MAYAN MYTHOLOGY: THE SEDUCTIVE XTABAY
My Mexican mother-in-law grew up in a small coastal village on the Yucatan Peninsula, a tropical region known for its Mayan heritage and incredible legends. One of the most fascinating Mayan legends that my mother-in-law ever told me was about the Xtabay woman and the ceiba tree.
While different stories exist among the modern day Mayan community about the origin of the Xtabay (pronounced "ish-tah-bye"), every person with Mayan heritage agrees that she is not someone you'd want to come across. Meaning "seductive temptress", the Xtabay is a beautiful Mayan woman with long black hair who stands under the ceiba tree in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula. She entices the Mayan men and puts them into a kind of trance, making them desperate to follow her wherever she goes. Some men go to embrace the Xtabay and are violently killed, only to be found later lifeless and ensnared in the thorns of the branches of the ceiba tree.
The men who begin to follow the Xtabay are led off the path, deep into the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula. Once they lose sight of the temptress, they're left to wander through the trees until they can no longer survive, and soon perish from starvation or worse.
My mother-in-law tells me that Mayan men are more likely to see the Xtabay when they're drunk, which I don't find in the least bit surprising. Over the centuries, some men have managed to survive a chance encounter with an Xtabay woman, living to tell their tale to their village and warn others of the dangers of the ceiba tree.
If you ever find yourself in the jungles Mayan territory, make sure to avoid the thorny ceiba tree and keep your friends close by; otherwise, you might become the next victim of the temptations of the seductive Xtabay.