Wednesday 15 June 2011

XTAB: Mayan Suicide Goddess.

Ixtab, or ‘Rope Woman’, was the Yucatec Mayan goddess of suicide.
In mayan tradition, suicide was considered a very honorable way to die, in a similar level than human sacrifices, warriors dead in battle, women dead by giving birth, or priests. Ixtab is represented as a corpse partially rotten, with her eyes closed, hanging from the tree that separates the sky from the earth. Her role as a goddess was to protect the suicidal ones, guiding them to a special paradise immediately. 

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