Popol Vuh

The Popol Vuh is a foundational sacred narrative of the K’iche’ people.

The K’iche’ are one of the Maya peoples. They inhabit Guatemala and various Mexican states like Chiapas and Yucatan. They also live in Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The title translates to "Book of the Community" or "Book of Counsel." This name refers to a woven mat. In ancient K’iche’ society, a mat served as a royal throne. It also symbolized the unity of the community. This text is vital because early Mesoamerican accounts are very scarce. Many documents were destroyed during the Spanish conquest.

For a long time, these stories lived through oral tradition. This means people shared them by speaking rather than writing. Around 1550, the stories were recorded in writing. The documentation we have today is credited to Francisco Ximénez. He was a Spanish Dominican friar. Ximénez worked in Santo Tomás Chichicastenango in the early 1700s. He created a manuscript using parallel columns. One column contained the K’iche’ transcription. The other column provided a Spanish translation. He used Latin and Parra characters to represent K’iche’ sounds phonetically.

The contents of the Popol Vuh follow a specific structure. It begins with a Mayan creation myth. It then moves to the exploits of the Hero Twins, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué.

These twins are the second pair of twins in a larger cycle. The text also serves as a chronicle of the K’iche’ people. It includes a list of rulers and genealogies. Some scholars believe the text was written to preserve knowledge that was disappearing. The preamble mentions bringing the text to light because it could no longer be seen. This suggests an urgent need to save the culture's history.

The history of the manuscript is full of movement and change. Ximénez incorporated some Spanish content into his own historical works around 1714. The Dominican Order held the manuscripts for many years. However, General Francisco Morazán expelled the clerics from Guatemala between 1829 and 1830. This caused the documents to move to the Universidad de San Carlos. In 1854, Carl Scherzer arrived in Guatemala City. He found the writings in the university library. He worked with historian Juan Gavarrete to copy and publish the Spanish content.

Other figures also played roles in the manuscript's journey. In 1855, Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg found the volume in the same library. Unlike Scherzer, Brasseur took the volume to France. His statements about the source were inconsistent. This led scholar Munro Edmonson to suggest there might have been multiple manuscripts in Guatemala. Later, the collection passed to Alphonse Pinart. It was eventually sold to Edward E. Ayer. In 1897, Ayer began donating his 17,000 pieces to The Newberry Library in Chicago. This process was finished by 1911.

The manuscript was lost to many researchers for a time. It finally resurfaced in the 20th century. Adrián Recinos is credited with rediscovering it at the Newberry in 1941. He published the first direct edition since Scherzer. Some experts, like Munro Edmonson and Carlos López, suggest Walter Lehmann found it earlier in 1928. There is also debate about the original source. Ximénez may have used a phonetic manuscript from a parishioner. However, that specific source has never been found.

This makes Ximénez’s work the only source for many studies.

Scholars continue to study the origins of the text. Some believe the stories were written down shortly after the 1524 conquest. By looking at genealogies, researchers suggest a date between 1554 and 1558. There are theories about who the original authors might have been. One theory names Diego Reynoso. Another suggests Don Cristóbal Velasco. The text itself mentions the "mothers of the word" and "fathers of the word." Some interpret this "word" as the Popol Vuh itself. This highlights how deeply the text is tied to K’iche’ identity and lineage.