Quiché Maya

Yet another book that makes me sound like a conspiracy theorist when I try to explain it to people. I think my favorite line I like to throw out is "and then his head got cut off, but they played basketball with it?".

All jokes aside, I originally read the human creation story and watched an analysis video about this for a class, and was struck by how the historians referred to this as the craziest mythology they had read, and thought that couldn't possibly be true.

Believe me, they weren't joking. Recall the amazing summary I threw out at the beginning of this review, and know that that is only the beginning.

For a bit of context, the Popol Vuh is both a compilation of Mayan history and mythology. It wasn't recorded until the Spanish came and decided the best way to destroy Mayan culture would be to write down their most important book, which is wild considering that is the sole reason why we still have these stories today.

If you've ever liked mythology (Percy Jackson fans I'm looking at you) and don't need it to be spoon fed to you through a fictionalized plot, give this book a chance. You'll thank me later when you're trying to explain to your loved ones why you shouldn't blindly reach into trees if it seems like they are talking to you, and that we really should be more wary of dentists.… (meer)

I had NO idea what I was getting into with this. My fifteen-year-old had read about this book when he was researching some project for school, so when he saw it at the bookstore he got excited and said we should read it for family story time. Obviously I said yes.

So this is a verse translation of the Mayan epic origin story. Did I get absolutely stressed about probably mispronouncing ever single name in the story, despite how many times I looked them up? Yes. Did I have a surprising amount of fun reading mythic poetry out loud anyway? Absolutely yes! And the rest of the family enjoyed it, too!… (meer)