The Popol Vuh is a pre-Columbian study of the mythology of America. It was written in the 1600's by a native of Guatamala who had been converted to Christianity.

 

The k'iche, or quiché, were a sub Mayan group, who developed their own brand of language. Allan J. Christenson of Brigham Young University in Utah did a comprehensive study of this christianized Columbian America language and for those interested in studying the language of the Popol Vuh there is a pdf available online by searching k'iche'-maya alphabet.  

 

 

 

There is always mystery in 2012 and the Popol Vuh is no exception. To set off on a bit of a tangent from the main theme of the page we are on consider that Brigham Young U is a Mormon sponsored college and that the entire foundation of Joseph Smith's, founder of LDS Church, lies in the crossing of Jaredites, Nephites, and other Israelite tribes who escape the wars of their nation and the neighbouring tribes. In about 600 BC Nephi kills Laban and rescues the geneological records of the tribes of Israel. It's a story that brings those records to the American continent and for those who subscribe to the Mormon sacred texts it's a story that mixes the Nephites, Jaredites, and others with the bloodlines of the pre-Columbian natives of America.

 

Now how does that come into play with the Popol Vuh. It probably doesn't except for the similarities between the text taken from Laban by Nephi, and the wording of the Popol Vuh.

 

One could assume that Joseph Smith had a copy of the Popol Vuh which features creation myths, dating all the way back to the diluvian age or the pre-flood era.

 

The creation myth according to the Popol Vuh plays out as an heroic tale between the twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque and includes a geneology study of the ancestry of American people. Knowing the ancestry in an old world where kings or overlords rule by name or social ancestral status means a big deal. Such myths state that a ruler is ruling by divine right. Having such a base of power and having the ability to convince the inhabitants of the local territories to buy into such religious convict is having extreme power. It's a scenario which plays out throughout the world from Egypt to Mesopotamia, the Far East, India and elsewhere. The ability to keep such power or to work the Zeitgeist or spirit of time is the work of priest class citizens.

 

 

 

The Popul Vuh includes notes similar to those found in a Chilam Balam. The Chilam Balam was a record of life in a city or city state in Mesoamerica. The Popol Vuh included information on creation, history, geneology, and even cosmology or the movement of the stars or what some modern thinkers refer to as the science of the lights.

 

Francisco Ximenez, a Dominican Friar, took it upon himself in about 1700 CE to try to preserve the Popul Vuh. His copy is now safeguarded at the Newberry library. It is a rough artifact which is used by other anthropologists and historians who try to piece revised editions together in the hope of rendering a more complete simily to the original.

 

Tedlock and Christenson have tried this and their version of the Popul Vuh is segmented ( Ximenez' copy wasn't) into the following order.

 

The PreAmble. A statement claiming the antiquity of the myth and history in the records.

 

Allen J. Christenson is a faculty member at Brigham Young University serves the Humanities department of study - Humanities Classics and Comparative Literature.

 

Preserving ancient manuscripts is part of his job. He has written extensively on the faith of the Maya, of the Mesoamerican in pre-columbian time and of the Americas in general.

 

 

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