Ixim

In this week’s post, we take a pause from the Popol Wuj, and we will talk about one of its most fundamental components:Ixim AKA Corn AKA Maize

The Spanish invaders called it Maize which was stolen from the Taino word Mahiz. English settlers called it “Corn”, which comes from an old word once meaning a grain of sand or other small hard substance. "Corn" became the generic word for "grain," be it wheat, barley, rye etc etc.

From here on out we will use the Maya word Ixim, as Ixim is the word used in most of the Mayan languages of today.

Scientists of today say that sometime between 9,000 and 6,200 years ago, Ixim was domesticated from teosinte, a wild grass. Teosinte had little grains with hard outer casing which made the dry grain inedible. The first step in domesticating was simply to choose which kernels (seeds) to plant. These farmers noticed that not all plants were the same. Some plants may have grown larger than others, or maybe some kernels tasted better or were easier to grind. The farmers saved kernels from plants with desirable characteristics and planted them for the next season's harvest. This process is known as selective breeding or artificial selection. Ixim cobs became larger over time, with more rows of kernels, eventually taking on the form of modern Ixim

There is evidence Ixim was first cultivated in the Maya lowlands around 6,500 years ago, at about the same time that it appears along the Pacific coast of Mexico. Due to long networks of trade ixim was found in Panama in 5500 B.C. It was in Peru by 4700 B.C. At about 2000 B.C., it was in the American Southwest, and about 1000 A.D. was in the Mississippi Valley.

Ixim was, is, and continues to be central to Maya life. The Popol Wuh tells us that it's the substance used to create the bodies of the first humans.

Ixim was revealed to Xmucane by fox, coyote, parrot and raven . These four had discovered it from a cleft (break/divide) on a Mountain called Pan Paxil and of the waters called Pan Kayala. Let's break this down a bit.

Pan - Place

Paxil - root word Paxi - to break

Broken Place

Pan - Place

Kayal - Root word for Bitter

A- Root word for water

Place of bitter waters

Both of these places have been mythologized, and have been used as the origin of Ixim in many meso-American cultures.

Often referred to as sustenance mountain. They also have often been associated with actual places. Some have proposed areas such as near the ancient city of Palenque and the Usumacinta river. The Maya Mam of today know it under the name Paxal and that it is located in the far western highlands of Guatemala, near the Mexican border and just south of the Pan-American Highway. The Maya Mam, like the writers of the Popol Vuh, say that Ixim originated from the split in that mountain.

Ancient Maya art reveals much on this topic.

Like the graphic we shared for this post we often see a ixim depicted as growing out from a “witz”, or mountain often referred to as “the earth monster.” This “witz” usually has an open mouth with water, symbolizing a cave or entrance.

In this mountain there is also an abundance of other things such as honey, jocotes, and cacao, but most importantly, there was an abundance of white and yellow ixim.

Scholars say that it was of such importance that it changed the lives of everyone in Meso-America.

Maize cultivation became widespread in Mesoamerica, and farm crops accounted for an increasing percentage of the diet. In the Tehuacan Valley, for example, cultivated foods grew from 5 percent of the diet in c. 5500 BCE to 35 percent by 1500BCE and by 600 CE they would constitute 75 per-cent. Enough ixim could be grown, harvested, dried, and stored during the rainy season to sustain people during the dry season, which lasted half the year in much of the Mesoamerican region

Complex societies evolved, especially in the wetland areas. The earliest evidence for sophisticated villages is from the pacific coast low-lands of Southern Mexico and Guatemala, as well as Southern Veracruz in Mexico.

These exceptionally fertile and well-watered regions could produce two crops a year and sometimes three, and their maize harvest simply added to the bounty of fish and tropical fruit.

In order to master the growth cycle of ixim and ensure a bountiful harvest, our Meso-American ancestors began to observe and understand the recurring cycles; that included the observable motion of the sun across the sky and the phases of the Moon.

One example of this is tracking the zenith, when the sun passes directly overhead twice a year, at midday. When the Sun passes through its zenith, the shadows of vertical objects disappear.

In the Ancient city of Copan, it is recorded that the first zenith passage happens in late April, marking the start of the Ixim planting period, the Second zenith passage in Mid August marks the time to harvest. There is approximately 105 days between these two periods. If you subtract 105 from 365 (the solar year) you get 260 days.

260 is roughly nine Gregorian months, equal to the human gestation period.

As humans are being formed in the Popol Wuh, Grandmother Xmukane grinds the Ixim nine times, a direct correlation to the nine months of the Human gestation period. Once again linking human beings with Ixim.

The Chol Q’ij (260 days), and the Haab (365 days) began to take shape from the influence of Ixim growth cycles.

Maya communities of today maintain these traditions through festivals and ceremonies connected with the growing cycle of Ixim. Ceremonies and offerings for rain and gratitude for a bountiful harvest are conducted in certain alignments within these cycles.

These counts, cycles and metaphors are the cosmovision embedded in the Popol Wuh.

As we continue to learn, we will discuss ixim and time cycles in detail as they will often be referred to in other topics.

Stay Tuned!