The Indians living in northern Central America and southwestern Mexico created a splendid Mayan culture in the 4th-10th centuries, and they reached a high level of material production in agriculture, handicrafts, construction, etc.
In terms of spiritual life, the Maya worshiped natural gods, and there were also sayings of heaven and hell, believing that the temple was full of joy, without pain and sorrow, and only delicious food and gardens for people to enjoy.
They also believe that there is hell, where the devil and death reign and where people suffer from hunger, cold, and labor.
Who goes to heaven and who goes to hell depends not only on one's earthly behavior, but also on one's position in society.
In literature, there are similar poems and oral myths and legends that reflect worship.
The most representative works that have survived are "Popol U" and "The Book of Chelon Barron", which originally means "Book of the Public" and was written by the Quiché people of Guatemala.
In 1524, when the Spanish conquistador Dro Alvarado invaded Guatemala, the Quiché rebelled and ambushed the enemy. Alvarado's heinous burning and looting led to the displacement of the Quiché.
Some fled to Chichikasdenango.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Spanish prenator Francisco Jimenez came to the monastery of San Totos and, because of his proficiency in the Quiché language, skillfully won the trust of the Dians, and received the Popol U.
The book was written during the conquest in the 16th century by a Quiché whose name is unknown in the Quiché language in Latin phonetics.
Jiménez translated the book into Spanish under the title "History of the Origins of the Indians in the Province of Guatemala".
The book is divided into three parts.
The first part deals with the creation of the world and the origin of man: the Almighty Creator created the earth and filled it with animals.
Because these animals do not praise the name of God and are destroyed.
So the creators created human bodies out of mud, but these human bodies were so soft that they could not stand, and when they met water, they turned into dirt, and their heads could not be turned, and their faces could only be turned sideways.
The gods decided to destroy the recreation. They created humanoid puppets that could talk and had descendants, but without blood in their bodies, they quickly became cracked.
In the end, kitchen utensils and poultry and beasts rebelled against the domination of the puppets, and the Creator fell into a downpour that destroyed them all.
The few puppets that survived fled deep into the mountains and turned into apes.
The gods recalculated and decided to make man out of the white matter of corn, which was the awakening of man.
They traveled through the mountains and rivers, learned the mysteries of the universe, and appreciated the kindness of the Creator God from the bottom of their hearts.
The second part follows the adventures of the mythical characters Unab, Isbarangai and Ischik, and how they fight the evil gods.
At the same time, it also tells how gods and prophets lived among animals and plants, and the daily life of human ancestors, the formation of tribes, and the wars between tribes.
The third part includes the origin of the Quiché nation, the names of the tribes, the names of successive elders or kings, and the historical process of the great migration and settlement of the people.
"Popol U" is a systematic introduction to the history of the origin and development of the Quiché people, which is of great value for understanding the thinking, lifestyle, material production and civilization of the ancient Indians.
Historians of Latin American literature believe that the profound philosophy and rich artistic imagination of Popol U are comparable to any ancient myth in the world.
In terms of animal intervention in human life, it can be compared to the Ramayana; In terms of narrating the adventures of heroes, it can be compared to Odysseus; In its depiction of the gods involved in human struggles, it can be compared to the Iliad.
The Book of Chelen Barron was discovered in the mid-19th century in the village of Chomayil, Mexico, and consists of six manuscripts.
They were handed over by the villagers to Bishop Carrio Anna.
After the bishop's death, he went to the library of Merida, and the translator and researcher of the Book of Chelon Barron was later stolen, according to Medeis Polio, who said that the content of the book was very large, mainly religious liturgy, but also history, medicine, astronomy, literature and so on.
The author was written by a Dian priest who learned the European language when the Spanish conquistadors entered Mexico in the 16th century.
The source material they drew on was the oral divination poems of the Indians for generations.
These ancient poems were passed down orally from the father to the son, and were memorized by memorization, and the priests recorded them in writing.
It was because the Spanish conquistadors slaughtered Indians and frantically destroyed ancient Indian temple buildings, and they feared that these cultural heritage would be in danger of being lost, so they secretly recorded it in writing.
Since the book contains mostly religious liturgical content, the priests regarded this matter as very holy.
Beginning in the 16th century, priests supplemented and secretly preserved this magnum opus, and it was not until it was discovered in the 19th century that it recorded the changes of the Indians on Yucatan Ox Island, and thus became an important historical source for understanding Maya culture.
The style of the Book of Chelen Barron is mostly in the form of poetry, with overlapping and dual lines in separate lines, and the creative technique and writing technique are quite mature.
There are two solemn poems of the Champera in the book, one is a myth about the origin of the world, and the other is a historical narrative poem about the capture of Qiqiqin Yi.
The Book of Chelon Barron is of great significance for the identification of Mayan hieroglyphs.
The Warriors of Layanar is a historical drama of Guatemalan Indians written in Quiché.
It was formed before the colonial period, and by the late 15th century, it had been performed as a traditional Jin dance form "drumming".
The plot depicts a war between the Quiché tribe and the Ravenal tribe.
The main characters are the Ketche warriors, the Ravenal warriors, and the tribal chief of Ravenal.
In one war, the Ravenal warriors defeated the Quiché warriors and captured them.
The former interrogated the latter and recounted the latter's unjust deeds.
The latter refused to give in and was finally sentenced to death.
The Ravenal Samurai, which is now circulating, is based on this French translation.
