Acantun Explained

Acantuns are ritual stone shafts placed at the four corners of a Yucatec Maya village. When night fell, four Balams (Jaguars) were said to arrive and sit on the idols to keep guard over the village.

References

• Book: Brinton, Daniel G. . Daniel Brinton . 1882 . American Hero-Myths: A Study in the Native Religions of the Western Continent . Project Gutenberg EBook #11029, online reproduction . Philadelphia . H.C. Watts and Co. . 2461981.
• Book: Freidel, David A. . David Freidel . Schele, Linda . Linda Schele . 2000 . Kingship in the late preclassic Maya Lowlands: the instruments and places of ritual power . The Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica: A Reader . Michael E. Smith. Michael E. Smith (archaeologist). Marilyn A. Masson . Oxford . . 422 - 440. 0-631-21115-2 . 59423537.
• Book: Markman, Roberta H. . Peter T. Markman . 1992 . The Flayed God: the Mesoamerican Mythological Tradition; Sacred Texts and Images from pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America . San Francisco . . 0-06-250528-9 . 25507756.