Ritual of the Bacabs is the name given to a manuscript from the Yucatán containing shamanistic incantations written in the Yucatec Maya language.
The manuscript was given its name by Mayanist William E. Gates due to the frequent mentioning of the Maya deities known as the Bacabs.
The style of writing in the manuscript suggests that much of the information included was copied from older works.
The name Hun-pic-ti-ku ("Eight-Thousand Gods"), which appears in the eighth incantation, may be derived from the Tahdziu deity Hunpic Dziu ("Eight Thousand Cowbirds") or the Izamal deity Hunpic Tok ("Eight Thousand Flints"), or it may be a collective term for all Maya gods.
In the seventeenth incantation, dealing with the "snake-pulsation-of-the abdomen," the affliction is described as the son of Ix Hun Tipplah Can ("Lady Unique Pulsating Sky").
In his Maya History and Religion, J. Eric S. Thompson wrote: "The only parallel which comes to mind of the Book of Revelation.
Many plants, birds, and insects, all clothed in symbolism and allusions to lost mythology, are important features...even in translation the incantations are very hard to comprehend.