The jaguar-clawed Maya moon goddess of childbirth and weaving, whose shrine on the island of Cozumel drew pilgrims across the sea.
Born
100 BCE
Died
1600 CE
Lived
1,700 years
Dead for
426 yrs
Cause of death
Conquest · Forgotten
Replaced by
Catholicism
The Obituary
Ix Chel was the Maya goddess of the moon, childbirth, weaving, medicine, and water, honored especially by women. Her island shrine on Cozumel drew pilgrims who crossed the sea to seek her blessing on fertility and birth. She appears in two aspects: a youthful goddess of love and the loom, and an aged, fearsome figure with jaguar claws and a serpent crown who unleashes destructive floods. Her cult was suppressed during the 16th–17th century Spanish conquest of the Yucatan.
Worth remembering
She was patroness of childbirth, weaving, and medicine, and Maya women made pilgrimages to her shrine on Cozumel.
In an aged, fearsome aspect she appears with jaguar claws and a serpent headdress, pouring out floods.
Gallery
Maya depiction of the goddess Ix Chel with a rabbitPublic domainClassic-period Maya ceramic figure of the goddess Ix ChelYmblanter · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources
Ix Chel was the Maya goddess of the moon, childbirth, weaving, and medicine Wikipedia
Ix Chel (Ixchel) was the Maya goddess of the moon, medicine, and weaving; she was also associated with floods and destruction in her aged aspect. Encyclopaedia Britannica
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.
Buried nearby — by shared fate or a neighbouring lifespan.
