“And Came and Dwelt in the Land of Heth”

Alan C. Miner

According to Bruce Warren, the "land of Heth" (Ether 8:2) is mentioned early in the Jaredite account. An indirect hint for the location for this land might center on the meaning of the letter Heth in Hebrew. The letter Heth relates to the Big Dipper constellation and the number seven (Moran and Kelley 1969, 49, 81). The Popol Vuh account of Wakub Kaqix (pronounced "kaw-kish") might be linguistically tied to the name of "Akish" in the Jaredite account. In the Popul Vuh account Wakub Kaqix is associated with the Big Dipper, and his name means seven macaw. The Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz were referred to by the Aztecs as the place of the Macaw parrots. The Aztec placed name glyph also depicts a macaw parrot for these mountains (Covarrubias 1947, 26, n. 4). Could this tie the land of Heth to the Tuxtla Mountain region of southern Veracruz? It is interesting that one of the major proposed geographical sites for the location of the Jaredites is the Tuxtla mountains of southern Veracruz. It is also the heartland of the Olmecs, a Mesoamerican civilization which corresponds in many ways with the Jaredites of the Book of Mormon. [Bruce W. Warren, Blaine M. Yorgason, Harold Brown, New Evidences of Christ in Mesoamerica, Unpublished Manuscript] [See the commentary on Ether 14:3]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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