Camino verde

The first time in which we arrive at the crossroads of Xibalba ("la cruzijada"), through the eyes of Junajpu and Wuqub Junajpu, we see four paths: red, black, white, yellow. These points correspond to the cosmic order of the universe, as understood in Maya color symbolism and spiritual terms (red = east; black = west; white = north; yellow = south). The brothers take the black way, the route to the underworld. But whent the Hero Twins, Junajpu and Xbalanke, reach the crossroads in this passage, the yellow way has been replaced by the green way, or what Sam Colop (2011: note 149, p. 221) calls "the way of life" ("el camino de la vida").

Dennis Tedlock (1996: 273) observes that Junajpu and Wuqub Junajpu "took the Black Road, whereas Junajpu an Xbalanque send a spy in that direction and later travel a road whose color is not specified. Perhaps it is the Green Road, which was not available to their fathers. In the five-part Mesoamerican directional scheme this would be the middle road, the axis mundi. In the PV, the Green Road is the only one a living human being ways to travel."

Colop (2011: nota 149, páginas 221-222), responding to Tedlock offers a different explanation of this scene at the crucijada: "Mi criterio, es, sin embargo, que aunque se nombra aquel camino, sí tomaron el camino negro porque siguieron la ruta de xu mensajero, xan, y saludan a los Señores en el orden exacto que aquel animal los va picando."