Athena Review Image Archive ™
The Maya Moon Goddess, Ix Chel
Detail of fresco at Tulúm, with Ix Chel and two Chacs (photo: Athena Review).
The
popular Maya Moon Goddess Ix Chel ("She of the rainbows") was patron of
childbirth and healing, and the art of weaving. A Postclassic shrine to
Ix Chel on the island of Cozumel was much visited by Mayans, and was
probably still active when the Spaniards first arrived in 1518-19
during the voyages of Grijalva and Cortés.
The Temple of the
Frescoes at Tulúm has a small colonnaded lower gallery with murals in
the Mixteca-Puebla style, dating from about AD 1450. One of the
paintings shows the goddess Ix Chel holding two small Chacs or rain
deities.The central theme of these murals is fertility, maize and
associated ceremonies of death and rebirth. Among the fertility symbols
are water lilies.
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