Bacabs’s Family Tree

About Bacabs →

Family

• Itzamna(parent),Ix Chel(parent)— Marriage

  Itzamna and Ix-Chel, the supreme divine couple of the Yucatec Maya pantheon, were married and produced the Bacabs and other gods who populated the heavens and earth.

Guards

• Oxlahuntiku

  The four Bacabs support the Oxlahuntiku's celestial realm from below, standing at the cardinal directions to hold up the thirteen heavenly levels so they do not collapse onto the earth.

Associated with

• Ah Muzen Cab

  In the Madrid Codex bee almanacs, the Bacabs appear alongside Ah Muzen Cab in directional beekeeping rites, the four sky-bearers stationed at the cardinal points to ward the hives while the Bee God presides over the honey harvest.

• Yax Che

  The Bacabs stand at the four corners of the world while the Yax Che rises at its center. Together they form the five-point cosmic support structure depicted in Maya art, holding up the sky from periphery and axis.