Ek Chuah
| Ek Chuah | |
|---|---|
| |
 Ek Chuah meeting the Heroic Twins in his palace under his elder form | |
| Other names | Morning Star, Black Scorpion |
| Abode | His House of Wealth in the Underworld |
| Planet | Venus |
| Weapon | An Obsidian Spear made from Stars |
| Animals | Scorpions |
| Symbol | Chocolate |
| Tree | Cacao tree |
| Color | Black-and-White |
Ek Chuah is the White Path god of fortune, wealth, prosperity, and cacao. He is the patron god of merchants, travellers, and pilgrims. He has been identified with many historical figures, viewed as his embodied forms, including Aj Kakaw ("Mr.Cacao"), the historical founder and first lord of K'alak Muul who continue to be worshipped as the patron of the city. Every year during the Muwan Month, festivities are dedicated to him to bring prosperity and protection to people' commerces and families. Faithful travellers, especially White Path pilgrims, pray to him every night for safety, erecting a small altar made of three stones atop one another to perform a small offering.
Beside his role as a wealth and commerce god, He is a god of sorcery, violence, and warfare. This made him a privilegied patron for the Trader-Nobility of classical Mutul, expected to defend themselves against bandits and other threats during their travels as well as join their Lords during times of war. Ek Chuah' violence is seen as "rightful", as it is for the sake of protecting people and their belongings. As a result, he is often called upon to protect the recently deceased as they go through Xibalba, and is often represented as the Deity protecting the Night Sun during its own travel through the Underworld. This also mean that he's called for protection of people undergoing trials and dangerous ordeals. This protection include both natural and paranormal events, making him the god of Apotropaic magic in the White Path.
Because of the analogy of the White Path with a road through which the Pilgrims will advance to find self-improvement and Understanding of the World, he is generally seen as the protector deity of the religion and its practitioners as a whole: initiates and converts' first prayers are dedicated to him, and all temples erect a statue or ingrave pictures of Ek Chuah at their front gate as a sign of protection.
He is the personification of Venus rising from the underworld, throwing spears at his victims.
His attributes include black full body paints, an hanging lower lips, a bundle of merchandise on his back as well as a travelling stick, a broad feathery hat topped by an owl, and a smilodon mantle or a cape with a pattern somewhat resembling that of an armadillo shell. He is often depicted with smilodon traits or as an aged man in which case he has only one tooth. More often than not, he will also been shown smoking a cigar. The smilodon, the owl, and the cigar all tie him back to the night, the underworld, and sorcery. When depicted in combat, he is represented with a scorpion tail and an external spine characteristic of a Lord of the Underworld. The latter detail led to the common acceptation that he is himself a God of Xibalba but opposed to the other residents of the Underworld, protecting travellers and mortals who go there instead of seeking their harms like the other Chtonic divinities and demons would.