MAYA JAGUAR GOD: Xibalbá

The MAYA JAGUAR GOD Xibalbá was a supernatural jaguar being that the ancient Maya believed existed. This god appears to be connected to the underworld and may have been identified as the sun god. Other names that can be seen used for him include Jaguar’s Night Sun and Jaguar’s War God.

In addition to having jaguar characteristics, the MAYA JAGUAR GOD Xibalbá has other characteristics worth mentioning. On one hand, his eyes were square. (This is not unusual, because there are other ancient Mayan gods who also had square eyes.) The pupils of their eyes were spiral. (Archaeologists have discovered that underworld beings have spiral eyes.) Between their eyes, a twisted cord or rope rises — archaeologists call this a “cruller.

Then there were his teeth, or more exactly, his tooth, as the ancient Mayas drew it only with one. There were, however, two ways in which they extracted his tooth. One of the two ways they drew it was a tusk. The second way was to draw it as a capital “T”. Both teeth were in the center of his upper gum, where a person’s front teeth would normally go.

The MAYA JAGUAR GOD Xibalbá may have been the sun at night (when it was crossing the underworld) and may have been connected to the Moon. As such, it may have been an aspect of the sun.

But there is another idea. The Jaguar God of the Underworld may have been a god of fire. The doughnut may represent a rope used for a fire tool called a fire drill. And there are images of certain elites doing rituals connected to fire — dressed as the Jaguar God of the Underworld.

This supernatural being was connected to several other things, one of which was war. (In a related note, one place where you can see an image of the Jaguar Sun of the Underworld is the “Table of the Sun” in Palenque. In the table, its image is in a shield.) The Art and Myth of the Ancient Maya says that the Maya in the Classic Period believed that this god was a patron god of war.

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