Quick Overview

The name "Popol Vuh" signifies "Record of the Community," and its literal translation is "Book of the Mat," from the Maya-Kiché words "pop" or "popol," a mat or rug of woven rushes or bark on which the entire family sat, and "vuh" or "uuh," paper or book, from "uoch" to write. The Popol Vuh is the New World's richest account of the body of tradition and mythi-history known of the Kiché (one of the Maya ethnic groups). Translated to Spanish by Francisco Ximenes a monk of the Order of Predicadores sometime in the seventeenth century. No translation of it has as yet appeared in English and no adequate translation in any European language.

The Maya believed in a cyclical nature of time. Maya priest provided prophetic outlook on the future or past based on the number relations of their calendars and significant past dates such as birth. If the interpretations of the priests spelled bad times to come, offerings and sacrifices would be performed with the intention of satisfying the gods.