Ah Puch

In Maya mythology, Ah Puch (Alternatively Ahpuch or Hun ahau where the first /a/ is sometimes omitted if the words are pronounced continuously) was the God of death and King of Metnal, the underworld.

In Mayan mythology he is the god and king of Mitnal, the worst of the nine underworlds. He is described as a skeleton or cadaver with the face of a jaguar (or owl) adorned with bells.

He signifies the North, through the order of his representation, to the god of death, that appears 88 times in the three major manuscripts. He has a skull for a head, and displays his bare ribs and spinal column. If his body has flesh on it, it’s swollen and covered with black circles that suggest decomposition.

Indispensable accessories of the god of death are his ornaments in the form of bells. These sometimes appear attached to his hair or girdles that gird his forearms and legs, but more often set on a cinched necklace. These bells of all sizes, made of copper and sometimes fold, appear in considerable quantities during the dredging of the Sacrificial well in Chichen Itza, where it is thought they through the bodies of immolated sacrifices.

Ah Puch is the antithesis of Itzamna, he has two glyphs for his name, and he is the only god to be distinguished in this manner. The first depicts the head of a corpse with closed eyes, representing death. The second is of the god himself, with a truncated nose, fleshless mandibles with a flint knife for sacrifices as a prefix. A sign one finds frequently associated with the god of death is something seemingly like our sign for percentages (%). The god of the dead was the patron deity of the day “Cimí,” that meant “death” in Mayan.

Ah Puch was a high class god, as he is mentioned frequently in the codices. As chief of demons, Hunhau reigned over the lowest of the nine Mayan underworlds, and even today, the modern mayans lower the figure of Yum Cimil, the god of death, who prowls aroung the homes of the infirm spying on his imprisonment.

Ah Puch is a malevolent deity. His figure is frequently associated with the god of war and of human sacrifice. His constant companions are the dog, the owl and the Moán and the owl. These animals were considered bad omens of death. On occasion, he is described as the “Lord of the Ninth Hell” and “Destroyer of Worlds.”

Even today, some Mexicans and central Americans believe that the screech of an owlmeans death. A common Spanish saying goes “When the owl sings…the Indian dies” (Cuando el tecolote canta…el indio muere).

See also