Vucub-Hunahpu- Maya GodDeity"Seven Hunter"

The Ballplaying Brothers

Vucub-Hunahpu, Seven Hunter, was the twin brother of Hun Hunahpu and the son of the divine couple Xpiyacoc and Xmucane. In the Popol Vuh, the two brothers were passionate ballplayers who spent their days on the great ballcourt on the surface of the earth. The thundering of the rubber ball and the stamping of feet carried down through the ground to Xibalba, where the Lords of Death heard it and were not pleased.

Unlike his brother, Vucub-Hunahpu had no wife and no children. He appears in the Popol Vuh as Hun Hunahpu's constant companion and partner in the ballgame, inseparable in both life and death.

The Summons to Xibalba

Annoyed by the noise above them, the death lords Hun Came and Vucub Came sent the Owl Messengers to summon the brothers to the underworld. The messengers arrived at the surface and delivered the command: the brothers must come to Xibalba to play ball with the lords of death. Xmucane, their mother, was distressed by the summons, but the brothers obeyed.

The journey took them down the steep road to the underworld, past the river of blood and the river of pus, through crossroads designed to confuse travelers.

Defeat and Death

Upon arriving in Xibalba, the brothers were immediately subjected to the lords' cruel tricks. The death lords placed wooden mannequins on their council seats, and when the brothers greeted the carved figures as though they were real, the assembled court erupted in mocking laughter. Humiliated, the brothers were then directed to sit on a burning hot bench, which scorched them as the lords laughed again.

The final test came in the Dark House, a chamber of absolute darkness. The brothers were given a torch and cigars and told to keep them burning all night without consuming them. They burned through both before dawn. Having failed the trial, they were brought to the ballcourt and defeated in the game. The lords sacrificed them both, burying Vucub-Hunahpu's body beneath the ballcourt.

Hun Hunahpu's head was placed in a calabash tree, where it would later speak to and impregnate Xquic, leading to the birth of the Hero Twins. Vucub-Hunahpu received no such afterlife. His story ends where his body lies, under the stone of the court.