The traditional Mayas generally assume the moon to be female, and the moon's phases are accordingly conceived as the stages of a woman's life. The Maya moon goddess wields great influence in many areas. Being in the image of a woman, she is naturally associated with sexuality and procreation, fertility and growth, not only of human beings, but also of the vegetation and the crops. Since in a negative sense, growth can cause all sorts of ailments, the moon goddess is also a goddess of disease. Everywhere in Mesoamerica, including the Mayan area, she is specifically associated with water, be it wells, rainfall, or the rainy season. In the codices, she has a terrestrial counterpart in goddess I.
Read more about Maya Moon Goddess: Lunar Mythology, The Moon Goddess in The Post-Classic and Classic Periods, Calendrical Functions
Famous quotes containing the words moon and/or goddess:
“Romeo. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,
That tips with silver all these fruit tree tops—
Juliet. O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“As if the musicians did not so much play the little phrase as execute the rites required by it to appear, and they proceeded to the necessary incantations to obtain and prolong for a few instants the miracle of its evocation, Swann, who could no more see the phrase than if it belonged to an ultraviolet world ... Swann felt it as a presence, as a protective goddess and a confidante to his love, who to arrive to him ... had clothed the disguise of this sonorous appearance.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)