Ultima Thule in Popol Vuh

Ultima Thule - Hyperborea Sergey Teleguin, dr., prof. (Moscow) THE MYSTERY OF THE ARCTIC MYTH IN “POPOL VUH” In the year 1903, the book “The Arctic Home in the Vedas”, was first published. Written by the Indian philosopher Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920), the work was an analysis of the texts “Rigveda” and “Avesta”. Tilak came to the conclusion that many of the hymns that comprise these texts came not from India or Iran, but from the ancient polar region. Tilak noted that the description of long months of darkness, the protracted daybreak, the movement of the sun along the horizon and the position of the pole star directly overhead, correspond to the description of the sky at the North Pole. Scientists estimate that Indo-European tribes inhabited the polar region some time between the end of the Ice Age (10, 000 years BC) and an abrupt drop in temperature around 7000 BC, which caused the tribes to abandon their frozen land and disperse across Europe and Asia. In the myths of Indo-European peoples Tilak found descriptions of the polar sky and recollections of the tragic loss of a God-given land. Yet why did Tilak decide the tribes resettled only in Europe and Asia? What about the Americas? As is well known many native North and South American tribes have similarities to Europeans in terms of their external appearance and blood type. In their myths we can also find recollections of an ancient polar homeland. First and foremost, we can turn to the Maya and Quiche religious text “Popol Vuh”.

The Endless Night In the tropics, where the Mayan tribes live, a twenty-four hour period is split into light and dark spells, the day and night. However, the first thing that hits you while reading the Mayan’s holy book is a description of a very long night lasting many days. All events, described in the first, second and third chapters of the book occur “during night”. It is said that the sun had not been created yet. Epic heroes Hunahpu and Ixbalanque carry out all their heroic deeds “in the darkness of night”. All people, heroes and even Gods wait impatiently for the coming of the sun, but it never appears. Over the world an endless night prevails.

This is perfectly understandable. The idea that temporality is different in the kingdom of God than in the world of men can be found in many myths of different peoples, including the Mayans. If a day on earth is made up of day and night, then in the world of Gods day and night stretch out over a year. One widespread myth concerns a man who ends up in the world of Gods.

It seems to him that he spent three days there, however when he returns home it turns out that he was there for three years (or even three hundred years – a typical epic exaggeration). A day in the world of Gods covers a whole year. Without doubt, such a myth could only have come about in the North Pole, where dark and light periods divide not a day but a year into two parts. The polar night goes on for some months when the sun is completely hidden.

During the polar night only one thing lights up the dark sky – the northern lights. In “Popol Vuh” a man by the name of Vucub-Caquix is referred to. He announces himself as “the true sun for the whole world”. However, the real sun is not yet to be created. Vucub-Caquix simply has feathers that shine brightly in the darkness. As he is the “false sun” he is killed. It is possible that this character is a mythical description of the northern lights – a false light in the polar night.

The Long Dawn In Guatemala, where the Quiche live, and in the different countries of Central America, down breaks into day very quickly. The sun rises vertically on the horizon and quickly fills the skies. However, in “Popol Vuh” we come across a completely different description of dawn. In the myth, the holy men wait for a long time for the coming of dawn preparing them for the event.

The text of “Popol Vuh” is concerned not only with the longing to break the melancholy of the long night but also the hope of dawn. When advised, all the tribes gather so they can together “await dawn”. Almost the entire third chapter of “Popol Vuh” describes this expectation of dawn and the feeling of the people in their hope of seeing first light. The Gods warn the people “dawn is drawing closer”. But the people and priests fear that dawn will not come and they will never

see the “birth of the sun”. In the end the sun rises. Within the religious plan, this event was so great as to provoke in all living things genuine awe. The beasts, seeing the dawn, stand on their hind legs and growl from happiness. And rejoicing breaks out amongst the people. Together they sink to their knees and begin to sing hymns. Such feelings are extremely unlikely in the tropics where dawn is regular and the sun rises every morning. Such a developed cult of the sun, uniting feelings of happiness between all men, animals and birds, could only appear where the coming of light after a lengthy night represents a great act. “Popol Vuh” gives us a clear picture of this long night, the fear of the sun not appearing, the tense expectation of sunrise and also a picture of the long dawn when sunrise “flares up”. However, such a picture can only be related to one region – the North Pole. There is no other way to explain this deeply religious experience of the coming of the sun without reference to Tilak’s polar theory. This daily occurrence could not incite such happiness and real religious ecstasy. The cult of the sun could arise only in the polar region where the rising of light is born in the souls of people who believe in the world’s renewal and the immortality not only of God, but also of man.

The Mystery of the “Night Sun” The main part of the text “Popol Vuh” tells of the journey of the twins Hunahpu and Ixbalanque in the underground kingdom of the dead, Xibalba. They want to meet their father there and take revenge on Gods of the underworld for his death. It is the most tragic and dramatic part of the text, and also the most mysterious. Hunahpu must become the sun and his brother the moon. The time spent by the Sun God, Hunahpu, in the world of the dead is the mystery of the “night sun”. Many people believed that at night the Sun God went to this underground world and became the “sun of the dead”. Here Hunahpu must pass a set of challenging tests in order to have the right to turn back into the sun and a God. “Popol Vuh” describes the initiation ceremony that is conducted for a person in the world of Gods. Hunahpu must not only pass all the tests, but also conquer the Gods of the kingdom of the dead to become the God of the living and be born as the sun.

This description of Hunahpu’s stay in Xibalba corresponds to the description of the yearly cycle of the movement of the sun at the North Pole. The basic layout of the polar myth can be described as follows: God the Creator makes the universe out of darkness and chaos and then retires from the world. To replace him, he sends his son to the world – the Sun God who was born on the day of the spring equinox. This God of light grows up and ascends to the heavens, reaching maturity on the Midsummer Day. But then he grows older and tired, his powers diminish and he dies on the autumn equinox. His death is connected with his desire to go back to his Father. In the end, the Sun God meets him in the underworld, the kingdom of night, on the winter solstice. On this day the divine Creator lets his Son in on the secrets of the night, endowing him with new powers. After this the Sun God comes back to life on the spring equinox. Traces of this myth can be found in “Rigveda”, “Avesta” and “Popol Vuh”.

When and Where Was This?

Hunahpu and Ixbalanque are twins. In the mythology of the Mayans they represent the zodiac sign Gemini. “Popol Vuh” informs us that Hunahpu left the underworld, rose above the earth and became the sun, interrupting the duration of the night. From an astrological point of view, this myth means that on the spring equinox the polar night ceases and the sun appears and this happens during Gemini. As is well known, now the sun appears in the constellation of Pisces on the spring equinox, but it wasn’t always like this. In different historical periods, sunrise occurred in different constellations (Leo, Taurus, Aries and in the future Aquarius). We can establish that the “era of Gemini” was when the equinox was during this constellation and the sun “was born”. This occurred sometime between 6650 and 4350 BC. It is also possible to exactly establish that the myth of “Popol Vuh” about the Sun God Hunahpu appeared 6500 years BC. “Popol Vuh” informs us that the first people who for so long awaited the coming of the sun settled at first in the ancient town of Tulan-Zuiva. It was exactly here, that God came to the people, bringing them religion and cults. The long night reigned in the region where Tulan had

been built. However, people were happy and they had a collective belief and common language.

Then one day a terrible cold came. Snow and hail flurried from the sky, water iced over, fires died out. After this the people left their ancient town and to warmer areas. But, due to this, their speech changed. The single, common language was split up and they stopped understanding each other. This is, of course, very similar to the description of the construction of Babylon in the Bible. Ancient Tulan, which died away after this huge drop in temperature, was the old polar motherland of the Indo-European tribes. This memory of Tulan has been preserved by other peoples. The Greeks and the Romans believed in the existence of a polar continent “Ultima Thule”. The Celts asserted that in the far north they had at their disposal the town of “Thalias”.

The French philosopher Rene Guenon showed in his book “King of the World” that ancient Tulan was the old polar motherland of the Indo-Europeans and maybe the whole of humanity.

We researched and reconstructed the text “Popol Vuh”, applying Tilak’s polar theory.

The myths of the Quiche tribes could not have arisen where these people live today. Maybe Indo-Europeans and the ancestors of the Mayans did both indeed come from the North Pole. *** Gracias al metodo de la mitorestauracion fue descubierto un mito polar contenido en el texto sagrado de los Quiches titulado “Popol Vuh”. En su trabajo el autor se apoya en las obras de B.G. Tilak, J. Evola, R. Guenon, W.F. Warren, H. Wirth. ***