Vucub Caquix

Vucub Caquix (in modern Quiché Mayan Wuqüb' Kaqix, name of the Big Dipper, also known by the name Seven Macaw for the Spanish and quoted on some Maya-Ch'olti's vases under the name Itz'am Yeh) is a character from the Quiché Mayan book Popol Vuh and from many traditional Mayan tales.

In the Popol Vuh

Vucub Caquix lived in the time of the Eternal Night (Aq'ab'). He had silver pupils, gold teeth, and a silver beak. Vucub Caquix would go to the earth and say: "I am the god of the sun!" His sons, Zipacná and Cabrakán, also claimed to be gods. Still these were just lies.

Two twin gods named Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué spoke with the God of Heaven and decided to kill Vucub Caquix. Hunahpú took the blowgun from him and tried to hunt Vucub Caquix while he was eating fruit, and hit him on the jaw. Vucub Caquix survived and, enraged, cut off the arm of his opponent and put it in a pot to cook.

Hunahpú and Xbalanqué asked an elderly couple, Zaqui Nim Ak and Zaqui Nimá Tzÿz, for help. «You will have to accompany us inside the house of Vucub Caquix. There, you will remove the teeth and the eyes of Vucub Caquix”, said the twins to the elders.

As Hunahpú and Xbalanqué requested, Zaqui Nim Ak and Zaqui Nimá Tzÿz accompanied them inside the palace of Vucub Caquix. There, he asked the old man for help because his pierced jaw was causing him pain. Zaqui Nim Ak took the teeth and the apples of his eyes from Vucub Caquix; Meanwhile, Xbalanqué recovered the lost arm of his brother and escaped from the palace with him.

Vucub Caquix became ugly again, without teeth or apples of the eyes, therefore he died. Beside him, his wife died of grief, the beautiful Chimalmat. Zaqui Nim Ak and Zaqui Nimá Tzÿz sewed Hunahpú's arm, who returned to fight against the wicked together with his twin brother. Hunahpú and Xbalanqué also killed Zipacná and Cabrakán, sons of Vucub Caquix.

Other sources

There are older images of Vucub Caquix in the Popol Vuh, for example a Ch'olti' Mayan vase with this phrase written: «By means of Hun Ahaw on the day Hun-Ahaw Ox-K'ank'in Itz'am Yeh entered into the sky». On these vases, the name of Vucub Caquix is transformed into "Itz'am Yeh" due to the fact that in the Ch'olti' language, that of the Mayan elite, "Wuqüb' Kaqix" had no meaning and there was no way to transcribe it.