rain god (Chaac), the lightning god (Bolon Dzacab), the aged deities of the underground, terrestrial water, and thunder (Bacabs), the Maya maize god (God E), and a related young deity of flowers and foodstuffs (God H); gods guarding natural resources, such as the Owner of the deer and god of the hunt, the Sip (God Y); occupational gods, particularly those of merchants (Ek Chuah, god L), black sorcerers (god L), midwives (goddess O, Ixchel), hunters with snares (Tabay); a young goddess of eroticism and marriage (Goddess I); death gods (God A and God A'); and the deified Hero Twins. Whereas, within the three hieroglyphic codices, the group of male deities is highly differentiated, the female functions seem largely to have been concentrated in the young goddess I (the 'White Woman') and the old goddess O (the 'Red Woman'). The Postclassic Maya deity Kukulcan ('Feathered Serpent'), tutelary deity of the Toltec invaders and of the Maya kings deriving their legitimacy from them, is nearly absent from the codices. Although the Classic Hero Twins are among the codical deities, the associated Classic Maize Hero (or Tonsured Maize God) seems to be absent. Entirely missing from the codices, but important in Classic iconography are, amongst others, an ocean deity characterized by a shark tooth set in the mouth (who is also the 'God I' of the Palenque Triad) and some of the Maya jaguar gods associated with warfare. In the framework of the Classic period, the omnipresent lightning deity is usually referred to as K'awiil ('Powerful One'). In Maya folk religion, the members of the Catholic Trinity, the Virgin Mary, a number of saints, the archangels and the devil have usually merged with traditional deities, patron deities, and ancestral heroes. Angels, for example, generally represent rain deities. The complex figure of the Mam ('Grandfather') Maximón venerated in Santiago Atitlan is another example of such syncretism. The deities governing the wild vegetation, the game animals, and the fishes are often referred to as 'Owners' or 'Masters' (Dueños), like the 'Mountain-Valley' deities (or mountain spirits) of the highlands. More generally, the living Earth and its male personification is often called 'World' (Mundo). Animal persons Animal persons (usually mammals and birds, but including insects) appear to enjoy a relative autonomy which is lacking in the case of the animal 'co-essences'. Perhaps representing the transformed human beings of a former creation, they mirror human society in playing