Bacabs

Mayans believed that four jaguars, called bacabs, held up the sky. Each had a different color. Click on image for full size ( 22K JPG ) Courtesy of Nova Development Corp.

For example, east-red; north-white; west-black; south-yellow. Green was the center. At each corner, there was a jaguar of a different color that supported the sky.

The jaguars were called bacabs.

Mayans believed that four jaguars, called bacabs, held up the sky. Each had a different color. Click on image for full size ( 22K JPG ) Courtesy of Nova Development Corp.

At each corner, there was a jaguar of a different color that supported the sky. The jaguars were called bacabs.

Mayans believed the universe was divided into thirteen layers, each with its own god.

Mayans believed that four jaguars, called bacabs, held up the sky. Each had a different color. Click on image for full size ( 22K JPG ) Courtesy of Nova Development Corp.

At each corner, there was a jaguar of a different color that supported the sky. The four jaguars were called bacabs. Mayans believed the Universe was divided into layers, each layer containing only one sort of celestial body. Heaven was formed with thirteen layers, and each of them seemed to have had its own god.

The underworld was formed with nine layers with nine corresponding lords of the night. Mayans believed that the Sun and the Moon passed through the Earth when they disappeared below the horizon. On his night journey beneath the earth, the Sun was believed to have become the fearsome jaguar god of the underworld, Kinich Ahau.