Discover through this interesting article the Mayan Sun God, its origin, worship, representation and much more about this deity related to archaeological sites as well as being the husband of the goddess Ixchel. Don't stop reading it!
Who is the Mayan Sun God?
The Mayan Sun God was known by the name of Ah Kin and was a deity for whom the Mayan culture held respect and admiration as they attributed the effect of healing diseases and being a protector who fought against the demons of darkness. .
According to the narrations that are made from generation to generation regarding the Mayan sun god, it is said that Ah Kin, before becoming a deity, was in charge of going through the underworld every night, what is known in the Mayan culture as the universe or world. of the dead
Therefore, this deity had attributes such as being able to heal and protect, even giving hope to the youngest of the Mayan culture to be able to get good wives that would allow family union and offspring.
You must bear in mind that the Mayan culture was not interested in worshiping the Sun in a physical way, but rather they emphasized the spiritual deity that symbolized it, since it was the center of the universe and the Mayan sun god was in charge of giving energy, power and strength to the whole cosmos.
Due to this, he was the god of the Mayan sun. He was given respect and admiration by this ethnic group and one of the offerings that was made to this deity was the burning of incense in his honor, which was carried out at dawn. This ceremony was accompanied by prayers as well as prayers and sacrifices on behalf of this mythological being.
These rituals that were performed in honor of this deity were with the intention of not altering their emotions to prevent them from carrying out droughts or storms that could destroy the crops and affect the Mayan ethnic group.
In the images they made in honor of the Mayan sun god, the trinity of the father, son and the holy spirit is evidenced through the solar logos.
This deity is symbolized by an old man named Itzamná Kinich Ahau and his eyes are enormous with a great quality to recognize him. Its shape is square, it also has a straight nose and the upper teeth are filed and its shape resembles the letter T of the alphabet.
According to mythology, the Mayan sun god descended from the spiritual world to the physical plane and thus managed to obtain an encounter with the inner being of the inhabitants, for which he was in charge of providing help and health to the people who required it.
The Mayan sun god or the lord of the eye of the sun as he was also known was in charge of music and the gift of poetry, his wife was the goddess Ixchel who was the beautiful Moon.
This deity was the governor of the other gods of this mythology and for this reason he was in charge of solving a large number of problems in addition to distributing the land for cultivation among the indigenous peoples.
With respect to the priests of the Mayan sun god, they were known by the term Ah Kin, which translates as those of the Sun and of Time, their function was to prophesy the future of the men of the ethnic group.
Etymology of the name of this deity
With respect to the name of the Mayan sun god, it is observed that the phrase Kinnich Ahau is translated into three words. Kin translates as Sun, Ich means the word face in this Mayan language, and the word Ahau is related to priest or lord, which is why it is infers that his name translates as the priest or lord of the solar face.
This mythical being can be evidenced in some objects such as an urn made of clay by the Mayan culture which is on display at the Museum of America in the city of Madrid.
Another of the findings that can be observed of the Mayan sun god is in the Dresden Codex, which are books that belong to the Mayan culture and are a great treasure that allows us to observe their customs and they talk about this mythological deity that represent as the midday sun with its trails.
The same can be evidenced statues carved in stone surrounding the sanctuaries of the Mayan culture and one of the greatest examples is the Temple of the Sun in the town of Palenque, which is today an archaeological site and UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in the year 1987.
Another of the sites where ceramics related to the Mayan sun god have been found is in Cancun, where there is another archaeological site known as the Kinich Ahau Group.
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