In Maya culture, the sacrifice of twins held special significance. Twins were perceived as having unique spiritual powers and symbolized important themes in Maya mythology and religion. They represented the concept of duality – the opposing and complementary forces existing in nature and the universe. They embodied the balance between good and evil, light and dark, life and death. Twins were seen as the manifestation of mythical twin heroes who sacrificed themselves for the benefit of humans, and thus, the sacrifice of twins was considered a reenactment of this myth and an attempt to influence the gods. In the myth of the hero twins, cycles of death and rebirth are described. The twins underwent processes of death and resurrection to overcome the gods of the underworld, symbolizing resurrection and the eternal cycle of life.
Evidence of this practice of sacrificing twins has now been discovered at a temple in Chichen Itza (the central Maya city in the Yucatan). Years ago, a burial site for children was discovered, and now, after genetic analysis, it has been revealed that the children appear to be twins, or at least close-aged siblings. The research shows that all 64 children examined were male, contradicting the assumption that there was a preference for female sacrifices. It was found that many of the children had very close genetic relationships, including two pairs of identical twins. The children had similar diets, indicating that they were raised in the same households. The burial site, discovered to be an underground cistern connected to a cave, suggests that the children were sacrificed to appease the Maya rain gods or to ensure successful maize harvests.
Appendix: The Maya Twin Myth
Hunahpu means “the warrior who shoots with a blowgun” in the Maya language. There were two twins, the first called “Hun Hunahpu,” meaning “the first warrior,” and the second called “Vucub Hunahpu,” meaning “the seventh warrior.” They were excellent warriors, as their names suggest, and also outstanding players of the ball game “Pok Ta Pok.” The gods of the underworld (Xibalba), who did not like the idea of someone challenging them, wanted to prove that they were the best players and invited the twins to play. The twins lost, and as punishment for their audacity, they were executed.
The head of Hun Hunahpu was decapitated and hung on a tree, and since then, the fruits of the tree on which it was hung became the hard balls of the calabash tree, known as jicaro, named after the cups made from the shells of its fruits, resembling a gourd. The juice of the fruit dripped from it, a strange thing because its seeds cannot be extracted without breaking the shell. Nonetheless, one of the seeds dripped directly into the hand of the daughter of one of the gods of the underworld, and she became pregnant. It is possible that she drank from a cup made from the fruit or drank horchata made from its seeds. In any case, she became pregnant and gave birth to twins, naming them Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Since they were considered illegitimate, she had to flee the underworld, and they continued to be pursued even outside of it.
However, they survived, grew up, and became excellent warriors and champions in the ball game. This again angered the gods of the underworld, so they invited them to a “battle.” The game itself was very intense, and the gods struggled to defeat the brothers, reaching many times a tie-break situation that lasted for days. The gods tried to sabotage the game, cheat, deceive the brothers, and manipulate events, such as insisting on playing with a ball that turned out to be the skull of their father. One of the gods’ tricks was to unleash deadly bats on the brothers. The brothers hid inside their blowguns, but Hunahpu peeked out and was injured. The gods took advantage of this, decapitated him, and demanded to play with the skull as a ball. The remaining brother used an “out” situation to swap the head with a gourd, reattached the head to his brother’s body, and brought him back to life. The game continued until a hit to the gourd caused it to burst, leading to a narrow victory for the twins.
The gods were angry and plotted to murder the brothers. Eventually, they deceived them and burned them, scattering their ashes in the sea. However, a trick by the brothers caused their ashes to merge back, and they were reborn as catfish, which later turned into young boys. Returning to life in disguise, they performed miracles, including many tricks of burning and rising from the ashes. This impressed the gods of the underworld so much that they demanded to see the wonders. When the brothers performed in front of the gods of the underworld, they revealed their identities through trickery and killed the Xibalba. They ensured that the gods of the underworld would no longer receive offerings from humans. They retrieved the remains of their father and brought them back to the surface, but instead of staying there, they continued to ascend to the sky, becoming the sun and the moon.
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