Cultural Context of the Myth of the Hero Twins

The Hero Twins are demigods, central characters in the Popol Vuh, a sacred Mayan creation story, thousands of years old, written down using Latin characters in the sixteenth century. While the Hero Twins are having their adventures in the Underworld, the gods are going through the process of trying to create a good human--one with heart, the ability to reason, and a proper respect for their place in the universe. When the Hero Twins' adventures in the Underworld are over, they fly up to the sky. One becomes the sun and the other, the moon. With the creation of the sun and the moon, the gods figure time is running out, so they put their final touches on the human, adding an ability to see (although clouded) what the gods themselves can see.