Owl Messengers of Xibalba- Maya GroupCollective"Heralds of the Underworld"
Also known as: Tucur
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Description
Four owls named for death: Arrow Owl, One-Leg Owl, Macaw Owl, and Skull Owl. They rose from Xibalba whenever its lords wanted someone brought below, and their arrival at a doorstep meant the underworld had taken notice.
Mythology & Lore
The Summons
The Popol Vuh names them: Chabi-Tucur (Arrow Owl), Huracan-Tucur (One-Leg Owl), Caquix-Tucur (Macaw Owl), and Holom-Tucur (Skull Owl). When the Lords of Xibalba grew angry at the noise of Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu playing ball above them, they sent the four Owls up from the underworld to deliver a summons. The brothers must come to play ball with the lords below. Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu obeyed. They descended to Xibalba and were defeated and sacrificed.
Xquic and the False Heart
After Xquic became pregnant from the skull of Hun-Hunahpu hanging in a calabash tree, the Lords of Xibalba sent the Owls to kill her and bring back her heart in a gourd. But Xquic persuaded them to spare her. She gathered sap from a croton tree and shaped it into a ball that resembled a human heart. The Owls carried the false heart to the lords, who burned it as incense and were deceived. The messengers of death had chosen mercy over obedience.
The Second Summons
When the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque again disturbed the lords with their ballplaying, the Owls rose once more. They arrived at Xmucane's house to deliver the same summons their kind had carried a generation before. But these twins were prepared. They descended to Xibalba and destroyed its lords. The Owls had delivered their last summons.
Relationships
- Serves
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