“Grandmother of Light, Mistress of Shaping”: Midwife Deities in Highland Maya Ritual

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Role of Women in Mesoamerican Ritual" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

According to the Popol Vuh, the first truly successful human beings were created from maize by the goddess Xmucane: “The yellow ears of maize and the white ears of maize were then ground fine with nine grindings by Xmucane. Food entered their flesh, along with water to give them strength. . . . The yellowness of humanity came to be when they were made by they who are called She Who Has Borne Children” (Christenson 2007:194–195). Xmucane is the principal female creator deity, also known as Alom (“She Who Has Born Children“). This is the first, and only time, that she appears in the text without her male consort Xpiyacoc, or K’ajolom (“He Who Has Engendered Sons“). This is because only women can create human flesh through childbirth. Among modern highland Maya it is considered highly unlucky if a man even touches a woman’s grinding stones once they have been used to grind maize since this taints their ability to create the food that restores or regenerates the body, an exclusively female prerogative as only they can create human flesh in the womb.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Role of Women in Mesoamerican Ritual   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35701.0