[Footnote 1:  Eligio Ancona, after giving the rendering, “serpiente adornada de plumas,” adds, “ha sido repetido por tal numero de etimologistas que tendremos necesidad de aceptarla, aunque nos parece un poco violento,” Historia de Yucatan, Vol. i, p. 44.  The Abbe Brasseur, in his Vocabulaire Maya, boldly states that kukul means “emplumado o adornado con plumas.”  This rendering is absolutely without authority, either modern or ancient.  The word for feathers in Maya is kukum; kul, in composition, means “very” or “much,” as “kulvinic, muy hombre, hombre de respeto o hecho,” Diccionario de Motul, MS. Ku is god, divinity.  For can see chapter iv, Sec.1. Can was and still is a common surname in Yucatan. (Berendt, Nombres Proprios en Lengua Maya, MS.)

I should prefer to spell the name Kukulkan, and have it refer to the first day of the Maya week, Kan.]

The reference probably was to the fame of this divinity as an oracle, as connected with the calendar.  But it is true that the name could with equal correctness be translated “The God, the Mighty Serpent,” for can is a homonym with these and other meanings, and we are without positive proof which was intended.

To bring Kukulcan into closer relations with other American hero-gods we must turn to the locality where he was especially worshiped, to the traditions of the ancient and opulent city of Chichen Itza, whose ruins still rank among the most imposing on the peninsula.  The fragments of its chronicles, as preserved to us in the Books of Chilan Balam and by Bishop Landa, tell us that its site was first settled by four bands who came from the four cardinal points and were ruled over by four brothers.  These brothers chose no wives, but lived chastely and ruled righteously, until at a certain time one died or departed, and two began to act unjustly and were put to death.  The one remaining was Kukulcan.  He appeased the strife which his brothers’ acts had aroused, directed the minds of the people to the arts of peace, and caused to be built various important structures.  After he had completed his work in Chichen Itza, he founded and named the great city of Mayapan, destined to be the capital of the confederacy of the Mayas.  In it was built a temple in his honor, and named for him, as there was one in Chichen Itza.  These were unlike others in Yucatan, having circular walls and four doors, directed, presumably, toward the four cardinal points[1].

[Footnote 1:  El Libro de Chilan Balam de Chumayel, MS.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 34-38. and 299; Herrera, Historia de las Indias, Dec. iv, Lib. x, cap ii.]

In gratifying confirmation of the legend, travelers do actually find in Mayapan and Chichen Itza, and nowhere else in Yucatan, the ruins of two circular temples with doors opening toward the cardinal points[1].

[Footnote 1:  Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. ii, p. 298.]