Popol Vuh evidences belief in demons and demonology among the Quiché Maya.

Date
1985
Type
Book
Source
Popol Vuh
Non-LDS
Hearsay
Direct
Translation
Reference

Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings (trans. Dennis Tedlock; New York: Touchstone, 1985), 92

Scribe/Publisher
Touchstone
People
Popol Vuh
Audience
Reading Public
PDF
Transcription

And these are the Lord over everything, each lord with a commission and a domain assigned by One and even Death:

These are the lords named Scab Stripper and Blood gatherer. And this is their commission: to draw blood from people.

Next are the lordships of Demon of Pu and Demon of Jaundice. And this is their domain: to make people swell up, to make pus come out of their legs, to make their faces yellow, to cause jaundice, as it is called. Such is the domain of Demon of Pus and Demon of Jaundice.

Next are the lords Bone Scepter and Skull Scepter, the staff bearers of Xibalba; their staffs are just bones. And this is their staff-bearing to reduce people to bones, right down to the bones and skulls, until they die from emaciation and edema. This is the commission of the ones named Bone Scepter and Skull Scepter.

Next are the lords named Demon of Filth and Demon of Woe. This is their commission: just to give people a sudden fright whenever they have filth or grime in the doorway of the house, the patio of the house. Then they’re struck, they’re just punctured till they crawl on the ground, then die. And this is the domain of Demon of Filth and Demon of Woe, as they are called.

BHR Staff Commentary

On ibid., 252, we read:

Demon: this translates ajal, a term that Occurs in Quiché only in compound names of “demons” (FX). In Chol it is a general term for “evil spirit” (AA).

Citations in Mormonr Qnas
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