page_title: Popol Vuh
hierarchical_section_title: Popol Vuh
caption_attribution_description: Español: Primera Página del manuscrito del Popol Vuh, Guardado en la Biblioteca de Newberry, Chicago, Colección Ayer
context_page_description: Popol Vuh is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit the Guatemalan Highlands, Mexican Chiapas, Campeche and Quintana Roo states, and areas of Belize.
  The Popol Vuh is a foundation sacred narrative of the Kʼicheʼ people from long before the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It includes the Mayan creation myth, the exploits of the Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and a chronicle of the Kʼicheʼ people.
  The name "Popol Vuh" translates as "Book of the Community", "Book of Counsel", or more literally as "Book of the People". It was originally preserved through oral tradition until approximately 1550, when it was recorded in writing. The documentation of the Popol Vuh is credited to the 18th-century Spanish Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez, who prepared a manuscript with a transcription in Kʼicheʼ and parallel columns with translations into Spanish.
  Like the Chilam Balam and similar texts, the Popol Vuh is of particular importance given the scarcity of early accounts dealing with Mesoamerican mythologies. After the Spanish conquest, missionaries and colonists destroyed many documents.
context_section_description: Popol Vuh (also Popol Wuj or Popul Vuh or Pop Vuj) is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit the Guatemalan Highlands, Mexican Chiapas, Campeche and Quintana Roo states, and areas of Belize.
  The Popol Vuh is a foundation sacred narrative of the Kʼicheʼ people from long before the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It includes the Mayan creation myth, the exploits of the Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and a chronicle of the Kʼicheʼ people.
  The name "Popol Vuh" translates as "Book of the Community", "Book of Counsel", or more literally as "Book of the People". It was originally preserved through oral tradition until approximately 1550, when it was recorded in writing. The documentation of the Popol Vuh is credited to the 18th-century Spanish Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez, who prepared a manuscript with a transcription in Kʼicheʼ and parallel columns with translations into Spanish.
  Like the Chilam Balam and similar texts, the Popol Vuh is of particular importance given the scarcity of early accounts dealing with Mesoamerican mythologies. After the Spanish conquest, missionaries and colonists destroyed many documents.
caption: The oldest surviving written account of Popol Vuh (ms c. 1701 by Francisco Ximénez, O.P.)
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