Encyclopedia > Ixtab

  Article Content

Ixtab

Ixtab was the Mayan goddess of suicide and wife of Chamer. In Mayan tradition, suicide, especially suicide by hanging, was considered an honorable way to die, comparable to the human victims of the sacrificial rite and slain warriors. Ixtab, depicted as a corpse with a rope around her neck, would accompany the suicides to their eternal rest (psychopomp). Some accounts contend that this belief in Ixtab among the peoples of Central America fostered a readiness to commit suicide rather than face disease or disgrace.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
U.S. presidential election, 1804

... (162) Charles C. Pinckney[?] 14 Federalist Rufus King (14) Other elections: 1792, 1796, 1800, 1804, 1808, 1812, 1816 Source: U.S. Office of the Federal ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 40.4 ms