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:
“... until both employers and workers groups assume responsibility for chastising their own recalcitrant children, they can vainly bay the moon about ignorant and unfair public criticism. Moreover, their failure to impose voluntarily upon their own groups codes of decency and honor will result in more and more necessity for government control.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877?)
“The Moon! Artemis! the great goddess of the splendid past of men! Are you going to tell me she is a dead lump?”
—D.H. (David Herbert)