 23 Sep 2005 @ 02:05
Hurakan, the Hurricane God
I recently discovered that the origin of our word "hurricane" actually comes from the name of a Mayan storm god, "Hurakan." This seems pretty unusual, since I'm really not able to name probably a single other Mayan god, let alone one which has penetrated our language like that.
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Hurakan is the ancient Mayan god of wind and storm. He visits the anger of the gods upon humanity by bringing about the Flood. He is a creator god who according to legend dwelt in the mists hanging over the primeval flood, in the form of the wind, ceaselessly repeating the word "earth" until the solid world rose from the seas. When the gods became angry with the first human beings, Hurukan unleashed the deluge which destroyed them. From his name the word 'hurricane' is derived. Hurakan means "one-legged".
It seems the ‘one-legged’ god has been particularly unhappy with us this year. Hurakan, the Mayan creator god who blew his breath across the Chaotic Waters and brought forth dry land, has been angry off and on since the beginning of time: destroying the first humans, or men of wood, with a great storm and flood. Even the Caribbean know of him, though they spell his name Hurican, and refer to him as the god of evil. This is especially apt, when considering the damage that Katrina has done to the American East Coast – it was indeed a most evil wind. No wonder that we have come to call these tremendous storms ‘hurricanes’!
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