The rum-gulping, cigar-puffing Mesoamerican deity Maximón may be the most enigmatic and controversial of the gods. Interpretations range from Maya identifications, such as a relationship to the uayeb of the Maya calendar, to biblical associations with the apostle Judas Iscariot. Maximón is just one facet of a complex deity who is worshiped in various cult centers in Guatemala. There is no central organization of the cult, and the deity varies from town to town. He is everywhere addressed by a multitude of names, each reflecting some particular trait. In customary usage, the name “Maximón” is specific to the cult as it exists in the Tzutuhil town of Santiago Atitlán. Only in the late twentieth century was the name adopted elsewhere. Indicative of the deity's complexity, the name “Maximón” has multiple meanings: it is a conflation of Mam—an ancient Maya god, and one of Maximón's primary names—with the biblical Simon.
In the Tzutuhil language, the name Maximón means “Mr. Knotted,” a reference to the construction of the image. Although the exact nature of that construction is a secret, it is widely known that the figure is made of tied tz'ajtel wood sticks; its mask is carved from the same wood, accounting for another of its names, “Lord Tz'ajtel.” The figure, which stands a little over a meter (about 4 feet) tall, wears two Stetson hats, one atop the other, and is draped in scarves—hence the name “Lord Scarves.” In other towns, the deity is depicted as a seated ladino wearing European-style clothing and dark glasses, but in Atitlán it stands, wears the local style of hand-woven dress, is a Maya, and never wears dark glasses.
Devotees in Atitlán recognize Maximón as the “Lord of Looking Good.” This recognition is related to the deity's fancy garb but also pertains to his sexual aspects. According to some scholars, this dimension may have its roots in the ancient Maya deity God L, the cigar-smoking and lecherous one. Sexuality is certainly part of Maximón's creation, which according to myth occurred in the primordial past. The rain deities, called nawals, created him to watch over their unfaithful wives. Contrary to plan, Maximón displayed unbridled hypersexuality, forcing the nawals to break his neck to curb his behavior and power. Maximón nonetheless retained a capacity to transform into unworldly, beautiful women or men. Yet, should one succumb to Maximón's sexual temptations, the price is insanity or death.
The ambivalent gender of Maximón reflects one of the god's more esoteric dimensions. Maya cosmology has long emphasized binary opposition, including the world's never-ending transformations of male into female aspects, of dry into wet, and of life into death. As “Lord of the Center,” Maximón occupies the space between opposites and is the power that attracts one to the other. This emphasizes Maximón's “Judas” aspect, which devotees understand to be required for the resurrection of Jesus and therefore to the world's transformation of death into life—or dry season into rainy season. Sexuality also drives the lust for liquor, tobacco, and fancy clothes of this god of good times.0195108159.maximon.1.tifMaximón, the rum-chugging, cigar-puffing deity “Lord of Looking Good,” occupies the space between opposites and is the power that attracts one to the other. Photograph courtesy of Robert S. Carlsen.
