The mayan book of creation is a text that orginated in mesoamerica. At the time of its conception it was a large collection of codices and oral stories that later were transcribed into to one large text in order to keep it alive.<!--more-->
<p dir="ltr">The Mayan book of creationism, The Popol Vuh, was formally written down in 1554, during the time of Spanish occupation of their homelands (Christenson 38). This is during the time that new world had been discovered and many countries began exploring these untouched lands with strange aboriginals and Customs. However, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Europe was undergoing a cultural and intellectual Renaissance. The Art of the time was based on conveying the most realistic interpretations of life through the medium (Fiero section 17). The literature that was being produced during the renaissance represented the growing intellectualism of the people of Europe and often focused on the natural world and the laws the define it (Fiero). Leonardo Da Vinci is one notable artisan from the European renaissance, and is most know for his very detailed oriented and descriptive style. Da Vinci wrote about the mechanics of flight and the standardization of mechanical parts (Fiero b3), which shows that he was studying nature in its most principle form even without being a to mathematical calculate everything. Leonardo works also include detailed anatomical drawings which were considered the most descriptive of his time (Fiero b3). The Works of the renaissance era can be said to incorporate the spirit of science in its earliest development, this is quite the contrast to the spiritual writings of the Popol Vuh</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Literary work of the Popol Vuh has several unusual features to it. The Book was the only religious text that was written down, since the Mayans were the only culture that had a writing system (Christenson 33). Even though other Mesoamerica cultures used hieroglyphs to record events, the Mayan hieroglyphs were a phonetic script which means that they didn’t describe pictorial events but allowed the capability of recording any thoughts the Mayans may have had (Christenson 20). This feature is Very important when analyzing the Popol Vuh because it conveys the advanced intellectual thought of the Mayan people, even though they were deemed to be “ Lazy and childlike” by the Spanish conquistadores (Carlsen &amp; Prechtel 38). The other unique thing about this work is that in Mayan beliefs, when one reads a script (such as the Popol Vuh), it is as if you are giving a living voice to the original author, and you must ask for forgiveness for disturbing them and hold reverence for their spirit (Christenson 17). So as one reads the Popol Vuh, they must be aware of these Mayan traditions about the practice of reading them, so that they don’t upset the ancient spirits that created it.</p>
During the time of its original transcription in 1554 (Christenson 38), It was considered by Fray Diego de Landa to be “lies of the of the devil” (Barnett 1). Because of this he set forth to burn every Mayan text he could find so that the spiritual traditions of the Mayan people could be wiped out (1). However with the widespread distaste and criticism of the Mayan beliefs by the Spanish, They ultimately failed in their Conquest of pre-Columbian Mayan culture since the Mayans showed a ‘fierce resistance to the acculturation’ and developed methods of cultural adaption to insure the survival of these beliefs (PDF 38).

The Perception of Mayan culture and the Popol Vuh by people outside of academics is generally fascination, due to the intriguing and mystical past of the Mayans (Barnett 2). However most Mayan enthusiast have not actually read the Popol Vuh (2), So the work would be considered second to the other Mayan relics such as their remaining architecture and art. This does not discredit the work though, and just shows that the Popol Vuh’s influence on Mayan architecture and art makes them much of what they are. The renewed general interest in Mayanism after the Spanish attempts to thwart it stems from the copies that the missionary Francisco Ximenez and later Carl Scherzer made (Barnett 1). The copy that Ximenez made is important because it came from the original 16th transcription of the Popol Vuh that was guarded by the peoples of Quiche heritage (Christenson 40). The transcription was made in two copies one in the native Quiche language that was used by the Mayans, and in Spanish (40). Then in 1800’s Carl Scherzer, an Austrian traveler, discovered the two copies and had made a new copy of the two entirely in Spanish (40). With this new copy he brought it back to Europe where it was officially published for the first time (40). The Popol Vuh gained new audiences amongst the people of Europe and America since they had a growing interest in ancient cultures (40). There has also been analysis on contemporary Anthropological literature that shows the people of the Mayan highlands are among the most studied ethnic groups in the world (Carlsen &amp; Prechtel 23). A lot of the literature also came from the Harvard Chiapas studies in that area as well (23). It can be concluded that since the publishment of Scherzer’s copy of the Popol Vuh, that has been an increased modern interest in the Mayan text and way of life.

After reading the Popol Vuh, I have grown very fond of many of its features and stories. The re-occurring them of resurrection and rebirth in the Popol Vuh is very important to me because I have similar beliefs in the cyclic nature of life and this is stressed a many times within the work. The western belief of the linear progression of life with exact terminal ends is contrasted against the idea of new life springing from the death of the old. The Mayans practice of naming the grandchildren after the grandparents is an excellent example of the life sprouting from death (Carlsen &amp; Prechtel 28). The Popol Vuh also explains in narrative that the “Earth God” is of more importance than any other deity (Christenson 36). This co-insides with my environmental beliefs and allows me to relate to the Mayans fondness of the earth.

Around the time of the 16th century transcription of the Popol Vuh, the Invention of the Gutenberg press in Europe changed the nature of literature forever. The Press allowed the rapid production of manuscripts and led the increased availability of texts and an increased literacy in Europe. One of the most notable texts to be made on the press was the Gutenberg bible. This allowed widespread availability of religious texts to the many people of the world and technologically charged Christianity. The rapid production and availability of the Bible during this time is a stark contrast to the nearly forgotten and hidden text of the Popol Vuh. The Popol Vuh didn’t receive publishment until the 1800’s, so its audience was limited to the remaining ancestors of the Mayan people that were only able to pass it one orally and with partial scripts of the Popol Vuh. The bible was also used as tool to subject the Mesoamerican people but the many missionary’s attempts to of destroying the Popol Vuh and replacing it with the bible; the Popol Vuh survived to this day.

In my opinion the most important feature of the Popol Vuh for future generations would be the many philosophies of life and death that Popol Vuh entertains the reader with. This I find very important for the future children of this earth because they may be only introduced into the religious dogma of Christianity and feel as if their entire life is sin. But in the Popol Vuh it stresses the influence of both light and shadow on our life and to be fully human we must integrate both into our life.

&nbsp;

Barnett, Charles R. Popol Vuh of the Jaguar Priests. Los Alamos, NM: Exceptional, 1993. Print.

This Text was the text I read the Original translation of the Popol Vuh from. It was a very quick and easy read in which I learned the basic story line of the Popol Vuh and how many of the features in it translate into Mayan cultures.

&nbsp;

Christenson, Allen J. Popol Vuh. Winchester, U.K.: O, 2003. Print.

This book was much more went much more indepth of the background of the Popol Vuh, and about the translators experiences in the native regions in which the book was written. He talks about the stark difference in what the culture is like now and at the times of Spanish conquest, and how the people’s culture adapted and evolved.

&nbsp;

“The Flowering of the dead: An Interpretation of Highland Mayan Culture” Carlsen &amp; Prechtel University of Colorado at Boulder PDF  http://www.bxscience.edu/ourpages/auto/2012/4/2/43554945/maya-culture%20and%20conquest.pdf

This PDF was very helpful in understanding the Quiche people from the perspective of a sociologist and psychologist. There analysis of the Mayan culture before, during, after the Spanish invaded there lands, and how the perception of the people from the world has changed as more research into there culture has been done.