The fifth most common deity in the codices is Xaman Ek, the god of the North Star, he appears 61 times in the three manuscripts. He is always depicted with the same face - roman nose and peculiar black markings on his head. His name has only one hieroglyph - his own head, which has been likened to a monkey's.

This same head, with a different prefix to the hieroglyph for his name, is also the glyph for the compass point North, which seems to confirm his identification as god of the North Star. Besides, the form of his appearances in the manuscripts is such that it appears he must have been the personification of some celestial body of great astronomical importance, and since his head is the hieroglyph for North, there is no doubt that he was, in fact, god of the North Star.

In some places Xaman Ek is referred to as "merchants' guide", and he may well have been, given that the North Star is the only fixed star observable from the latitudes of Peten and Yucatan - the only star which does not undergo radical shifts in position. It is also said that the merchants offered him incense at the altars which can be seen at the side of roads. He was a benevolent deity, who is found in conjunction with the god of rain and was probably the patron of the day Chuen.

Xaman Ek, the North Star, forms part of a constellation which the Maya called Chimal Ek - The Shield Stars - because they form a trapezium, the outer stars of which are called guards, since they tell the hours of the night as they circle around the Pole Star. Thus Xamán Ek was not only the star of sailors and merchants, it was also their nocturnal clock.

Next>>

Introduction|Itzamna|Chac|Yum Kax|Ah Puch
Ek Chuah|Ah Katun|Xaman Ek|Ixchel|Ixtab