Mam (Maya mythology)
Encyclopedia
Mam 'Grandfather' is a term of respect referring to several aged Maya deities.
  • (i) In Kekchi-speaking British Honduras (Belize), 'Mam' is a general designation for the mountain spirits; four Mams were specifically associated with the four corners of the earth.
  • (ii) In the Kekchi-speaking Alta Verapaz of Guatemala, one of the Mams is a greatly feared mountain spirit associated with earthquakes and inundations. An image of this Mam was apparently buried in the Holy Week.
  • (iii) Among the Huaxtec Mayas, the Mams or Mamlabs are earth deities; there are three or four of them, the most important one (Muxi') being the violent originator of the rainy season.
  • (iv) Among the Tzutujil Mayas of Santiago Atitlán, the Mam Maximón
    Maximón
    Maximón is a folk saint venerated in various forms by Maya people of several towns in the highlands of Western Guatemala.The origins of his cult are not very well understood by outsiders to the different Mayan religions, but Maximón is believed to be a form of the pre-Columbian Maya god Mam,...

     is a deity of merchants and travellers and of witchcraft. Assimilated to Judas, he is especially venerated during the last days of the Holy Week, and discarded afterwards.
  • (v) In 16th-century Yucatán, 'Mam' was also the designation of a straw puppet set up and venerated during the five unlucky days (Uayeb) at the end of the year (Cogolludo), when witchcraft was thought to be prevalent; at the conclusion of this period, the straw figure was discarded.


The Mayanist J.E.S. Thompson referred to Mam (ii) as 'the evil Mam' and believed the Mams (ii), (iv) and (v) to represent the same deity. The Mams are likely to have their counterparts in the small Classic Maya group of aged deities consisting of God D (Itzamna
Itzamna
In Yucatec Maya mythology, Itzamna was the name of an upper god and creator deity thought to be residing in the sky. Little is known about him, but scattered references are present in early-colonial Spanish reports and dictionaries. Twentieth-century Lacandon lore includes tales about a creator...

), the various representatives of God N (Bacab
Bacab
Bacab is the generic Yucatec name for each of the four pre-Spanish, aged Maya deities of the interior of the earth and its water deposits. The Bacabs have more recent counterparts in the lecherous, drunken old thunder deities of the Gulf Coast regions...

), and God L
God L
God L of the Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube classification of codical gods is one of the major pre-Spanish Maya deities, specifically associated with trade. He is characterized by high age, jaguar traits , a broad feathery hat topped by an owl, and by a jaguar mantle or a cape with a pattern somewhat...

.
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