This study sheds light on a sacred entity that is firmly rooted, and continues to be highly relevant, in the cosmology and culture of the present day Mayan Indians from the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico. Using ethnographic data collected in native communities from the state of Campeche, I will illustrate how these revered beings, the aluxo’ob, are the receptors of abundant offerings via the Mayan campesino’s annual ritual activity, as well as their role as protagonists in a diversity of mythological narratives that explain the genesis of the world and the successive creations and destructions of humanity. Finally, I will explore the links that connect the ritual Mayan specialists (jmeen) with the aluxo’ob, whom they seek for the esoteric knowledge necessary for mediating the relationship between their communities and the sacred realm.
