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.
Sources
- Ix Chel was the Maya goddess of the moon, childbirth, weaving, and medicine Wikipedia
- The island of Cozumel held a major pilgrimage shrine to the goddess World History Encyclopedia
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.