The Moon Goddess in The Post-Classic and Classic Periods
In the three Post-Classic codices, the Moon Goddess is underrepresented. Instead, one finds almanacs devoted to her terrestrial counterpart, the Goddess I ('White Woman'). In Classic Maya art, however, the Moon Goddess occurs frequently. She is shown as a young woman holding her rabbit, and framed by the crescent of the waxing moon, which is her most important, identifying attribute. The Moon Goddess may also be sitting on a throne, alone (as in the Dresden codex), or behind god D (Itzamna). Although, in oral tradition, the goddess is often treated as the consort of the Sun Deity, Classic iconography does not insist on this (see Kinich Ahau). The lunar rabbit (perhaps a Trickster character) has an important role to play in a poorly understood episode involving the Moon Goddess, the Twins, the Maya maize god, and the aged god L. In some cases, the Moon Goddess is fused with the main Maya maize god, making it uncertain whether what we see is a Moon Goddess with a maize aspect (that is, a maize-bringing moon), or a Maize God with a lunar aspect or function.
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“the broad cloud-driving moon in the clear sky
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See! sleep hath fallen: the trees are asleep:
The night is come. The land is wrapt in sleep.”
—Robert Bridges (1844–1930)
“The difference of the English and Irish character is nowhere more plainly discerned than in their respective kitchens. With the former, this apartment is probably the cleanest, and certainly the most orderly, in the house.... An Irish kitchen ... is usually a temple dedicated to the goddess of disorder; and, too often, joined with her, is the potent deity of dirt.”
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“It has no future but itself—
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New periods of pain.”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)