The Viking Zen has recently watched (for the hundreth time) a beautiful film she loves. This is actually an animated film on the Mayan epos The Popol Vuh. Patricia Amlin is the primary creative force behind this project, and she used actual images from Classical Mayan pottery to illustrate the characters. Actors from folkloric performance troupes lend their voices to the characters in the film. The result of this ambitious endeavor is this gem of a film. About 40 minutes long, it brings to life the tale of hero twins Jaguar-Deer and Hunter-Deer who descend from the earth into the realm of Hell (Xibalba) to bring balance to the world.


The Lords of Xibalba ruled the world (their names evocations of pestilence and pain) with a heavy hand, bringing unmeasured destruction to all of life and creation. Theyloved to play ball, and invited ball players to play against them. This ball game (very similar to soccer) was played for very high stakes. The hero twins' father, and their uncle, their father's twin, children of the sky, had been tricked by the Lords of Xibalba, and ruthlessly murdered after one of these ball games. Their remains were left untouched, and from them, a tree of skulls sprouted. Little Blood, the only daughter of one of the Lords, one day decided to investigate this strange tree of skulls, and discovered it was magical. She wished to try its fruit, but was warned by the tree that it would be bitter and painful. She chose to try it, and soon afterwards discovered she was pregnant. Because she kept the identity of the children's father secret, the Lords ordered the owls to execute her. However, the children in Little Blood's womb were magicians, powerful ones, and with the assistance of their magic and of the owls, she was allowed to escape. She made her home with her mother-in-law, the Sky, on the earth, and gives birth to the twins.


The twins were very clever, and mischievous from the start. However, their grandmother and mother hid their true mission in life (they're ball players!) and lead them to believe they were farmers. After a comical episode in which the hero twins unsuccessfully tried to plant corn time after time (nature conspired against them- while the stalks of corn grew during the day, the animals destroyed them at night), they discovered, thanks to the Rat, that they were really ball players!


Now this business of ball playing is very serious in the whole Mayan concept of cosmos. This isn't just kickin' it around. This ball playing mirrors the movement of the heavens, the changes of seasons, the cycle of life itself. So when Hunter-Deer and Jaguar-Deer found their father and uncle's hidden ball and equipment, they were overjoyed! And they begin playing ball...


The Lords of Xibalba heard the ball game happening above, and went nuts! They wanted to play too! They wanted to win! So they issued an invitation to the twins, whom they didn't know anything about, asking them to go down to Xibalba. The Lords believed and hoped the twins would meet a grim end there.


So the twins went- they told their weeping mother and grandmother, who remembered this happened the same way when her sons had been called, that they should watch two enchanted stalks of corn; as long as they lived, the two stalks would stand.


So they made their way to Xibalba...


I would go on, but I can't do the story justice. It's so complex, and I cannot transmit the subtle humor, the joy, and the deep wisdom of this tale in a simple blog entry. You can read the poems translated from Quiche- but this animated version is truly a delight.


I am always extremely moved when I watch it. In fact, I always cry on the same parts (but I openly admit to being a sap), even though I know what happens next. I think I react this way to the story because it speaks very profoundly about themes I find tremendously important in trying to understand life and humanity. The heroes are not goodie-goodies, nor are they bad- that's not what they're about. In fact, they're a mixture of the sky, the earth, and of the underworld. Even their names reflect the constant tension and duality of nature (Hunter-Deer, Jaguar-Deer), ideas that we are taught to see as opposite, but that actually complement each other in a cyclical manner, in a transfer of life. The twins, their Mayan names Xpanlanque and Hunapu, are all about respecting and finding balance, and bringing harmony among all the forces of life.


Go find this movie and watch it. It'll be a great gift to yourself and anyone you share it with.

If you ever go to the MFA in Boston, the Meso American pottery exhibit features many images of the Popol Vuh, and of the Hero Twins. It's excellent!