Migration and Creation in Aztec and Maya literature

Victoria R. Bricker (Professor Emeritus, Tulane) received her PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Harvard University. She is widely published and has received awards for several of her books, including The Indian Christ, the Indian King: The Historical Substrate of Maya Myth and Ritual. In 1991, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and in 2002 to the American Philosophical Society.

Figures – Preface – Acknowledgments – Introduction – On Translation – Aztec Migrations – Migration in The Popol Vuh – Migration in the Books of Chilam Balam – Aztec Creation – Creation in the Popol Vuh – Creation in Tzotzil Oral Tradition – Creation in the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel – Creation in Precolumbian Maya Inscriptions – External Influences on Maya Migration and Creation Literature – References – Index.

Victoria Bricker, one of the most accomplished scholars in the field of Mesoamerican studies, presents a fascinating hypothesis about creation legends in this new book. Synthesizing references to Mesoamerican migration and creation accounts in the Colonial period and ethnographic literature, she concludes that the multiple creation events recorded in the Popol Vuh, a colonial-period Quiche Maya text, were derived from Central Mexican traditions. Bricker finds no evidence for multiple creation events in Classic period Maya texts, and suggests that the narrative recorded in the Popol Vuh was probably transferred from the Aztec outpost in Zinacantan, Chiapas, to Quiche nobility, who aspired to increase their status by linking their creation narrative to Aztec accounts. This book provides a stimulating new look at the exchange of ideas across Mesoamerica, and will certainly lead scholars to reexamine the often-claimed link between the Popol Vuh and Classic Maya iconography. -Dr. Susan Milbrath, Emeritus Curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville