Maya Pantheon: The Bacabs

The cardinal directions, and their symbols

The Maya believed that the Earth was flat and that it was carried by a great turtle, the Bacabs were four brothers said to be the offspring of the Moon goddess Ix Chel, and the creation/Sun god Itzamna, however there is some speculation that they are four different aspects of one single deity. They stood at the four corners of the Earth, keeping the thirteen layers of the sky from crashing into the Earth and the nine layers of the underworld. They represent the four cardinal directions and their associated colours:

A representation of the Ceiba Tree

Zac Cimi stands in the west and their related colour is black, Hozanek guards the south and is linked to the colour yellow, Hobnil takes the east and is associated with the colour of red, and Can Tzicnal looms in the north and connected with the colour white. In between them all, is the fifth cardinal direction drawing towards the centre of the world, and at the centre sits the Ceiba Tree (World Tree) which reaches through the Earth into both the sky and underworld.