This is the most beautiful book of Indigenous America, and without doubt the oldest document on pre-Hispanic civilization.
“The Pop Wuh, the Book of Time, represents for the New World what the Epic of Gilgamesh or Genesis represented for the Old World. A story of the creation of the universe, it tells of the rise of Wuqub Hunahpu, Lord Seven Blowgun, his initiatory journey into the underworld empire of Hun Kamé, Lord of Xibalba, and his union with the first virgin, Ixcic, who will give birth to the hero Hunahpu Chbalanké, herald of the appearance of the Sun and of the first creatures — the ancestors of the kings of the Kʼicheʼ land, Among the Agaves, which later became Guatemala.
“This new (Spanish) translation of the great book of the Kʼicheʼ Maya is without a doubt the most authentic. Adrián Chávez is a Kʼicheʼ Indian who dedicated his life to the study of his mother tongue — and to correcting the transcription errors of Father Francisco Jiménez and the misinterpretations of previous translations. Thanks to the old master — sadly departed before seeing the publication of this translation into French — the Book of Time of the ancient Kʼicheʼ Maya becomes familiar to us. At times mysterious, enigmatic, but always imaginative — one might say novelistic — in its richness and its sung rhythm, this voice belongs to one of the most enduring wisdoms of the world.”
J.M.G. Le Clézio
French Translation
I am not sharing here Anny Amberni’s book, but rather the French translation of the manuscript. Her book contains much more than the translation. If you wish to read the complete work, it is available for sale in bookstores and available in libraries.
Manuscript source: library.osu.edu
