ChichicastenangoChichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town, with a population of 71,394 (2018 census), and the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name in the El Quiché department of Guatemala. It is located in a mountainous region about northwest of Guatemala City, at an altitude of 1,965 m (6,447 ft). The Spanish conquistadors gave the town its name from the Nahuatl name used by their allied soldiers from Tlaxcala: Tzitzicaztenanco, or City of Nettles. Its original name was Chaviar.
Lake AtitlánLake Atitlán (Lago de Atitlán, atiˈtlan) is a lake in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre mountain range. The lake is located in the Sololá Department of southwestern Guatemala. It is known as the deepest lake in Central America. Atitlán means "between the waters". In the Nahuatl language, "atl" is the word for water, and "titlan" means between. The "tl" at the end of the word "atl" is dropped (because it is a grammatical suffix) and the words are combined to form "Atitlán".
TohilTohil (toˈχil, also spelled Tojil) was a deity of the Kʼicheʼ Maya in the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, Tohil was the patron god of the Kʼicheʼ. was included of the Tolteca pantheon that was influenced in the high lands mayan culture in the post-clasic. Tohil's principal function was that of a fire deity and he was also both a war god, sun god and the god of rain. Tohil was also associated with mountains and he was a god of war, sacrifice and sustenance.
Resplendent quetzalThe resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) is a small bird found in southern Mexico and Central America that lives in tropical forests, particularly montane cloud forests. They are part of the family Trogonidae and have two recognized subspecies, P. m. mocinno and P. m. costaricensis. Like other quetzals, the resplendent is mostly omnivorous; its diet mainly consists of fruits of plants in the laurel family, Lauraceae, but it occasionally also preys on insects, lizards, frogs and snails.
Usumacinta RiverThe Usumacinta River (usumaˈsinta; named after the howler monkey) is a river in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. It is formed by the junction of the Pasión River, which arises in the Sierra de Santa Cruz (in Guatemala) and the Salinas River, also known as the Rio Chixoy, or the Rio Negro, which descends from the Sierra Madre de Guatemala. It defines part of the border between Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chiapas, then continues its northwesterly course, meandering through the Mexican state of Tabasco to the Gulf of Mexico.
Guatemalan HighlandsThe Guatemalan Highlands is an upland region in southern Guatemala, lying between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north. The highlands lie above 1,000 feet and are made up of a series of high valleys enclosed by mountains and dominated by volcanoes that are both active and extinct. The local name for the region is Altos, meaning "highlands." The relief of the mountainous country which lies north of the Highlands and drains into the Atlantic is varied by terraces, ridges and underfalls; but its general configuration is compared by E.
QʼuqʼumatzQʼuqʼumatz (qʼuːqʼuːˈmats; alternatively Gukumatz) was a god of wind and rain of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ Maya. It was the Feathered Serpent that according to the Popol Vuh created the world and humanity, together with the god Tepeu. It carried the sun across the sky and down into the underworld and acted as a mediator between the various powers in the Maya cosmos. It is considered to be the equivalent of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl and of Kukulkan, of the Yucatec Maya. Qʼuqʼumatz was also associated with water, clouds, and the sky.
KukulkanK’uk’ulkan, also spelled Kukulkan (kuːkʊlˈkɑːn; "Plumed Serpent", "Amazing Serpent"), is the Mesoamerican serpent deity of the Pre-Columbine Yucatec Maya. It is closely related to the deity Qʼuqʼumatz of the Kʼicheʼ people and to Quetzalcoatl of Aztec mythology. Prominent temples to Kukulkan are found at archaeological sites in the Yucatán Peninsula, such as Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Mayapan. The depiction of the Feathered Serpent is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica.
JacawitzJacawitz (/χäkäˈwits/) (also spelt Jakawitz, Jakawits, Qʼaqʼawits and Hacavitz) was a mountain god of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ Maya of highland Guatemala. He was the patron of the Ajaw Kʼicheʼ lineage and was a companion of the sun god Tohil. It is likely that he received human sacrifice. The word jacawitz means "mountain" in the lowland Maya language, and the word qʼaqʼawitz of the highland Maya means "fire mountain", which suggests that Jacawitz was mainly a fire deity, much like Tohil.
