The Mythology Book

THE AMERICAS 239 Spider Woman carries a cross, symbolizing fire, on this Mississipian shell disc (c.1000 ce). The Choctaw believ ...

240 C entral to the culture of the Yurok and other Native Americans are traditional ceremonies that feature sacred dances. Among ...

THE AMERICAS 241 See also: Cherokee creation 236–37 ■ Spider Woman 238–39 ■ Raven and the whale 242–43 ■ The first canoe 258–59 ...

242 F or the Inuit in Alaska and other parts of the western Arctic region, Raven was a powerful creator god. He created the worl ...

THE AMERICAS 243 Carved from wood, this mask takes the form of a whale, but also resembles a canoe with oars. It may have been w ...

244244 AND THE SUN BELONGS TO ONE AND THE MOON TO THE OTHER THE HERO TWINS H un-Hunahpu and Vucub- Hunahpu were the twin sons of ...

THE AMERICAS 245 beneath the ball court in the Underworld. Hun-Hunahpu was decapitated and his head hung from a calabash tree as ...

246 THE HERO TWINS into her household. Xquic gave birth to Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who grew up to be the Hero Twins. Young cunnin ...

THE AMERICAS 247 beneath an overhanging mountain. Zipacana crawled into the crevice. When he tried to grab it, the Twins brought ...

SO THEN THE SUN WENT INTO THE SKY THE LEGEND OF THE FIVE SUNS US_248-255_Sun_in_Sky.indd 248 05/12/17 4:16 pm SO THEN THE SUN WE ...

SO THEN THE SUN WENT INTO THE SKY THE LEGEND OF THE FIVE SUNS US_248-255_Sun_in_Sky.indd 249 05/12/17 4:16 pm ...

250 I n Aztec mythology, the present world was not the first to exist; it was preceded by four others. Each world began with the ...

251 Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca lock in combat in an image from the Codex Borbonicus (ca. 16th century). Aztec scribes painted ...

252 appetite. To defeat this formidable foe, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca took the form of serpents, and Tezcatlipoca used part ...

253 Mictlantecuhtli, the god of the dead and ruler of the Underworld, was often depicted as a skeleton. To placate him, the Azte ...

254 THE LEGEND OF THE FIVE SUNS Tonatiuh, the last sun god, receives blood from a bird in a painting from the Codex Borgia (ca. ...

255 drink pulque, threw a rabbit at Tecciztecatl’s face. It dimmed his light, ensuring he would never shine as brightly as a sun ...

256 L ying over 12,500 feet (3,800 m) above sea level in the Andes mountains, Lake Titicaca straddles the border between Bolivia ...

THE AMERICAS 257 Lake Titicaca is home to dozens of populated islands, including Isla del Sol, where Viracocha is believed to ha ...

258 M ayakoto, a hunter in the Orinoco Delta, lived with his two wives, who had each given him a baby son. The younger baby’s na ...