Frontispiece: The young Maize god.
Figure 1: Xochipilli (after Hugo Moedano Koer). Note the seven points which adorn the throne and suggest the numeral god-Seven.
Figure 2: End of the First Age, as pictured in the Vatican A Codex.
Figure 3. Stele standing at the foot of the western staircase of a temple of the ball court, Copán. Note the solar ray glyph on the wristbands, the ear ornaments, and the headdress: the "elements of splendor" referred to in the Popol Vuh and the Chortí drama.
Figure 4. The god of Death on his stone seat (Dresden Codex).
Figure 5. The ball court, Copán, expressing the symbolism of the seven Ahpú, the inventors of the game.
Figure 6. One of the macaws of the ball game. The ball court, Copán.
Figure 7. The god of Heaven at the pinnacle of the cosmic tree, its "grace" falling upon the earth from on high, from the Chumayel manuscript.
Figure 8. A Taoajka grandmother, the family head, together with her daughter who will succeed her. Hamlet of Dimikian in the Honduran Mosquitia.
Figure 9. The humanity of the Third Age or Katún changed into monkeys, in the Vatican A Codex.
Figure 10. The Quichés carry the Flying Pole, as the 400 boys do in the Popol Vuh (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo).
Figure 11. The base of the pole is rendered immune to evil spirits by the application of incense (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo).
Figure 12. Raising the Flying Pole in Chichicastenango. The "monkey" climbs higher as the pole is raised (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo).
Figure 13. Top portion of the Flying Pole in Chichicastenango (Courtesy of Ovidio Rodas Corzo).
Figure 14. The marimba sounds the Hunahpú-coy song, while one of the 'monkeys" dances and gesticulates.
Figure 15. Mechanism of the Flying Pole used in Joyabaj, according to a sketch by F. Termer. The dual deity in the center of the highest Heaven is portrayed in the forked cap-piece. The cosmic quadrangle is represented by the four-sided, pyramidal frame suspended from the cap-piece.
Figure 16. Tro-Cortes Codex, showing god B with the face of a bat throwing itself from heaven, carrying in its hand the hatchet whose sharp edge will lop off the head of the Maize god.
Figure 17. Dresden Codex, showing god B with hatchet raised to cut off the head of the young Maize god.
Figure 18. Lunar g1yph in the Borgia Codex, according to Seler.
Figure 19. The dance on stilts from the Tro-Cortes Codex.
Figure 20. The Tro-Cortes Codex showing god B sowing a forked stick which is immediately destroyed by god A but then restored by the young Maize god.
Figure 21. The hieroglyphic of Tamoanchan expressed by the rebus-sign of a bird of prey in the act of drawing blood from a serpent with its talon, taken from the Dresden Codex.
Figure 22. Theme of the Bird of Prey and the Serpent in the art of San Agustín, Colombia; statue in the Berlin Museum of Ethnography.
Figure 23. The Fourth Creation: the young god (or god of the Flowers) descending from heaven and grasping the braided tresses in which very large flowers are hanging; the Vatican A Codex, plate 7.
Figure 24a. In the Dance of the Giants: 1. Glyph on cap of master of ceremonies. 2. Figure on trouser cuffs of Giants. 3. Shaft of Black Giant's headdress. 4. Insignia of Gavite. 5. Captain's sleeve adornment. 6. Shoulder insignia. 7. Collar spangles.
Figure 24b. 8. Lunar hieroglyph on Captain's cap. 9-10. Captain's costume, trouser-cuff figures. 11. King's costume, trouser-cuff ornament. 14. Cap with veil. 15. Lunar glyph in the Atl sign, Aztec calendar. 16. Atl glyph in the Cospi Codex. 17. Atl glyph in the Nuttall Codex. 18. Atl element in the Laud Codex.
Figure 24c. 12. Points on King's crown. 13. Points on King's shirt.
Figure 25a. Diagram of the numbers represented by "solar ray" glyphs.
Figure 25b. Diagram of the X-shaped cross represented by the King.
Figure 26. Scene of the battle between the Black and the White Giant. Both brandish wooden swords in their right hands and a magic handkerchief in their left.
Figure 27. The Gavites bewitch the Giants.
Figure 28. The act in which each Gavite (Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué) grip a Giant from behind. One holds the Black Giant while the other rescues the White Giant on orders from the King who, with his Companion, witnesses the action.
Figure 29. Scene of the dismemberment. As the Popol Vuh says: they cut him into pieces and tore out his heart and, holding it aloft, showed it to the Lords. In the Chortí drama a handkerchief represents the heart that is displayed to the sun. Another actor cuts off the legs, arms, and so on, in succession.
Figure 30. Act in which the Black Giant (Hun Camé) kills the White Giant (Seven Ahpú). Note the King at one side, with his crown, sword, mantle and triangular trimming on his trouser and sleeve cuffs.
Figure 31. Scene in which Gavite (Hunahpú) uncovers his face after overcoming the Black Giant (Hun Camé), and delivers the latter's sword to the King. From left to right: the Captain (lunar goddess), Gavite, the White Giant (representing the seven Ahpú), and the Black Giant, conquered and disarmed.
Figure 32. The astronomical cross traced in the Dance of the Giants.