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X'tabai
''La Xtabay'' is a Yucatec Maya folklore about a demonic femme fatale who preys upon men in the Yucatán Peninsula. She is said to dwell in the forest to lure men to their deaths with her incomparable beauty. She is described as having beautiful, shining black hair that falls down to her ankles and wearing a white dress. One of the most accepted versions of the myth comes from the book, ''Diez Leyendas Mayas'' (1998), written by Jesus Azcorra Alejos. Etymology The term "Xtab" was used to refer to an ancient Maya goddess Ixtab, the goddess of suicide by hanging or the gallows. According to ''Perez' Lexicon of the Maya Language'', the feminine prefix "tab", "taab", and "tabil" translate to "rope intended for some exclusive use." Ixtab was seen as a benevolent goddess who acted as a psychopomp to whoever hung themselves, leading them to paradise, as suicide was considered an honorable way of dying. The legend of Xtabay Background Two equally beautiful women, Xkeban and Utz- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yucatec Maya Language
Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Francisco, though most Mayan Americans are speakers of other Mayan languages from Guatemala and Chiapas. Etymology According to the Hocabá dictionary, compiled by American anthropologist Victoria Bricker, there is a variant name , literally "flat speech"). A popular, yet false, alternative etymology of Mayab is "ma ya'ab" or "not many," "the few" which derives from New Age spiritualist interpretations of the Maya. The use of "Mayab" as the name of the language seems to be unique to the town of Hocabá, as indicated by the Hocabá dictionary and is not employed elsewhere in the region or in Mexico, by either Spanish or Maya speakers. As used in Hocabá, "Mayab" is not the recognized name of the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammillaria Gummifera
''Mammillaria'' is one of the largest genera in the cactus family (Cactaceae), with currently 200 known species and varieties recognized. Most of the mammillaria are native to Mexico, but some come from the southwest United States, the Caribbean, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Honduras. The common name "pincushion cactus" refers to this and the closely related genus ''Escobaria''. The first species was described by Carl Linnaeus as ''Cactus mammillaris'' in 1753, deriving its name from Latin ''mammilla'', "nipple", referring to the tubercles that are among the distinctive features of the genus. Numerous species are commonly known as globe cactus, nipple cactus, birthday cake cactus, fishhook cactus or pincushion cactus though such terms may also be used for related taxa, particularly ''Escobaria''. Description The distinctive feature of the genus is the possession of an areole split into two clearly separated parts, one occurring at the apex of the tubercle, the other at its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Llorona
''La Llorona'' (; "The Weeping Woman" or "The Wailer") is a Hispanic-American mythical vengeful ghost who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children whom she drowned. Origins Early colonial times provided evidence that the lore is pre-Hispanic, originating in the central highlands. However, La ''Llorona'' is most commonly associated with the colonial era and the dynamic between Spanish ''conquistadores'' and indigenous women. The most common lore about La ''Llorona'' includes her initially being an Indigenous woman who murdered her own children, which she bore from a wealthy Spaniard, after he abandoned her. The villainous qualities of La ''Llorona'', including infanticide and the murdering of one's own blood is assumed to be connected to the narrative surrounding Doña Marina, also known as La ''Malinche'', or Maltinzin in her original nomenclature. Today, the lore of La ''Llorona'' is well known in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. The earliest docume ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Churel
The Churel, also spelled as Charail, Churreyl, Chudail, Chudel, Chuṛail, Cuḍail or Cuḍel ( hi, चुड़ैल, ur, چڑیل) is a mythical or legendary creature resembling a woman, which may be a demoniacal revenant said to occur in South Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. The churel is typically described as "the ghost of an unpurified living thing", but because she is often said to latch on to trees, she is also called a tree-spirit. According to some legends, a woman who dies during childbirth or pregnancy or from suffering at the hands of her in-laws will come back as a revenant churel for revenge, particularly targeting the males in her family. The churel is mostly described as extremely ugly and hideous but is able to shape-shift and disguise herself as a beautiful woman to lure men into the woods or mountains where she either kills them or sucks up their life-force or virility, turning them into old men. Thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yma Sumac
Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo (September 13, 1922 (birth certificate) or September 10, 1922 (later documents) – November 1, 2008), known professionally as Yma Sumac (), was a Peruvian-American coloratura soprano. She was one of the most famous exponents of exotica music during the 1950s. Sumac became an international success based on her vocal range. She had five octaves according to some reports, but other reports (and recordings) document four-and-a-half at the peak of her singing career. (A typical trained singer has a range of about three octaves.) Yma Sumac sold more than 40 million records which makes her one of the best-selling Latin Americans in history and the best-selling Peruvian in history. In one live recording of "Chuncho", she sang a range of over four and a half octaves, from B2 to G7. She sang notes in the low baritone register as well as notes above the range of an ordinary soprano. Both low and high extremes can be heard in the song "Chunch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voice Of The Xtabay
''Voice of the Xtabay'' is the first studio album by Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac. It was released in 1950 by Capitol Records. It was produced and composed by Les Baxter, along with Moisés Vivanco and John Rose. Sumac sings on the album, accompanied by Ethnic music, ethnic Percussion instrument, percussion and musical variations influenced by the music of Peru. Sumac had a notable vocal range, of about five octaves. The album entered several ''Billboard'' charts on the year of its release. The songs ''Virgin of the Sun God, High Andes!'' and ''Earthquake'' were used in the 1954 film ''Secret of the Incas'' which featured Sumac as Kori-Tica. The album was reissued in the UK in 1956 with different artwork. The album quickly sold 500,000 copies, and was No. 1 on Variety’s best-seller list at the end of 1950, surpassing albums by Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman. Track listing References External links SunVirgin.com [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization and "may be as old as humanity itself". Common features of underworld myths are accounts of living people making journeys to the underworld, often for some heroic purpose. Other myths reinforce traditions that entrance of souls to the underworld requires a proper observation of ceremony, such as the ancient Greek story of the recently dead Patroclus haunting Achilles until his body could be properly buried for this purpose. Persons having social status were dressed and equipped in order to better navigate the underworld. A number of mythologies incorporate the concept of the soul of the deceased making its own journey to the underworld, with the dead needing to be taken a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven alive. Heaven is often described as a "highest place", the holiest place, a Paradise, in contrast to hell or the Underworld or the "low places" and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity, goodness, piety, faith, or other virtues or right beliefs or simply divine will. Some believe in the possibility of a heaven on Earth in a ''world to come''. Another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, heaven is considered a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axis Mundi
In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the ''axis mundi'' is the axis of rotation of the planetary spheres within the classical geocentric model of the cosmos. In 20th-century comparative mythology, the term axis mundi — also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, or world tree — has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing "the connection between Heaven and Earth" or the "higher and lower realms." Mircea Eliade introduced the concept in the 1950s. Axis mundi closely relates to the mythological concept of the '' omphalos'' (navel) of the world or cosmos. Items adduced as examples of the ''axis mundi'' by comparative mythologists include plants (notably a tree but also other types of plants such as a vine or stalk), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maya Peoples
The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical region. Today they inhabit southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. "Maya" is a modern collective term for the peoples of the region, however, the term was not historically used by the indigenous populations themselves. There was no common sense of identity or political unity among the distinct populations, societies and ethnic groups because they each had their own particular traditions, cultures and historical identity. It is estimated that seven million Maya were living in this area at the start of the 21st century. Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras have managed to maintain numerous remnants of their ancient cultural her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceiba Tree - Panoramio
''Ceiba'' is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas (from Mexico and the Caribbean to N Argentina) and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress roots that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok, '' Ceiba pentandra'', one of several trees called kapok. ''Ceiba'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera ( butterfly and moth) species, including the leaf-miner '' Bucculatrix ceibae'', which feeds exclusively on the genus. Recent botanical opinion incorporates ''Chorisia'' within ''Ceiba'' and puts the genus as a whole within the family Malvaceae. Culture and history The tree plays an important part in the mythologies of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. In addition, several Amazonian tribes of eastern Pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintana Roo
Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal. Quintana Roo is located on the eastern part of the Yucatán Peninsula and is bordered by the states of Campeche to the west and Yucatán to the northwest, and by the Orange Walk and Corozal districts of Belize, along with an offshore borderline with Belize District to the south. As Mexico's easternmost state, Quintana Roo has a coastline to the east with the Caribbean Sea and to the north with the Gulf of Mexico. The state previously covered and shared a small border with Guatemala in the southwest of the state. However, in 2013, Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation resolved the boundary dispute between Quintana Roo, Campeche, and Yucatán stemming from the creation of the Calakm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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