Ah Puch

The Maya death gods were known by a variety of namesbut the most powerful was Ah Puch, sovereign of the lowest of nine underground worlds of the Maya. His image is depicted as a being with exposed ribs and spine with black details suggesting decomposition. As a ruler over the world of the dead, Ah Puch was also the god of were-animals and spooks (wayob) inhabiting the Underworld, manifesting himself as a head hunter and a deer hunter.   Ah Puch was once a principal advisor to the king of the Upper World, but was banished after he broke his promise to the king and was sent into a giant storm that would bring him to the Underworld forever. In his anger, Ah Puch sometimes kicks the pillars of the earth, thus causing earthquakes.   Ah Puch's failed attempts at the creation of human beings in emulation of the upper god, lead to the creation of the "totemic" animals.   Depictions of Ah Puch often show his abdomen with out-pouring swirls of blood or rotting matter. He is usually accompanied by spiders, centipedes, scorpions, a vulture, an owl, and a bat. He is pictured with jewelry usually on his wrists and ankles. On his lower extremity, he has a round "molo" sign that putrid smells of death. Over his head is a floating object shaped like an "S" probably an insect carrying a torch. On his forehead like other deities of the underworld he wears an "aqabal" also known as an emblem of "darkness." His head in Maya culture was used to represent the number 10, the lower jawbone meant the numeral ten that was inscribed within all other head variants of the numbers thirteen to nineteen. He was often pictured as dancing and holding a smoking cigarette. On his neck is a death collar which consists of embodied eyes hanging by their nerve cords. The black spots on his body represent the decay of the flesh. Since he is a rotting corpse in some images he is shown with a bloated stomach.   Ah Puch features prominently in the New Year rites. To ward off evil during this year, men would walk over a bed of glowing embers that possibly represented the fires of the Underworld. Temple priests would get in costumes of Ah Puch and perform rites of bloodletting and human sacrifice. Those who impersonated this deity would dance out the steps of ritual sacrifice, putting terror in the soul of ritual participants and the spectators who witnessed these sacred events.