Global InformationChac Chel information
Chac Chel is a powerful and ancient Mayan goddess of creation, destruction, childbirth, water, weaving and spinning, healing, and divining. She is half of the original Creator Couple, seen most often as the wife of Chaac, who is the pre-eminent god of lightning and rain,[1] although she is occasionally paired with the Creator God Itzamna in the Popol Vuh, a recording of the myths of the highland Maya. This highlights her importance, as dualities such as male/female and husband/wife were extremely important to the Maya, and one cannot function without the other.[2] Chac Chel is also called Goddess O by many Mayanists and she is the aged, grandmotherly counterpart to the young goddess of childbirth and weaving, Ix Chel (also known as Goddess I and Ixik Kab).[3] Most popular in the Late Classic and Postclassic Periods, she is most often depicted in scenes in the Dresden Codex and Madrid Codex. Depictions of her, and burial goods related to her, have also been found in Chichen Itza, the Balankanche Cave near Chichen Itza, Tulum, The Margarita Tomb in Copan, and in Yaxchilan.
- ^ Taube, Karl (1992). The Major Gods of the Ancient Yucatan. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. p. 101. ISBN 9780884022046.
- ^ Bassie-Sweet, Karen (1999). "Corn Deities and the Complementary Male/Female Principle". La Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque.
- ^ Ardren, Traci (2006). "Mending the Past: Ix Chel and the Invention of a Modern Pop Goddess". Antiquity. 80 (307): 25–37. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00093236. S2CID 54685202.