KOED realms: XILBABA ~ Ruled by Dementra Lucina Lust-St.James~ Category: Uncategorized
XIBALBA ~~RULED BY DEMITRA ST. JAMES~~
Xibalba /ʃɨˈbɒlbə/, roughly translated as "place
of fear", is the name of the underworld in K'iche' Maya mythology, ruled
by the Maya death gods and their helpers. In 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance
to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cobán,
Guatemala. According to some of the K'iche' Maya presently living in the
vicinity, the area is still associated with death. Cave systems in nearby
Belize have also been referred to as the entrance to Xibalba. Another physical incarnation of the road to
Xibalba as viewed by the K'iche' is the dark rift which is visible in the Milky
Way.
Inhabitants
Xibalba is
described in the Popol Vuh as a court below the surface of the Earth associated
with death and with twelve gods or powerful rulers known as the Lords of
Xibalba. The first among the Maya Death Gods ruling Xibalba were Hun-Came (One
Death) and Vucub-Came (Seven Death), though Hun-Came is the senior of the two.
The remaining ten Lords are often referred to as demons and are given
commission and domain over various forms of human suffering: to cause sickness,
starvation, fear, destitution, pain, and ultimately death. These Lords all work
in pairs and are Xiquiripat (Flying Scab) and Cuchumaquic (Gathered Blood), who
sicken people's blood; Ahalpuh (Pus Demon) and Ahalgana (Jaundice Demon), who
cause people's bodies to swell up; Chamiabac (Bone Staff) and Chamiaholom
(Skull Staff), who turn dead bodies into skeletons; Ahalmez (Sweepings Demon)
and Ahaltocob (Stabbing Demon), who hide in the unswept areas of people houses
and stabbed them to death; and Xic (Wing) and Patan (Packstrap), who caused
people to die coughing up blood while out walking on a road.[4][5] The remaining
residents of Xibalba are thought to have fallen under the dominion of one of
these Lords, going about the face of the Earth to carry out their listed
duties.
Structure
Xibalba was
a large place and a number of individual structures or locations within Xibalba
are described or mentioned in the Popol Vuh. Chief among these was the council
place of the Lords, the five or six houses that served as the first tests of
Xibalba, and the Xibalban ballcourt. Also mentioned are the homes of the Lords,
gardens, and other structures indicating that Xibalba was at least a great
city.
Xibalba
seemed to be rife with tests, trials, and traps for anyone who came into the
city. Even the road to Xibalba was filled with obstacles: first a river filled
with scorpions, a river filled with blood, and then a river filled with pus.
Beyond these was a crossroads where travellers had to choose from among four
roads that spoke in an attempt to confuse and beguile. Upon passing these
obstacles, one would come upon the Xibalba council place, where it was expected
visitors would greet the seated Lords. Realistic mannequins were seated near
the Lords to confuse and humiliate people who greeted them, and the confused
would then be invited to sit upon a bench, which was actually a hot cooking
surface. The Lords of Xibalba would entertain themselves by humiliating people
in this fashion before sending them into one of Xibalba's deadly tests.
The city
was home to at least six deadly houses filled with trials for visitors. The
first was Dark House, a house that was completely dark inside. The second was
Rattling House or Cold House, full of bone-chilling cold and rattling hail. The
third was Jaguar House, filled with hungry jaguars. The fourth was Bat House,
filled with dangerous shrieking bats, and the fifth was Razor House, filled
with blades and razors that moved about of their own accord. In another part of
the Popol Vuh, a sixth test, Hot House, filled with fires and heat, is
identified. The purpose of these tests was to either kill or humiliate people
placed into them if they could not outwit the test.
Downfall of Xibalba
Xibalba was
home of a famous ballcourt in which the heroes of the Popol Vuh succumbed to
the trickery of the Xibalbans in the form of a deadly, bladed ball, as well as
the site in which the Maya Hero Twins outwitted the Xibalbans and brought about
their downfall.
According
to the Popol Vuh, the Xibalbans at one point enjoyed the worship of the people
on the surface of the Earth, who offered human sacrifice to the gods of death.
Over the span of time covered in the Popol Vuh, the Xibalbans are tricked into
accepting counterfeit sacrifices, and then finally humiliated into accepting
lesser offerings from above. Anthropologist Dennis Tedlock has speculated that
this version of history may be a Quichean slander on earlier Mayan forms of
worship.
The role of
Xibalba and the Xibalbans after their great defeat at the hands of the hero
twins is unclear, although it seems to have continued its existence as a dark
place of the underworld long after.
Modern cultural references
Xibalba Sulcus, one of the geological
features on Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, is named after Xibalba.
The place is featured in the films The
Fountain as Orion nebula[11] and The Road to El Dorado as an eternal whirlpool.
The place is featured in the video games
Tomb Raider Underworld, Atlantis II, Persona 2: Tsumi
The place is featured in Jon Rosenberg's
Goats (webcomic).
The place is prominent in Steve Alten's
science fiction novel Domain.
A mini-series, "The Princes of
Xibalba", are four songs by the band Estradasphere, on the album It's
Understood.
The Guatemala-Mayan author Luis de Lión
wrote the novel El tiempo principia en Xibalbá (Time Began in Xibalba, publ.
1985).
In the book The Necromancer: The Secrets of
the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott, it is a shadow realm, a large
cave, known as the Crossroads of the Shadowrealms
The club owned by Dee Snider's character in
the movie Strangeland is called Xibalba. According to the movie, Xibalba means
"Door to Hell".
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg described a visit
to the place in his 1954 poem 'Sieste in Xbalba'.
In the book Pastwatch: The Redemption of
Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card, after traveling back through time to
15th century Central America, the character Hunahpu plays the part of a
messenger of "The Lords of Xibalba" to his Indian ancestors, as part
of a plan to change their beliefs and create a less-aggressive alternative future.
In the video game Persona 2, the final
dungeon is Xibalba, which due to a curse on Sumaru City involving rumours
becoming reality, is an ancient spaceship that levitates the entire city in the
air. Several Mayan demons are also in the game, such as Camazotz (who is
frequently encountered in Xibalba itself). One method of reaching Xibalba is
going through the Silver Silver, also known as the Milky Way.
Level two of the video game Pitfall: The
Mayan Adventure takes place in Xibalba.
The Rotting Christ 2013 album's Κατά Τον
Δαίμονα Εαυτού first song is entitled In Yumen -
Xibalba.
Members:
1.
Dementra Lucinda Lust-St.James: ruler of Xibalba; mother of Myra Wells: http://www.fandomain.org/view_profile.php?member_id=892
2.
Myra
Wells: daughter of Dementia and Randy: http://www.fandomain.org/view_profile.php?member_id=976
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