Ixmucané and Ixquic - and Hun-Hunahpú, the God of Maize

[Myriel RAouine]

 

 

 

 The following is an excerpt from

Maize: food from the Gods?

 

In a 1982 exhibition, the Mexican National Museum of Culture claimed that maize was “not domesticated, but created”. Indeed, maize is accepted as Man’s first, and perhaps his greatest, feat of genetic engineering. So much so, that it is even said to be a gift from the gods.

Philip Coppens

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Great civilisations need a great asset. Ancient Egypt had the Nile. The Mayans had maize, or corn as others call it. Maize is accepted as Man’s first, and perhaps his greatest, feat of genetic engineering. It nevertheless remains a largely enigmatic crop. Despite decades of research, there is no known wild ancestor; there is no known way to evolve a non-shattering variant; it is known that maize does not have a method to propagate itself – and thus relies on humans to survive as a species. Indeed, the human race – and definitely in the pre-Columbian New World – has entered into a powerful symbiosis with this cereal that has fed – and continues to feed – us.

At DNA level, all major cereals – rice, wheat, barley and maize – are very much alike. But maize is and acts differently from the rest. Left unattended, the other cereals will propagate themselves; maize will not. The reason for this is that maize kernels are located inside a tough husk, and hence it requires humans to sow maize – it cannot reproduce on its own. This is, of course, a major evolutionary disadvantage, but as maize has been created by Mankind, we have always guaranteed that the species does not die out – far from it.
No wild ancestor of maize has ever been found, despite decades of research. Maize’s closest relative is a mountain grass called teosinte, which looks nothing like maize. It is neither a practical food source. Most grasses develop grain near the top of the stem, which, when mature, will let the seed “shatter”, and the grains will fall to the ground, from which new grasses will grow. It guarantees the survival of the species, but is ill-suited for human agriculture. In wild wheat and barley, a single-gene mutation has blocked such shattering, which meant that these cereals became more easily harvestable for humans.
Teosinte shatters too and there is no known non-shattering variant. Furthermore, at least sixteen genes control teosinte and maize shattering, resulting in a complex problem for those trying to figure out how a non-shattering variation of maize might have occurred naturally – by accident – or how our distant ancestors figured out how to create such a feat; scientists continue to have no idea.

 

In Mayan hieroglyphics, the ear of maize became equivalent with the highest royal title, ahaw. In the Popul Vuh, the Maya creation story, humans were created from maize. And, indeed, for those who have seen in the Popol Vuh evidence of extra-terrestrial intervention, and who are equally aware that the invention of maize was a tremendous display of genetic engineering, these people have argued that maize has been created by extra-terrestrial beings.
Maize was definitely seen as a gift from the gods. One version of the creation myth states that when the Medicine Rite was first created by the good spirits, each of them contributed something that would help the humans overcome the evil spirits. After all the spirits had made their contributions, Grandmother (Earth) came forward and spoke to Hare: “Look at my breast, grandson.” Then, unexpectedly, there grew from one of Grandmother’s breasts a plant that no-one had ever seen before. It grew immediately from her nipple into a full stalk with ripe ears of corn ready to eat. “This, grandson,” said Earth, “is maize. The two-legged walkers may eat its corn forevermore.” As sexual as the story may be, it also has a practical usage: when the corn is white and milky in the centre, it is time to harvest the crop.
Other myths are trying to incorporate the diversity of maize, and thus read how the Mother of Maize changed her dove appearance to a human one. At one point, she identified her five daughters to a young man; the daughters symbolise the five maize sacred colours: white, red, yellow, spotted and blue.

So, in the beginning was the word, and the word was maize. Among the Maya of Guatemala, the maize deity is still worshipped today, and today, it is variously a male and female deity, whereas in origin, it seems to have been specifically linked with female deities.
The question is whether science and myth agree or disagree over the place of birth of this new species. Science believes that Oaxaco was the centre of the cereal’s emanation. According to the Popol Vuh, Paxil was the name of the place where maize originated. Paxil is part of Tamoanchan, the mythical homeland of the Mayans, which is also where the “Mother of Maize” is said to reside. Evidence to its whereabouts are scant, but descriptions of Tamoanchan appearing in the Florentine Codex indicate that at least the Postclassic Nahuas thought that it was located in the humid lowlands region of the Gulf Coast of Mexico, inhabited by the Huastec Maya people. That, of course, is also the area that we today associate most intimately with the Olmecs.

So, at present, myth and scientific theories seem to be at odds. What about its origins? The myths state that in ancient times there was no maize, and that humans ate the roots of a plant called txetxina (mother Maize), a plant with a very large root and a single stalk. “It was then that the ancients realised that the excrement of the mountain cat (wech) contained maize.” This would argue for Mary W. Eubanks’ conclusion, that the actual discovery of maize was a coincidence, which humans chanced upon, rather than the end result of a series of genetic manipulations.
A more elaborate rendition of this account goes that “In those distant times, it is said that animals could speak. This was why the people of the region asked the mountain cat where he went to feed, and they asked him to show them this place. The mountain cat told them that someone should go with him to see the place where he fed. So the ancients sent the louse to travel on the back of the mountain cat to see where his mount went; but the louse fell off on the way and never reached the place where the maize grew. They immediately sent the flea, again on the back of the mountain cat; but the flea also fell off though it managed to jump back on and cling to the cat’s back to reach the place that was sought. Thus, when the flea returned, he was able to tell the ancients the place where the maize grew. From then on, people stopped eating the root of txetxina.”

But the Mayan creation myths go further than merely pointing out where and how they chanced upon maize, and explain it in a far richer context. In practice, maize and Man lived in a form of symbiosis, and though it might appear that the gods showed Man where this plant was living, in mythology, and in the symbolism of the Ixquic’s children and their origin, maize is seen as the material from which the first humans were actually created. After all, Tamoanchan was the residence of the gods, and the place of birth not only of maize, but also of Mankind. And what came first, Man or Maize, is a matter of some mythological debate.

The Mayan creation myths have other episodes involving maize. Ixquic was made pregnant by the skull of Hun Hunahpu, which hung from the calabash tree. Hun Hunahpu is often seen as a manifestation of the god of maize. Since she was repudiated by her father Cuchumaquic, the Lord of Xibalbá, she went to find the mother of Hun Hunahpu, Ixmucané. When she arrived and announced herself, her grandmother told her to go and bring food for those who needed to be fed: “go and harvest a large net of maize and come back at once”, she said. Ixquic went to the maize field, but there was only one stalk of maize, one stalk with its single ear of grain. The girl’s heart was filled with anguish and hence she invoked the guardians of the crops, imploring them to help: “Ixtoc, Ixanil, Ixcacau, you who cook the maize.” Then she took the tuft of red hairs of the maize, without cutting the cob, and she placed them in the net as if they were corncobs. The net filled itself completely. The animals of the field took the maize to the house.
“Where did you get all this maize from?” asked Ixmucané. “You must have finished our maize field off.” She herself then went to the maize field and saw that there was still the single stalk of maize with its cob. “This is the proof that you are my daughter-in-law,” she said. And Ixquic had proven her state as a deity to Ixmucané.

Maize also placed a central role in the story of Hun Hunahpu itself. He descended into the underworld realm of Xibalba, to confront the twin lords of death. After a number of trials, the maize god was defeated and sacrificed and the underworld lords took his head and placed it in the branches of a dead tree. The instant the head touched the tree, it miraculously came to life with abundant foliage and fruits that resembled the god’s skull.
It is clear that there are several parallels here: like the maize god, the dead seed of maize is planted beneath the earth in the underworld. With time, the grain of maize germinates and sprouts new life from its dry, bony husk. Ancient art often depicts the maize god rising out of a cleft in the earth with his arms outstretched, a symbol of his rebirth from death as a maize plant. In the central panel from the Temple of the Foliated Cross at Palenque, the World Tree appears as a fruitful stalk of maize, each ear bearing the head of the maize god.

These and other myths involving maize show that it was primarily the role of women who conserved maize. Indeed, the introduction of maize into society also came with a new social responsibility: to make sure that the crops would never fail. For once a society had made this unique – and vital – bond with the crop, any disaster befalling the crop, would mean disaster would befall society.
One of the most repeated stories, told in many villages of Guatemala and Mexico, talks about the participation of ants in the appropriation of maize by man, which is what happens during a famine. We also find other stories, which suggest that our ancestors realised the danger of relying on one crop, and made alternative arrangements, in case of disaster. This back-up crop was a plant known as “donkey’s or mule’s helmet”, a plant the people of Guatemala and Mexico knew could be found in the mountains, where their ancestors went to gather it. They used it to make tortillas or drinks to compensate for shortages of maize.

 

To view the full article, please go to http://www.philipcoppens.com/maize.html

 

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3.1 The origin of the word maize

The origin of the word maize has taken researchers along different paths, reaching as far as remote areas such as China and Tibet. However, it is generally accepted that the word has its origin in Araguaco and the name was brought back to the Old World by Christopher Columbus who heard it for the first time in the Caribbean islands. Based on this common name, Linnaeus included the name as species epithet in the botanical classification Zea (Z. mays L.).

The word used in all the Maya languages is "ixim". Similarly, in various native languages of Guatemala, reference is made to certain terms related to maize, such as "Gumarkaaj" (place of the canes), "Kanil" (name of a day in the calendar) which derives from the word "kan" meaning yellow, "Aj" (another name of a day) which refers to clote or tender maize.

 

[It is most interesting to note here that KAN is also the word for SEED and it is the fourth day glyph of the Mayan calender! The day glyph looks like this:

And it is also interesting that IX means jaguar - so Ixmucané and Ixquic are closely linked to the energy of the jaguar - or "mountain lion", as is, of course, Ix-Chel!!!

The story below (in bold letters) about how maize was encountered gives us a significant clue ...

Sonja Myriel Aouine - lightgrid.ning.com]

 

 

3.2 How maize reached Guatemala according to the Mayas

Among the Maya peoples of Guatemala the maize deity is still worshipped today. In Huehuetenango, this figure can be male, as in the case of Santiago Chimaltenango, where it has the name of Padre Paxil³ , or female, as in Colotenango, where it is called K'txu (Our Mother in Mam) or Paxil⁴ . Paxil is the name of the place where maize originated according to the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the K'ich's, where according to one of the versions of the origins of maize from the Mam oral tradition of the municipalities of Ixtahuacán and Colotenango, the grain was brought from there by animals, and that is where the "Mother of Maize" resides⁵ .

The oral tradition tells that in ancient times there was no maize, and that in those times human beings ate the roots of a plant called txetxina (mother Maize); a plant with a very large root and a single stalk. It is also said that... "It was then that the ancients realised that the excrement of the mountain cat (wech) contained maize".

This tale, like many others from the popular wisdom, recounts the apparent linking of the origin of maize with other pre-existent species in the region, as does the following fable.

 

In those distant times, it is said that animals could speak. This was why the people of the region asked the mountain cat where he went to feed, and they asked him to show them this place. The mountain cat told them that someone should go with him to see the place where he fed. So the ancients sent the louse to travel on the back of the mountain cat to see where his mount went; but the louse fell off on the way and never reached the place where the maize grew. They immediately sent the flea, again on the back of the mountain cat; but the flea also fell off though it managed to jump back on and cling to the cat's back to reach the place that was sought. Thus, when the flea returned, he was able to tell the ancients the place where the maize grew. From then on, people stopped eating the root of txetxina.

They also say that in Libertad here is always an abundance of this grain⁶ .The above quotation from the Popol Vuh is another demonstration of the fact that maize was a central element in Maya life and culture.

 

"Here then is the beginning of how man was made and what was sought out for the nourishment of the flesh of man. The Progenitors, the Creators and Formators, who are called Tepeu and Gucumatz thus declared: "The time has come for the dawn, for the work to be finished and for those who must sustain and nourish us to appear, the enlightened sons, the civilised vassals: let man appear, humanity, on the face of the earth". Thus spake they. They met, arrived and held a council in the dark and in the night; then they searched and discussed, and here they reflected and thought. In this way their decisions came clearly to light and they discovered what was to enter the flesh of man. Soon, the sun, the moon and the stars appeared over the Creators and Formators. From Paxil and Cayalá, as they are called, came the yellow corncobs and the white corncobs. These are the names of the animals which brought the food: Yac (the mountain cat), Itiú (the coyote), Quel (a parrot, commonly referred to as chocoyo) and Hoh (the raven). These four animals brought them the news of the yellow corncobs and of the white corncobs, they told them that they were in Paxil and showed them the way to Paxil. And this was how they found food and that is what entered the flesh of created man, of formed man: it was their blood, from it the blood of man was made. This is how maize entered (in the formation of man) through the work of the Progenitors. And this is the way they became filled with joy, because they had discovered a beautiful land, full of delights, with an abundance of yellow and white corncobs as well as pataxte and cocoa, innumerable zapotes, anonnas, jocotes, nances, matasanos and honey. There was an abundance of food in that land called Paxil and Cayalá. There were foods of all kinds, small foods, large foods, small plants and large plants. The animals showed the way. And by grinding the yellow and white corncobs, Ixmucané made new drinks, and these provided strength, girth and they created the muscles and the vigour of man. This was done by the Progenitors, Tepeu and Gucumatz, as they are known. In continuation they entered into discussions about the creation and formation of our first mother and father. Out of yellow maize and white maize, flesh was made; the arms and legs of man were made of maize dough. Only maize dough went into the flesh of our parents, the four human beings who were created. Passage from the Popol Vuh

 

And the Goddess who formed man out of maize was IXMUCNAÉ

 

 

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Now let us learn more about Ixquic's sons: Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué, who she conceived from the calabash tree, the dead Hun Hunahpú.

Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué grow up in their grandmother's house. Ixquic, their mother, does all the work - and Ixmucané is described in terms of an old hag. So one day the twins Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué find their father's things and decide to descend to the Underworld as well to play a certain game with the Lords of Xibalbá which cost their father's life.

To make a long story short: In contrast to their father they WIN the game and return triumphantly.

To read the story from the Popol Vuh, follow this link

 

Sonja Myriel lightgrid.ning.com

 

According to Maya mythology, Hunahpú gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created from maize by the divine grandmother goddess Ixmucané. (Bogin 1997, Coe 1996, Montejo 1999, Tedlock 1985).

  

Here is the story of the role the Goddess of Chocolate played in the creation of humankind: The Grandmother, the goddess Ixmucanẻ, was worried. Talk about stress! Her two sons had been killed while off on an adventure in the Underworld. Like many grandmothers today, Ixmucanẻ was left to rear her grandchildren. Since the women did most of the work planting, harvesting and cooking, the grandsons had a lot of free time on their hands . . . time to explore the professions and the arts and to play with politics.  Although her grandsons were both fine boys and she was very proud of them and their achievements (they were fine architects, musicians, sculptors, and artists), she couldn't help but fret that something very vital was disappearing from the world and that, eventually, there would be a day of reckoning. For Ixmucanẻ was the last of the soothsayers, the ones who had the knowledge and were wise with the knowledge in the ways of the Earth, ones who could feel the rhythms of Nature coursing through their veins. Ones who were 'seers', had the gift of foresight and knew how to manage their awesome responsibilities for the earth wisely. "What would happen," she worried, "when she grew old and the last of her kind died out?" Occupied by these dark musings, she was startled to look up and find a pregnant young woman standing before her. The young woman approached the old goddess reverently and took a long, deep breath, trying to work up the courage to speak. "Grandmother, I carry within me the children of your son who has gone to the heavens. My father, the Lord of the Underworld, says I have shamed him and cast me out. I have no where else to go. Please take me in and let your grandchildren have a home with you." "How could my son be the father?", asked Mamma Cane. "Both of my sons died in your land." "My name is Ixquic or 'Blood Moon'. I was there under the calabash bush when your son Hunahpu was decapitated by the soldiers. His bloody head continued to talk to me after he died. It spat upon my hand and it was this that caused me to conceive these twins." Not in the best of moods to begin with, Ixmucanẻ was understandably skeptical. "Just another gold-digger", she thought, "Who knows who was the real father of those babes?" But, just like the Greek goddess Aphrodite did to her daughter-in-law Psyche, Ixmucanẻ set a test to learn if what the young woman said was true. (She would. after all, be pleased to add to her bloodline if the unborn twins actually were seers like she was -- indeed the future of the kingdom might even depend upon it. So she gave the young woman a big net and said, "Here, take this to my field and don't come back until it's full of food."  Full of confidence that she could easily do this thing, Ixquic headed for the field where she then found that there was only one plant growing . . . a single cob of wild corn. What was she to do? Dropping to her knees in despair, she called on the goddesses for help. Ixcanil, Goddess of Seed, hear me. Ixtoq, Goddess of Rain, help me. Ixcacau, Goddess of Chocolate, see my tears and come to my aid. The three goddesses came quickly to her rescue. Ixcanil showed her how to pluck the seeds from the one cob or corn and blessed them so they would sprout. Ixtoq brought the nourishing moisture they needed to grow. And Ixcacau, the Goddess of Chocolate taught her how to plant the seeds, cultivate and harvest the corn. Then Ixcacau stood on the lower hillsides surrounding the valley, guarding over the quick-growing plants until the valley was filled with their ripening stalks. When it was done Ixquic returned with the net overflowing...enough food for a feast. Seeing the miracle, Ixmucanẻ welcomed her into the family.                                        Now when the Winter Solstice arrived it was time for Ixquic to give birth. She went into the woods alone as was the custom, and soon delivered two sons who were to become the Sacred Twins. Although they were not revered as major deities themselves (more like superheroes or demi-gods), the twins played a vital role in the creation myths. Clever lads, and not above a bit of trickery, they defeated the forces of the Underworld as well as other enemies of the gods and were greatly favored by the deities. The oldest son was named Hunaphu after his father. In some tellings of the myths, he was actually the reincarnation of his father who had come back as a human and would eventually, in Christ-like fashion, sacrifice his life to save mankind. When taken to the heavens, Hunaphu became a sun god. The younger brother, Xbalanquẻ, was associated with the full moon and upon his death, signifying the end of matriarchal times and the emergency of the patriarchal, he was changed into a woman and became Ixbalanquẻ, the moon goddess. Which brings us to the subject of: The Goddess of Chocolate As Religious Icon: Providing the Food of the Gods to the Patriarchy Though she seldom made a public appearance in the myths, Ixcacao, the Mayan Goddess of Chocolate, had been loved by the common folk as a compassionate goddess of abundance. Like the Greek goddess Demeter, she had walked among the people, understood their suffering and fear of starvation, while graciously giving them the knowledge and tools they needed to not only survive but to craft a life of abundance for themselves. (Not to mention generously sharing the exquisite taste of chocolate and the energy it gave them to keep on working!) But that was soon to change! At first it seemed like a golden age. Kings and dynasties appeared. A ruling class was born. Astronomy flourished, as did the arts; writing (glyphs) began to appear on the magnificent monuments, palaces and temples of the kings and many of the nobility. Large cities were established and populated with wealthy people. Each king functioned as a high priest. Asserting his family relationship to the gods would enable him to promise to bring rain and prosperity to his kingdom which is why the peasants were willing to work to support the luxurious lifestyle of the king and his court. Then the poor Goddess of Chocolate was whisked away from the fields to marry Ek Chuah, the God of Commerce, whether she wanted it or not. Soon her lovely cocoa beans were being turned into currency -- 40 beans would buy a donkey, 100 a reasonably good slave. The workers' taxes even had to be paid with the beans, leaving them few, if any, to enjoy for themselves. The women and children could no longer enjoy chocolate anyway . . . it was now forbidden. It was now declared the 'food of the gods', available only to the rulers and the warriors in their service. It nearly broke Ixcacao's heart. She knew there was little she could do about it, but she summoned up her courage and made one demand. There's something you need to understand . . . Both the gods and the humans were required to sacrifice their lives in order to preserve their world and the lives of the people in it. Four times before, the gods had tried to create human beings who would love them enough to share this burden with them. But they had failed, so the god had to destroy those worlds. This time, in the fifth world, the gods gave the world light because two of the gods had been willing to sacrifice their lives to create the Sun. If the Sun ever stopped moving through the sky, it's blazing rays would quickly destroy the earth. Only the heart and blood of a god or a human could quench the hot Sun's thirst and renew it's energy so it could continue it's journey through the sky. So each year the rulers chose a young boy (in some places it was a young girl or even a chocolate colored dog) who would exchange the drab life of a peasant to be dressed in fine clothes and given servants and tutors, in short to live like a god. But just for one year. On the anniversary of his selection, as all the people bowed at his feet, he ascended the steps of the temple pyramid and gave his heart and his blood to the Sun. The compassionate Goddess of Chocolate knew that, even though they were proud and brave, the Chosen Ones still trembled with a terrible fear as they started up the steps. "I will go with them", she demanded "and comfort them with my presence in their final hours." An so the Goddess of Chocolate climbed the steps beside them, offering them comforting goblets of cocoa along the way. Thus she became an important part of the sacred rites each year. One year Ixcacao descended the pyramid steps, doubting that she could bear to ever do this again. But when she entered her dressing room, much to her surprise, there stood Huitaca, the Goddess of Love and Pleasure. The Goddess of Chocolate: Blessed By the Goddess of Love "Girlfriend, we've gotta' talk," Huitaca said. "You always lived very close to the people. I've seen you welcoming them home from the fields each night, joining them as they gather around the campfire to roast the corn, telling stories, and enjoying your gifts. But now they have to work so hard and so late into the night that they fall asleep straightaway and it's a deep and dreamless sleep that does not refresh. Gone is the laughter that sparkled up to the stars as their told their stories around the campfire at night. Gone are the flowers and animals they embroidered on their dresses. Gone are the bright colors that made their blankets so warm and so bold. Gone are the music and dancing that reflected the beauty of their goddess into the nighttime sky. And gone is the joy that made working worthwhile. It is all gone and I can not bear the thought of it. I need your help. We've got to come up with a plan." And what a clever plan it was. The Goddess of Chocolate would teach the kings' cooks how to ferment the wine and make it intoxicating. She would 'let it slip' that it was a powerful aphrodisiac (Wasn't hard to convince them of that. After all, chocolate does contain the chemical that gives you that feeling of falling in love.) It became a time of unbridled gluttony and warfare between the various states. Why, the Emperor Montezuma was even reported to drink 40-50 goblets a day, soaking up the aphrodisiacal stimulant of the cocoa to sustain his energy for his daily visits to his harem. The aristocrats began to regard labor of any sort as beneath their dignity and lived in their fine palaces, oblivious to the human suffering on which their lifestyles depended. Kingdoms rose and kingdoms fell. Weakened by war, the Mayans were defeated by Aztecs (from the region of Mexico) who, fortunately, admired their religion and incorporated the goddess of chocolate into their own. Just as Ixmucanẻ foresaw, no one with authority was paying attention to the rumblings of the earth. Too many people, too little land available for horticulture, and what land there was couldn't produce food  because either half the workers were off to war or the land itself was being used a battlefield. The people were malnourished or starving. Mamma Cane had been right to worry! Weakened by their excess and their constant warring with each other, they couldn't put up much of a fight when the Spanish* explorers and the conquistadors arrived, bringing with them a foreign "pox" that their weakened bodies couldn't fight. It nearly wiped all the people out. And then the Spanish priests who burned all the books that told the stories of the creation myths and most of everything else which they had been so proud to learn. Later came other priests, ones who would encourage them to record their stories and their myths, but it had to be in Latin, the language of the Spanish church. But by this time, much had been forgotten. But all was not lost. One of the old gods returned. Having once died in sacrifice to the Sun, he came back in human form and, much like the Spaniard's Christ, gave his life again so that the people would never need to sacrifice their lives to the Sun again. The practice of human sacrifice ended. Now For The Happy Ending . . . The Goddess of Chocolate Returns Well, it couldn't be helped that some things had turned out badly. But Huitaca, the Goddess of Love and Pleasure, was grateful for the role that the Goddess of Chocolate had played. And to show her great favor, she adorned her from head to foot with delicate white blossoms that fluttered in the gentle winds. And so, covered in beauty, Ixcacao, the Goddess of Chocolate was allowed to return to her people -- this time as both the fertility goddess who stood watch over the fields of corn and saw that her people were fed, but also as a queen of love and pleasure. No more work without rest. No more work without time for family and friends,      and time for music and dance. And above all . . . No more work without love. Musing on the Myths of the Goddess of Chocolate Ixcacao's wisdom is a lovely counterpoint to the production-oriented hustle of our modern world and its frantic buying and selling for profit and its greed.
	~ ~ Visit the myths of ancient fertility goddesses from other cultures. :: Amaterasu  :: :: Demeter ::  :: Inanna :: :: Nut :: :: Ostara  :: :: Sedna ::  ~ ~
	Which Goddess Are You? Athena, Artemis, Isis or Psyche? Or one of the other intriguing goddess archetypes? Read about the Goddess Quiz that reveals Your Personal Goddess Type.
The Goddess of Chocolate reminds us that a luxurious world unfolds before your eyes if only you will take a moment to still your "busy-ness" and rejoice in those things which give you pleasure.   http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/Mayan-goddess-chocolate.html    For more on Cacao, follow this link: http://www.authenticmaya.com/cacao.htm

[Myriel RAouine]

Ixmucané is also the best know Women's association in Guatemala.

 

Asociación Huehueteca Ixmucané

Program Region: Americas
Country: Guatemala
City: Huehuetenango
Grant History: $33,000.00
Total Awarded: Awarded 2 grants totaling $33,000 between 2004 and 2007.
Grantee Website:

Organization's Purpose: Asociación Huehueteca Ixmucané [Ixmucané Huehuetecan Organization] was founded in 2000 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala by a group of women health and education workers serving indigenous women in remote areas. The name "Ixmucané" is taken from Mayan creation theology and means "Grandmother of the corn" or "Mother of all mothers." Ixmucané is the only organization in its region with a focus on girls’ education, as most groups in the area work primarily with men or adult women, with a focus on development. Though the group does work with adult women, its primary focus is on girls. Ixmucané sees its work as “contributing to the formation and education of a new Guatemalan society where tolerance prevails and multiculturalism and the rights of women are respected.”

 

Here is an article I found which was published on Sunday, June 26, 2011. It describes a typical Mayan Ceremony for women:

 

Ixmucané Peten comes to visit: Ceremony of 7 Kat [KAT = KAN!!!]

Last week, we hosted a two-day visit of a group of women from a kindred women's association in the Peten, the largest and most sparsely populated department of Guatemala. Probably due in large part to its dispersed population and proximity to international borders (Mexico and Belize) Peten has become home to many narcotrafficking operations. A few weeks ago there was a brutal massacre of 27 peasants who were working on a finca that was apparently owned by a big trafficker. It is also home to many archaeological sites from the Maya past; the most famous is undoubtedly Tikal. 

Las compas del Peten y su piloto /the women from Peten

The visit had been arranged as an exchange of experiences between two women's organizations that were formed independently of each other. There is no overarching national Ixmukané association but five or six groups in different regions of the country that are autonomous. All, I would imagine, chose the name for a similar set of reasons: Ixmukané (also spelled Ixmucané) is the grandmother of all humans in the Popol Vuh, and so her name and figure are resonant with symbolism for Maya women throughout the country.


Ixmucané Peten arrived after an 11-hour drive (one of the women's husbands works in the tourist industry and has a van, so that facilitated their travel).  The women were nearly all dressed in pants and t-shirts, a sharp contrast to the women from Ixmukané Quiché, who were all dressed in traje típico.  There was one older woman in the group from Peten who, by the sound of her conversation, spoke Spanish as a second language, but the others all clearly spoke Spanish as a first (and perhaps only) language.


After initial greetings and a few photographs and an initial round of introductions, the day started out with a fairly long and elaborate ceremony led by Don Felipe, an aq'iq' (day keeper) from Tecpan.

We had created an altar at the edge of the property that Ixmukané Quiché uses (the property actually belongs to the state, but it was given to the organization as an "integrated center for women's development". There are several small concrete bungalows, and a large hangar-like building that you can see at the left hand side of the picture.  When the altar was created, over a month ago, Don Felipe said that this would be a place of reflection and strength. Everyone who was at that inaugural ceremony had to bring a rock, and those rocks were left in place after all of the offerings had been placed and some of them burned.  Preparing for the ceremony is a bit laborious. The women who were attending helped carry the items that had been purchased -- eggs, herbs, flowers, incense, candles, sugar, flowers, some cigars, and a small bottle of alcohol.  

Preparing the herbs for the ceremony

Only a select number of people from Ixmukané Quiché were invited to participate; holding any sort of meeting is a costly undertaking for the association since few of the women can afford to make the trip without assistance (although it was interesting to hear a discussion a week or so later, when some of the women in Ixmukané Quiché who were longtime activists told about going to meetings years ago, during or just after the war, paying their own way and bringing their own food since there was no sponsoring organization to provide meals, and bringing blankets to sleep on).  Travel and meals have to be provided, and so only about two dozen women from Quiché participated in the exchange.


After everything was carried to the altar the women worked under Don Felipe's direction to prepare things. He was assisted by Doña Matilde, who is also an aq'iq' (although Matilde commented that because of machismo, she did not have as much opportunity as she would have liked to develop herself in this area).

Doña Mati, flanked by Gustavo and Doña Josefa

 Doña Matilde was one of the founders of Ixmukané Quiché, and was at the time of this ceremony the president of the executive board of the organization.  There was a bit of a scramble at the start because when Don Felipe had arrived the grass and plants around the altar hadn't been cut and he said that everything needed to be leveled off some. I tried to get the man who had come to help "clean up" the site to turn his attention to the ceremonial area (he was busy cutting grass elsewhere) but he wanted authorization from someone higher up than me. So I raced back to the main building and found that Doña Maria, the director of the organization, was about to lead all the women up to the ceremonial site. I explained quickly that Don Felipe wasn't quite ready, that the man who was cutting the grass wouldn't move his operations on my say-so. So the women had to stand around a little bit while the grass was quickly cut down with a machete to what Don Felipe considered an acceptable height. 

The construction of the altar starts with drawing a symbol on the ground using sugar. Don Felipe explained what he was doing as he went along, on the supposition that perhaps the women from Peten might not be as familiar with Maya ceremonies as some of the women from Quiché.  They said that they had been to ceremonies before, but he continued to give explanations throughout, mostly in Spanish (he is Kaqchikel, not K'iche', although the languages have some similarities, and he knows some K'iche'); sometimes Matilde or Maria from Ixmukané Quiché translated into K'iche' for those who didn't understand Spanish.

Felipe explained that this particular day in the Maya calendar was 7 Kat, and that Kat was a day for communities and people coming together.  After the circle was drawn, it was filled in: first incense and some pine needles, and then later piled with flowers and candles. Everyone in the group had been given a flower and a stalk of rue to hold, and we stood in a 3/4 or 2/3 circle around the altar. 

After some prayers, Felipe asked that we place our flowers and the stalk of rue on the altar, which was now piled pretty high with ingredients. He next instructed that candles be distributed to everyone. I think we were given yellow candles first, and then white candles. We held the candles to our foreheads while more prayers were said, and then one by one we put the candles down on the altar as well.

Then eggs were distributed, and Felipe explained that these were to draw out the negative energies (in this respect, the ceremony really reminded me of Afrocuban religious ceremonies, where one uses a symbolic object (fruits, a pigeon, a coconut) and passes it over one's body (or has someone else pass it over), and that item is then either ceremonially discarded, or else sacrificed. At the end of a tambor or drum ceremony, one is supposed to take some fruit from the altar, and cleanse oneself with it, and then leave the fruit at the crossroads for Eshu.

So, we each took our egg and passed it over our bodies. Women did this differently; most started at the top and worked down, front and back, arms, belly, legs. I made sure to do the bottoms of my feet as well.  Felipe then instructed us to put the eggs on the altar -- but we had to find the flower and stalk of rue that we had placed earlier, and place our egg on that flower, that stalk of rue. 


There was some laughter and jostling as everyone tried to remember where she had placed her flower and sought to line up her egg in the right place. Felipe then explained that the candles would be lit, and that we would then watch to see if the eggs exploded. Ideally, the eggs should explode or at least crack. 

That would mean that whatever bad energies that we had been holding in had been released. However, if some of the eggs didn't burst, then we would have to do something else. We stood around the fire and watched as the flames spread through and ate up the candles and the flowers. Soon we started to hear some cracking and crackling sounds, and the shells of some of the eggs turned brown and cracked, and few exploded somewhat more dramatically. The smell of sulfur rose from the fire, along with the thick sweet scent of incense and pine needles.  Felipe poured more sugar on top of the fire, saying that we wanted to give the ancestors some sweetness, and then there was a caramel glaze over the other scents of sulfur, incense and pine.  Periodically, he poured a small amount of alcohol over the flames as well.  After a while, when the flames had mostly died out, he examined the eggs carefully and located the ones that had not burst, and asked whose they were. Mine had exploded quite forcefully, but there were quite a few that hadn't burst. He seemed a bit puzzled, and said this didn't usually happen. I don't exactly remember what he put on the fire, but he put more of something and added more sugar and alcohol and eventually, I think, all of the eggs exploded. 

I was not the only taking photographs. The women from Peten had brought a camera, and Nancy (the one in the red shirt to the left) was the group's photographer. Plus there was someone shooting video for a short documentary that Ixmukané wanted to have made.  In addition, several other women snapped photos from time to time with their phones.  Media -- documenting,  recording and then sharing -- have become as much a part of organizing and educational work, to say nothing of social and cultural events, in the highlands as the events themselves. Felipe seemed nonplussed; later in the day he gave a presentation on the Maya cosmovision aided by powerpoint slides. Necessary adaptations to the times.

Finally, toward the end of the ceremony, Felipe and Matilda did additional cleansings for those who wanted them. We had to go pick leaves of a certain plant; I don't know what the plant is called but it has some medicinal properties as well as spiritual ones. Matilda had a big cigar clenched in her mouth and vigorously puffed so that the air clouded with tobacco smoke. The individual handed her handful of leaves to Felipe, and then knelt down and Felipe vigorously swiped the leaves over the person's head, shoulders, back, hands, and then she could stand and go.


I'll stop this entry here, and then start another one about the exchange and the rest of the visit.