Maya Cave Sites - Associations With Sex and Fertility

Associations With Sex and Fertility

There appears to be a strong association (and perhaps conflation) between caves and sweatbaths. Caves are often perceived as female and are likened to the womb and vagina. Hence they are a symbol of fertility. Like caves, sweatbaths have also been associated with human fertility and both have strong sexual connotations. Examples of these sexual connotations include the painting of a couple engaged in intercourse at the cave site of Naj Tunich, the contemporary Tzotzil Maya belief that a hypersexual being lives in a cave, and the fact that sweatbaths have been places of illicit sex amongst many Maya groups. Artifacts found at a sweatbath on the periphery of Piedras Negras included a circular mirror and five marine shells, artifacts that have been associated with the watery underworld and the latter of which has been found in the artificial caves underneath the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan.

Speleothems in caves have also been regarded as sacred and have played a role in Maya religion. Caves are considered to be "living beings with personhood and souls". and according to a 41 year old Q’eqchi’ Maya their speleothems "are also alive, they grow and sweat water; they themselves are water". People may take these rocks from the caves and put them on their altars. The Xibun Maya incorporated speleothems into the construction of the ball court at the Hershey site. Ball courts have been associated with the underworld just as caves have been.