Mayans believed that four jaguars, called bacabs, held up the sky. Each had a different color.
Click on image for full size
Courtesy of Nova Development Corp.
was conceived by the Maya as flat with four
corners. Each corner represented a cardinal point, and was
signaled by a different color: red for east, white for
north, black for west, yellow for south, and green at the
At each corner, there was a jaguar of a different
color that supported the sky. The four jaguars were called
bacabs. Mayans believed the Universe was divided into layers,
each layer containing only one sort of celestial body.
Heaven was formed with thirteen layers, and each of them seemed to
have had its own god.
The underworld was formed with
nine layers with nine corresponding lords of the night.
Mayans believed that the Sun and the Moon passed through the
Earth when they disappeared below the horizon. On his night
journey beneath the earth, the Sun was believed to have become
the fearsome jaguar god of the underworld, Kinich Ahau.
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Our online store
on science education, ranging from evolution
, classroom research
, and the need for science and math literacy
You might also be interested in:
Ahsonnutli was the sky father and chief deity of the Navajo Indians. He created heaven, Earth, and the sky. Each of the four cardinal directions was supported by a giant. Each direction was also associated...more
Amphitrite was one of the fifty Nereids, the attendants of the sea-god Poseidon. Poseidon (Neptune) had fallen in love with Amphitrite after seeing her dancing on the island of Naxos. Amphitrite rejected...more
Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She was known to the Romans as Venus. There were actually two different Aphrodites, one was the daughter of Uranus, the other the daughter of Zeus and...more
In Greek mythology, Apollo was the son of Jupiter(in Greek Zeus) and Leto (Letona). He was the god of the Sun, logic, and reason, and was also a fine musician and healer. Leto travelled all over Greece...more
According to an ancient Greek legend, the figure of a gigantic crab was placed in the nighttime sky by the goddess Hera to form the constellation Cancer. Hera was the jealous wife of the sky god, Zeus....more
In the Northern Hemisphere sky is the constellation Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, and that of his wife Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia claimed that she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than the sea nymphs,...more
According tho the Navajo mythology, the Milky Way was created by the misbehavior of the mischievous deity, Coyote. When the world was created, the Holy People gathered around Black God to place the stars...more