The December 2024 Art In Medicine topic is about the great Maya goddess, Ixchel.
Lucinda Bennett, the Medical Librarian at Ascension St Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, MD, publishes a regular series on Art in Medicine and The Health Humanities.
Ixchel
“Overlooking a great cliff 70 feet above the Caribbean Sea on the southernmost tip of Isla Mujeres sits a single temple dedicated to the cult of the great Maya goddess Ixchel. During antiquity, the temple of Ixchel would have likely been one of many dedicated to the goddess on the island. But over the millennia, all others succumbed to the arrival of Europeans, rampant overdevelopment, as well as over a thousand years of tropical storms.
After Chichén Itzá, Isla Mujeres is thought to have been the second-most important pilgrimage site in all of the Yucatán Peninsula. Though Ixchel is one of the most recognizable deities in the Maya pantheon, much mystery and confusion surrounds her role.” (Yucatan Magazine)
Despite the relative geographic closeness of Central and South America to our own country, the traditions and ancient religions of those civilizations are far less familiar to us than the legends and mythologies from across the Atlantic and into Europe. It is only in the 20th century that Western scholarship took the Mayan, Aztec, Inca and Olmec cultures with a degree of academic seriousness. New technology has enabled archaeologists to locate cities that would rival any contemporary population center a continent away, and new understanding of both language and culture sheds light on the manner in which these peoples viewed the ties between health and faith. For the Maya, the goddess Ixchel is a prime example.
“One of Mayan mythology’s most important deities is the moon goddess Ixchel, or Ix Chel (pronounced Ishchel). Ixchel’s powers include everything governed by the cycles of the moon — water, fertility, harvests, pregnancy — as well as love and sexuality. She is also the patroness of the arts, textiles, painting, medicine and healing. The Maya believe in the duality of the universe. Reflecting this duality, Ixchel is benevolent but can also be powerful and destructive. With her power, she can give life; but she can also take it away. She provides both rain for the harvests and medicines for healing, but she is also destructive, sending floods, diseases and curses that can affect the harvests and endanger people’s lives.” (Mexico News)
It is important to remember that what we know of the Mayan civilization comes from a blend of primary sources. With their written language now deciphered, records can be checked against the writing of the invading forces of Spain, but some context was still lost during the conquests of the 16th century. We know of Ixchel through translated documents mapping out the creation story and tales of the Mayan gods, one being the Popol Vuh.
“Popol Vuh, Maya document, an invaluable source of knowledge of ancient Mayan mythology and culture. Written in K’iche’ (a Mayan language) by a Mayan author or authors between 1554 and 1558, it uses the Latin alphabet with Spanish orthography. It chronicles the creation of humankind, the actions of the gods, the origin and history of the K’iche’ people, and the chronology of their kings down to 1550.
The original book was discovered at the beginning of the 18th century by Francisco Ximénez (Jiménez), parish priest of Chichicastenango in highland Guatemala. He both copied the original K’iche’ text (now lost) and translated it into Spanish. His work is now in the Newberry Library, Chicago.” (Encyclopedia Britannica)
From texts such as these, we know that the connection between life and death, health and illness, were essentially two sides of the same coin. To call on Ixchel as a woman seeking a healthy pregnancy would also mean acknowledgement of that same goddess possibly being the one who brought a destructive natural disaster. Such was the delicate balance of the world as seen by the Maya.
"Ixchel" Sculpture 20th Century C.E. Source: Mexico New Daily
Modern representations of the goddess, like the statue pictured here, pull from the historic iconography found in classical imagery. Snakes, rabbits, rainbows and the phases of the moon are all associated with this deity who both gives life and takes life away.
“She is also known as Ixchebelyax, Ix Hunic and Ix Huinieta. Likewise, she is represented in different ways when associated with the cycles of the moon. Ixchel could give life to living beings and nature, she governed the birth of children and had the ability to heal. She is also known as a Goddess who punished and sent floods and storms that caused severe damage. In this destructive phase, she is illustrated with symbols of death and destruction around her, with a snake wrapped around her neck and head and adorned with human bones; her feet were made of menacing claws, and on her skirt she has bones that formed crosses. In the hieroglyphic texts she is found with two different names, one of them is Chak Chel which is translated to Spanish as Big Rainbow, and in the Mayan book Chilam Balam her name appears as Ix-Chel which means Rainbow Woman…This goddess had the month of celebration of her thanks to her invocation of goddess of medicine.” (Antigua Spanish Academy) The island where Ixchel’s temple is located happens to be near to a modern theme park. In ancient times pilgrimages were enacted there regarding the health of women and their daughters. Today, an article by Mexico News reports that starting in 2018 a contemporary festival enacts this tradition, showcasing the importance of a deity associated with well-being dating back centuries.
“Due to the importance of Ixchel to the Maya — especially to women — the Pueblo del Maíz theme park has organized a festival to celebrate the goddess since 2018. There is also a celebration on the island of Cozumel. The Walk to Ixchel is held each year on the full moon in June, and consists of a 7-km walk across the island, ending at the effigy of Ixchel, where they leave offerings and sing and dance to the goddess.”
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Reprinted with the generous permission of Ms. Bennett.
