Yolkwat Kitzalkwat

Los autores k'iche' del Popol Wuj afirman que Yolkwat Quetzalcóatl es el equivalente yaki a la deidad k'iche' Tojil. Señala el investigador k'iche' Sam Colop (2008: 159n258) que coincide con la interpretación del antropólogo Dennis Tedlock (1996: 305-306), "quien dice que el equivalente de Tojil no es Yolkwat ni Quetzalcóatl sino Tezcatlipoca y que en todo caso, esta comparación tiene un contenido político." Tezcatlipoca es la deidad de la obscuridad, por lo tanto se asocia Quetzalcóatl con la claridad y la renovación.

En su traducción española, Colop (2008: 159) escribe el nombre de la deidad así: 

Yolkwat

Quetzalcóatl

En la versión poética k'iche', el investigador k'iche' (1999: 149) escribe:

Yolkwat

Kitzalkwat

En las dos versiones del texto, Colop separa los dos nombres de la deidad, aunque se indica por el verbo singular (u b'i'/se llama) que es una sola figura.

According to Mayanist scholar Allen J. Christenson (2007: 217n606), the name Yolkwat is derived from the Nahuatl terms yol (heart) and coat (serpent). The second part of the title, Quetzalcóatl, is formed by the root words quetzal (quetzal bird/quetzal feathers) and coat (serpent). Quetzalcoatl, generally translated as “Feathered Serpent,” was a prominent deity in the pantheon of the Central Mexican Toltecs and Aztecs. Here the authors of the Popol Vuh suggest that this god of the Yaquis (Mexicans) was equivalent to their own patron deity, Tohil." In his literal poetic edition, Christenson (2003: lines 6212-6213) separates the names with a line break and a comma in the K'iche'-language column, "Yolkwat, / Kitzalkwat u b'i'" and with a line break in the English-language column: "Yolkwat / Quitzalcuat his name."

Mayanist scholar Allen J. Christenson (2007: 217n606) traces the name of this deity to Nahuatl, providing additional evidence of language and cultural contact between Mesoamerican societies. He writes, "Yolcuat (Nahua: yol—heart, coat—serpent) Quetzalcoatl (Nahua: quetzal—quetzal bird, quetzal feathers, coat—serpent). Quetzalcoatl, generally translated as 'Feathered Serpent,' was a prominent deity in the pantheon of the Central Mexican Toltecs and Aztecs. Here the authors of the Popol Vuh suggest that this god of the Yaquis (Mexicans) was equivalent to their own patron deity, Tohil."

Image credit: Carlos Alonso Caballero Vallejo (Wikimedia Commons).