Xtabentun

 

The origin of the flower comes from a tale about two women who lived in the same village many years ago. One was called Xtabay, whom locals called popularly "Xkeban," which means a prostitute, she was a very beautiful woman who gave her body to whomever she wanted. However, she was good-hearted and helped people when they needed her. If someone did not have a garment to cover, she gave away the fine clothes her lovers gave her; sold his jewels to buy medicine for the sick and looked after the animals that were considered useless. The whole people despised her and publicly insulted her, but she never reproached them.
 

The other woman was Utz-Colel, considered an example to follow. A decent woman, well dressed, virtuous and of good family, with a reputation unblemished and also a virgin. Despite his purity, he was a cold person. She never helped the sick and despised the poor.

 

One day that the people of the village realized that Xtabay had several days without leaving her house. They speculated that she was probably in other towns, giving away his love, but as the days passed, a sweet aroma permeated the air. The people began to look for where this exquisite perfume came from, and they found the house of Xtabay. They found her dead, guarded by animals that licked their hands to ward off the flies. Utz-Cleol filled with envy said that it was not possible for a woman so impure to emanate such a delicate scent and attributed it to evil spirits. She assured that when she died, her body, as she was a respected woman in the village, would emit an even more delicate fragrance. Xtabay was buried and the next day, her grave was full of white flowers that emitted that sweet aroma that had filled the town the previous days.

 

Finally, the day of Utz-Colel's death arrived. His funeral was filled with people who praised his virtue, honesty, and purity. Once her body was buried began to expel a stale odor of decaying corpse. All those present were fleeing, disgusted by the stench, so penetrating that even the vultures did not come to search their remains. A plant began to grow on his grave, but it was nothing like the flower that grew on that of Xtabay. It was a thorny cactus called "tzacam," which, far from having a pleasant smell, is nauseating as one approaches.

Anger invaded Utz-Colel, so she begged the gods to send her back to the land of the living. She returned in disguise from Xtabay and lived everything she could not live before her death. According to the legend, Utz-Colel waits, hiding in the jungle, the passage of some young man to seduce it and then take away the heart. There are those who claim to have been seduced by a beautiful woman, and who wake up the next morning, find themselves hugging a cactus. If one day you see a woman combing a cactus, do not approach, for it is Utz-Colel, waiting for his next victim.

 

The white flower on the tomb of Xtabay is called Xtabentun. From this flower, you can obtain the nectar that makes the Yucatecan honey and anise drink of the same name. It is said that when one takes a drink of this drink, the dizzy feeling that provokes is comparable to the sense by those who fell in love with the charismatic Xtabay (Nobuoka, 2017).