CHAACCHAAC
Real Name: Chaac
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Upperworld) god
Occupation: God of rain, storms, and lightning; also associated with agriculture and fertility
Group Membership: Ahau (Maya gods or “Ajaw” in modernized Maya)
orthography)
Affiliations: the four Chaacs; Itzamna;
worshipped by the Mayans
Enemies: Ahpuch;
possibly Camazotz
Known Relatives: (Per myth history) Kinich Ahau (brother), adoptive parents
Aliases: Chaak, Chaack, God B
Base of Operations: Chaac at least visits or has some association with Upperworld,
a small planetary object enclosed on four sides by giant iguanas’
bodies and existing in a small “pocket” dimension adjacent to Earth; an
interdimensional nexus to Earth exists at Tulan-Zuiva, “the Place of
the Seven Caves,” somewhere near the Yucatán Peninsula’s ancient city
Chichen Itza;
at least in the past, he reportedly dwelled within Earth
First Appearance: Unknown (to me! If you know, let me know);
(Marvel)
Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica (2009)
Powers/Abilities: Chaac is superhumanly strong and durable, presumably lifting at least 25 tons.
Chaac can command the storm’s elements (wind, rain, thunder, lightning, etc.).
Like the rest of the Ahau, Chaac ceased aging at adulthood, and he cannot die by conventional means. He is resistant to conventional diseases and injury, and he has superhuman healing and endurance. Only dispersal of a major portion of his bodily molecules would cause death, and even then resurrection via other gods may be possible.
He carries a shield and according to legend wields a war axe.
He is served by the four Chaacs, four weather spirits (possibly manifestations of Chaac himself), located at the world's "four corners." See comments
Height: Unrevealed (likely 6'2" or tall)
Weight: Unrevealed (it is unrevealed whether his body is truly
more dense and massive than mortal tissue, or whether his tissue is
more durable by its own nature without being more massive)
Eyes: Unrevealed (likely dark)
Hair: Unrevealed
Distinguishing Features:
Chaac has pronounced (fanged) lower canine teeth and a somewhat
elongated (sometimes proboscis-like) nose. Many accounts report him as
having scaled skin and/or large, round eyes. See comments for a more extreme appearance.
History:
(Myth history) - Chaac is the Mayan god of rain and lightning.
(Myth history) - Chaac and his brother, the sun god Kinich Ahua, were tormented by their evil, adoptive parents, whome they eventually defeated via trickery and battle.
Chaac later had an affair with Kinich's wife and suffered great punishment for this.
Chaac is credited with bringing to the Maya people the essential maize
(a type of corn) plant, which was vital to their survival. He also
provided the rain to maintain the maize.
(Conan of the Isles / All-New
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#3: Council of Godheads
entry / Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica) - The
Ahau were worshipped by the Antillans (Atlantean descendents) on the
island Metemhoc and likely elsewhere circa 10,000 BC and perhaps
earlier, and by the Mayans of Southern Mexico and northern Central
America from 1800 BC to the 16th century AD.
(Thor:
Asgard's Avenger: Ahpuch entry) - The death god Ahpuch was an ally
to gods of war and sacrifices and a rival to creator god Itzamna and
agricultural god Chaac.
Comments: Created by parties unknown to me;
(adapted to the Marvel Universe by Anthony Flamini and Ben Oliver.
Thanks to Kevin Garcia for guidance in myth history and to David Zuckerman for noting the reference in Thor: Asgard's Avenger: Ahpuch entry
Courtesy of study.com
Chaac is the brother of the sun god, Kinich Ahau. Legend has it
that the two brothers were tormented by their evil, adoptive parents. Though
they defeated them through trickery and battle.
Once free, however, Chaac had
an affair with his brother's wife and suffered great punishment for it. When it
rains, Chaac is crying in sorrow for what he did.
However, in mythology,
sometimes stories like this conflict with other stories told of the same event.
There are also myths that say Chaac carries a large ax with which he strikes
the clouds, splitting them open for the rain to pour out. When we get to the
section on the four Chaacs, we'll see another explanation.
Unlike many rain gods from
around the world, Chaac does not live in the sky. Instead, he dwells within the
earth where the sacred waters of creation flow out of caves and cenotes, water-filled sinkholes. In ancient
artwork, his mouth is often drawn as a gaping cave opening. However, he is also
depicted with a long, curling nose.
Chaac is also credited with
bringing the essential maize plant
to the Maya, a corn crop vital to their survival. In that story, Chaac wielded
his ax to split open a stone, sometimes said to be a mountain or a boulder.
Inside, he discovered a sacred maize seedling. In kindness, he gave the
seedling to the Maya people to feed them.
For the Maya, Chaac controls
the rain and controls whether crops thrive or wither. Too much rain and the
flood destroys the maize, an indigenous word for a type of corn, but too little
and the fields dry up. For a culture dependent on farming, especially one with
a main dependency on one crop, a drought or flood can spell famine and death
for whole communities. Chaac must provide just the right amount of rain and it
must rain the right way, usually a long slow rain that sinks into the ground
rather than flowing away quickly from a hard rain. You can see why Chaac is so
important!
Courtesy of Gods and Goddesses.com
Chac is the Mayan god of Rain. He is very similar to the Aztec
god Tlaloc.
At times, Chac could manifest into four
different gods, or parts. Each god had a cardinal direction and color, as well
as a unique name. These manifestations are as follows:
·
Sac Xib Chac, North, White
·
Chac Xib Chac, East, Red
·
Kan Xib Chac, South, Yellow
·
Ek Xib Chac, West, Black
These four gods, or parts, are sometimes
referred to as The Chacs. These four could also be seen as
assistants to the god Chac.
Appearance:
Powers & Abilities:
Worship:
Note – The Mayans had two calendars.
One was similar to ours, and had 360 days. The other was a religious calendar,
and had 260 days.
Each of the four Chac gods was associated with
one of the four Burner periods. Not a lot is known about Burner rituals and
periods, but they are mentioned in several Mayan texts. It is possible that a
sacred fire was constantly lit and tended to by a priest for the duration of a
65 day Burner period. After a given Burner period ended, a new priest would
tend to the fire.
Sadly, in later Mayan times, another ritual
involving child sacrifice became associated with worship of Chac. These
sacrifices became more numerous in periods of long droughts.
Facts about Chac
·
He is sometimes referred to as god B. This is due to Paul
Schellhas’ classification of the Mayan gods around the turn of the 20th century
as he examined the four Mayan codices.
·
His name can also be spelled Chaac, Chaak or Chaack.
·
Depictions of this deity can be found at Mayan sites including
Chichen Itza, Copan and Peten.
·
According to Mayan mythology, he created lightning, rain and
thunder by throwing his stone or jade ax at the clouds.
·
He is one of the major gods of Mayan mythology, and is depicted
more than any other Mayan god.
·
Chac is also the name for the Mayan color red.
Courtesy of Worldhistory.org
Chac
The supreme god of storms and rain and associated with agriculture and
fertility. He was known as the Lord of the Rains and Winds and maintained
important water sources such as cenotes, wells, streams, and springs. He was
widely popular and prayers and sacrifices were frequently offered to court his
favor and that of the four, lesser, chacs. A lord of the sky, he was the sworn
enemy of Camazotz of Xibalba and was thought of as a caring, if unpredictable,
deity.
Chacs
These were four weather spirits, located at each of the corners of the world,
who were under the command of the great god Chac and did his bidding.
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
Contemporary Yucatec Maya farmers distinguish many more aspects
of the rainfall and the clouds and personify them as different,
hierarchically-ordered rain deities. The Chorti Maya have preserved important
folklore regarding the process of rain-making, which involved rain deities
striking rain-carrying snakes with their axes.
The rain deities had
their human counterparts. In the traditional Mayan (and Mesoamerican)
community, one of the most important functions was that of rainmaker, which
presupposed an intimate acquaintance with (and thus, initiation by) the rain
deities, and a knowledge of their places and movements. According to a
Late-Postclassic Yucatec tradition, Chac Xib Chaac (the rain
deity of the east) was the title of a king of Chichen Itza,[3] and
similar titles were bestowed upon Classic rulers as well (see below).
Among the
rituals for the rain deities, the Yucatec Chʼa Cháak ceremony for asking rain centers on a
ceremonial banquet for the rain deities. It includes four boys (one for each
cardinal point) acting and chanting as frogs. Asking for rain and crops was
also the purpose of 16th-century rituals at the cenotes, of Yucatán. Young men and women were lowered
into these wells, so as to make them enter the realm of the rain deities.
Alternatively, they were thrown into the wells later to be drawn up again, and
give oracles.
The rain
deity is a patron of agriculture. A well-known myth in which the Chaacs (or
related Rain and Lightning deities) have an important role to play is about the
opening of the mountain in which the maize was hidden. In Tzotzil mythology, the rain deity also figures as
the father of nubile women representing maize and vegetables. In some versions
of the Qʼeqchiʼ myth of Sun and Moon, the rain deity Choc
(or Chocl) 'Cloud' is the brother of Sun; together they defeat their aged
adoptive mother and her lover. Later, Chocl commits adultery with his brother's
wife and is duly punished; his tears of regret give origin to the rain.
Versions of this myth[4] show the rain deity Chac in his war-like fury, pursuing
the fleeing Sun and Moon, and attacking them with his lightning bolts.
Chaac is
usually depicted with a human body showing reptilian or amphibian scales, and
with a non-human head evincing fangs and a long, pendulous nose. In the Classic
style, a shell serves as his ear ornament. He often carries shield and
lightning-axe, the axe being personified by a closely related deity, God K, called Bolon Dzacab in Yucatec. The Classic
Chaac sometimes shows features of the Central Mexican (Teotihuacan) precursor of Tlaloc.
A large
part of the most important Maya book, the Dresden Codex, is dedicated to the Chaacs, their locations, and
activities.[5] It illustrates the intimate relationship existing
between the Chaacs, the Bacabs, and the aged goddess, Ixchel. The main source on the 16th-century Yucatec
Maya, Bishop Diego de Landa, combines the four Chaacs with the four Bacabs and Pauahtuns into one concept. The Bacabs
were aged deities governing the subterranean sphere and its water supplies.
This profile was completed 8/4/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Chaac should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
All-New
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#3: Council of Godheads
entry (March, 2006) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer), Sean
McQuaid, Mark O'English, Ronald Byrd, Michael Hoskin, Eric J. Moreels,
Stuart Vandal, Bill Lentz, Richard Green, Anthony Flamini, Barry Reese,
Mike Fichera & Chris Biggs (writers), Michael Short (assistant editor), Jeff Youngquist & Jennifer Grunwald
(editors)
Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica (2009) - Anthony Flamini
(head writer, coordinator), Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Paul Cornell
(consulting writers), Ben Oliver (Ahau artist), Jeff Youngquist
(editor)
Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#14 (June, 2010) - Jeff Christiansen & Mike
Fichera (head writers/coordinators),
Markus Raymond & Mike O'Sullivan (writers, coordination assistants) Stuart Vandal, Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Madison Carter,
Kevin Garcia, Gabriel Shechter, Jacob Rougemont, Rob London, Rich
Green, Chris Biggs, David Wiltfong, Jeph York, Mark O'English, &
Mike Gagnon (writers), Ben Oliver (Ahau artist), Mark D. Beazley
(editor, special projects), John Denning (associate editor), Alex
Starbuck (assistant editor). Jeff Youngquist &
Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
First posted: 09/12/2021
Last updated: 09/10/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!