Central America
This entry was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Also known as Xquic, Blood Moon Goddess, and Blood Maiden, she is the daughter of Cuchumaquic, one of the Lords of Xibalba, and the virgin mother of the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. After the Lords of Xibalba murdered Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, they placed Hun Hunahpu’s severed head in the axis of a calabash tree in the underworld as a warning sign to others that they were not to be trifled with. Xquiq was drawn by the strange fruit of the tree and, on approaching, was addressed by the head of Hun Hunahpu who then spit in her open palm. She became pregnant with the hero twins and, following Hun Hunahpu’s command, left Xibalba and presented herself to his mother, Xumucane. After she passed a test to authenticate her identity, she gave birth to the twins who then were mainly raised by their grandmother. She is identified with the waning moon as Xumucane is with the waxing moon, is also identified with Venus, and depicted as a goddess of fertility and motherhood.