Buluc Chabtan- Maya GodDeity"God of War"

In the Codices

Paul Schellhas cataloged him as God F in 1904: a figure marked by a black line encircling one eye, a burning torch in one hand and a spear in the other. In the Dresden and Madrid codices, Buluc Chabtan appears on almanac pages that sorted the days into those fit for planting and those that belonged to war. Priests consulted these pages before launching any campaign. A war begun on the wrong day invited disaster. When the almanac showed Buluc Chabtan's face beside a date, the city prepared for blood.

One codex page shows him pressing a burning torch against a building's roof. In another he sits among the day-sign glyphs, spear in hand. His name carries the Maya number eleven, buluc. He stands apart from the other gods in the codex pages, recognizable at a glance by that black ring around the eye. In Classic period murals and painted ceramics, warriors wear the same mark. What the god wore on his face, his followers wore into battle.

The Captive on the Steps

Maya warfare prized capture over killing. A warrior's rank rose with each prisoner taken alive, not with enemies slain. Before a campaign, warriors fasted and bled themselves. They scored their earlobes with obsidian lancets and burned the soaked bark paper as offering to Buluc Chabtan. They painted the black ring around their eyes. Then they went out to bring back living men.

The finest captives went to Buluc Chabtan's temple altars. On the steps, before the assembled city, warriors brought the chosen captive forward and forced him to his knees. The priest opened the chest with an obsidian blade and pulled the heart free. Blood ran down the limestone and pooled at the base of the steps. The gods had bled to create the world, and the world owed blood in return. Buluc Chabtan's wars kept the altars fed. Without captives, the debt went unpaid.