Yum Kaax (Mayan pronunciation: [jum kʼaːʃ], "Lord of the forest") is a Yukatek Maya name for the god of the wild vegetation and guardian of its animals.
In the past, this god has wrongly been described as an agricultural deity or even as the Maya maize god (god E of the codices),[1] which has become a popular and still existing misconception.[2] In ethnographic reality, Yum Kaax is a god of wild plants and of animals that are important to hunters. As such, he grants protection of the fields against the incursions of the wild nature he himself represents.[3] This type of deity is also found among indigenous peoples of North America. Invoked by hunters, he is the owner of all the game. He can appear to hunters in an instant and possesses songs that will warrant a hunter success and allow his arrows to come back to him.