The Hummingbird in Mayan Folklore

There has been much controversy in the news lately some say the Mayan calendar predicting the 2012 end of the world scenario was dated incorrectly since the Gregorian calendar was not taken into account and there was 11 days missing you can read it below on the New York Post online

Reading of Mayan Calendar suggests end of the world next week

I survived Y2k, Climate change dating, Cancer, 2012 and NEOs so I will not hold my breath on this one.

Honk! Honk!

There has been plenty of doom and gloom in the news so I decided to cheer you all up with this lovely Mayan tale about the Hummingbird.

The Mayans considered the Hummingbird as a sacred bird. The Hummingbird’s feathers were not just beautiful to them, they held special powers.

Mayans believed that Hummingbirds could travel between humans sending messages through thoughts from the living to the dead and from the dead to living.
Hummingbirds were Harbingers of good fortune so if one hovered near you they could transform your bad luck to good luck.
Hummingbirds would transform loving messages from one person’s positive wishes to their living friend or family member.

Mayan Tale of the Hummingbird Tzunuum

Tzunuum was crafted by the Great spirit, this is when the Hummingbird were plain or neutral without the spectacular colors we observe on them today.

Tzunuum was soon to wed, finding she had zilch to wear to her own wedding. No buk (dress) or uh,uhaj (necklace).

A bird called Ya took pity upon Tzunuum for being without a dress or jewelry for her wedding. Ya plucked some of her flame colored plumes and gifted them to Tzunuum.

This had a domino effect and the other birds such as a motmot, cardinal and the bluebird Uchilchil began to pluck off some of their own feathers and gift them to Tzunuum for her to attain colorful plumage for her nuptials.

A friendly bee name Canac buzzed around and invited the nearby animals to the wedding ritual. All the bird friends of Tzunuum stitched all the rainbow of feathers conjointly to craft a brilliant wedding dress.

On Tzunuum’s Wedding day all her companions surprised her with the magnificent rainbow wedding dress and all the invited animals appeared before her.

Tzunuum was so appreciative for the beautiful dress her friends had crafted, the Great Spirit witnessed her gratefulness, he sent his courier the swallow named Cozumel to grant Tzunuum the luxury of wearing her rainbow gown permanently.

That is how the Mayan Hummingbird attained her colorful feathers.

Below photo of a purple throat Hummingbird in Public Domain (Wikipedia)