The Birth Frog of the Maya

For the concept "birth of" Linda Schele translated a visual which she discovered as a modismo "to touch the earth." The glyph she discovered on the Alfardas at the Temple of the Sun in Palenque was a "hand" touching the glyph "caban," (the earth). It was a concept that easily lent itself to glyphic representation. It expressed the same concept as another, now familiar glyph, identified as an upended "frog." The "frog" glyph ("to be born") is a more concise variant (one-form) than the hand, earth glyph (two forms).

We don't know yet if a visual concept or a phonetic element was the main purpose of the frog iconography within the Mayan glyphs. This particular glyph "word" was defined and translated as "birth of" due to its location in the dating sequence of the text were it was found.

Recently, I came upon a book about iguanas. This animal is cooked for tamales and other delicacies in southern Mexico. It can be found in the mercados of local cities of the warmer climes.

The pictures of this animal showed a very important element that I had never noticed before on the few I had seen in the zoos. Behind the head, just below the ear was a disk of skin. It was much like the ear spools of the Maya and Aztecs, but more important, it also appeared to relate to the scroll design that emerges from the back of the maw of the frog glyph illustrated above. Its mouth is outlined by square segments,1 similar to other "frog" glyphs found on the panels.

A frog on the other hand, does have, in this instance, has the same configuration as the glyph. The eye unit of the glyph is actually part of the face similar to the iguana, but a normal frog has extended bulging eyes. Iguana chins are rounded or pointed and has teeth whereas the frog has soft skin under a very wide toothless mouth.

One reason an Iguana with an ear disk image could be identified as the "birth" glyphs instead of a "frog." is offered by L. Antonio Chevez of the Maya Lenca people of Easter, El Salavdor.
I remember some ancient stories about the iguana. The reason why iguanas are used to represent "touching the earth" which Linda Schele found to be equivalent "to be born in the flesh", is because iguanas bury their eggs. Later on when the eggs are hatched in the warm sands, our people could see the little creatures emerging from the earth. We also believe that when the iguana cries is because, it might be a drought and he is praying for rain.
The above quote is an excellent description of "why" and should be considered as an more accurate reading of the "frog" glyph. We must listen to the grandparents. Sometimes that is the only history that is left. Butmostly, we should listen to the Maya themselves. They know the flora and fauna of their land better than student visitors.

But just in case one needs more verification, we have the common bull frog for comparison. Here is a perfect compliment to the the Mexican lizard. However, this bull frog IS abundant and widely distributed, but its natural range is the eastern half of the United States, although it is found in some parts of the west including an area of the trans-Pecos in Texas.2 Both of these areas, Linda was familiar with.

Nevertheless, these frogs are NOT found in the Maya regions, nor south of the northern deserts of Mexico, unless taken there recently by humans. Even though the odds are still in favor of the frog being the "birth" glyph for Pacal, not the lizard, there is a good reason for it.

Pacal, it seems, had no parentage statement, so he himself could never be a ruler. It seems that he was, instead an astronomer, or at least someone related to the stars or to a disaster of water and fire. His son, on the other hand, was born of a Maya woman, and had the privilege of becoming a ruler.

Pacal, apparently was a night-person, who did not mind star-gazing and/or building things as he waited for the stars to do his bidding. Was he a reader of horoscopes and an influential priest? We don't know. All we know is that frogs spend their nights singing and making a racket similar to hammering. That was why the Maya called them the macheteros. They also, because of their shape, spend a lot of time looking at the stars. The iguana, on the other hand, apparently was used to portray other things, such as numbers. As a counter-proof one should look into the Madrid Codex p. 26-27 where several frog-people are illustrate. They specifically have frog-hands with sticky pads for fingers. The Maya are very precise artists. We may not understand all their drawings, but they are extremely accurate with their details. So in this instance, the frog still is the perfect glyph to signify the birth of such a ruler as Pacal, but the iguana, with its multiple teeth and ear-disk is a strong contender for other glyph representations.

1 Roberts, Mervin F. and Martha D. (1976) All About Iguanas, TFH Publications, Inc., Ltd. p. 36.
2 Barker, Will, (1964) Familiar Reptiles & Amphibians of America, p. 150, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.