Xtabay
Xtabay, Mayan jungle goddess, is the subject of many legends told throughout the Mayan and Mayan-influenced world, most of them horror stories. Xtabay lives near lakes, rivers, and sources of freshwater. She is a spirit of wild nature, surrounded by birds, beasts, and intoxicating flowers. Most tales in which she stars portray her as a sexy, seductive killer, a spirit to be avoided, but these negative associations may derive from Christian denigration of a powerful Pagan goddess.
Xtabay may originally have been the goddess of the Tree of Life. Consistently portrayed as lascivious, she is a goddess of love and sex. The clue that she is more than the Demon of the woods, as she is sometimes called, derives from the tree with which she is so closely associated.
Xtabay is associated with sacred kapok trees (also known as silk cotton trees), identified with the Tree of Life in Mayan cosmology. As it is so closely identified with traditional Mayan and Caribbean religion, it was vilified post-Christianity. (Attempts to eradicate Haitian Vodou have historically involved chopping down kapoks, also known as Mapou trees.)
The kapok is a massive tree with a buttressed root system, potentially extending over thirty feet from the main trunk. These above-ground roots create the equivalent of caves. Xtabay sits among these roots, singing and combing her gorgeouslong hair using cactus spines as a comb. Depending on legend and perspective, Xtabay inhabits the tree because she’s its goddess or because it’s a convenient hideout for her nefarious deeds.
Yma Sumac’s song, “Xtabay (Lure of the Unknown Love),” refers to an elusive Andean/Inca spirit of the same name. Men catch a glimpse of Peruvian Xtabay and fall madly, hopelessly in love, becoming forever unsatisfied with mortal relationships. They compulsively search for Xtabay, who may never be seen again, thus dooming the men to eternal loneliness or even suicide.
Xtabay resembles a Siren/mermaid, combing her hair and singing. Her victims are young men out alone late at night. In a world where men are more likely to prey on women and men typically have more freedom and safety to walk around alone after dark, Xtabay turns the tables. Allegedly her voice draws victims near, but they may approach assuming that she’s a lady of easy virtue. (And they would be right.) She’s described as seducing young men, but she’s so alluring, seduction may not really be required.
Xtabay allegedly lures men into the jungle from whence many never emerge. (She reputedly strangles them with her hair.) Contact with her may result in insanity and illness. Victims allegedly die within a few days unless they receive immediate shamanic attention.
Xtabay manifests in the Caribbean too. She combs her hair with cactus spines on the island of Saint John, but there men falling asleep after sex with her wake to discover themselves seriously wounded. What seemed to be a woman while they were making love is revealed to really be a spiny cactus. Wounds caused by Xtabay tend to become infected. Fever develops, which is fatal if not treated shamanically as well as physically.
Xtabay is sometimes compared to La Llorona. Like Llorona, she may be an old goddess in disguise, possibly Atabey or Ix Tab. She may also be a completely independent goddess. Negative legends may be attempts to discourage veneration and to keep people far from kapok trees.
ALSO KNOWN AS:
Ixtabey; Xtabey; Xkeban; Xtabai
PRONOUNCED:
Shh-tah-bay or Ish-ta-bay
MANIFESTATION:
Xtabay manifests as a beautiful seductive woman, a cactus, Xtabentun flower, kapok tree, and a green-and-yellow snake.
TREE:
Kapok (Ceiba pentandra)
FLOWER:
The Xtabentun flower, a white flower that grows wild among agave plants
CREATURES:
Quetzals and other tropical birds, snakes, jungle insects
OFFERINGS:
Flowers; decorate her altar like a jungle bower of love; Mexican Xtabentun liqueur created from Xtabentun flower honey
SEE ALSO:
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses – Written by : Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.