their crimes and begged for mercy. As punishment, Xibalba would no longer be a great place. The Xibalbans would no longer receive offerings from people on Earth. All of Xibalba had been defeated.
The Twins went back to the ballcourt and found the buried remains of their father, Hun Hunahpu.
With their mission complete, the Twins left Xibalba. They climbed back to the Earth's surface. But they didn't stop there. They kept climbing straight up into the sky. One became the Sun, and the other became the Moon.
Hero Twins in Other Cultures
Many Native American cultures in the United States have stories about two male hero twins.
For example, in the creation story of the Navajo, called the Diné Bahaneʼ, the hero twins Monster Slayer and Born for Water get lightning arrows from their father, the Sun. They use these to get rid of monsters that hurt people.
The Ho-Chunk and other Siouan-speaking peoples have stories about Red Horn's Sons. The myths of Red Horn and his two sons are similar in some ways to the Maya Hero Twins' story.
The Hero Twins in Pop Culture
- Xbalanque is a character you can play in the video game Smite. His title is "The Hidden Jaguar Sun".
- The 2014 From Dusk Till Dawn Series suggests that the Gecko Brothers are the "Hero Twins" from Maya legend.
- Hunahpu was the name of one of the tribes in Survivor: San Juan del Sur.
- The Hero Twins appear at the start of the 2000 animated movie The Road to El Dorado. The main characters, Miguel and Tulio, pretend to be these gods.
- The Hero Twins are featured in the Civilization VI Heroes & Legends game mode.
- The hero twins are mentioned in Onyx Equinox. The main characters, K'in and Yun, have names meaning "sun" and "moon" and love ballgames. A carving of the mythological twins is seen in episode 3.
- The hero twins are central to Monica Byrne’s science fiction novel, The Actual Star. This book is about finding Xibalba through time and space.
- The hero twins inspired the first episode of the rebooted Legends of the Hidden Temple.
