Sweet Name of Mary
With her hands together in prayer, and a nostalgic look as if she came from long ago, the statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception stands on the main altarpiece in the parish church of St. James in Chicxulub Pueblo.
Although the date of its manufacture is unknown, some features of the wooden statue, such as its size and polychrome coloring, suggest it is possibly 18th-century.
Older townspeople tell how, in the late 19th or early 20th century, the statue was brought from the chapel of nearby ex-sisal hacienda Santa Maria Ontiveros, now a village less than two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the municipal seat at Chicxulub Pueblo.
The statue, known to the locals as the Sweet Name of Mary, has deep religious significance for the parishioners, and although there is no associated patronal festival, she is venerated throughout the month of May, with novenas, and gifts of flowers which young girls bring her in the afternoons.
One of the most conspicuous features of this piece is how colorful the Virgin’s dress and robe are. The garments are golden, with plant motifs in tones of green and geometric shapes in yellow and red, while the undersides are painted in darker hues.
This revered invocation of Mary stands on the predella of the main altarpiece, and can be viewed during time of religious services in the parish church.
Chicxulub Pueblo is 27 kilometers (17 miles) northeast of Merida. The Cordemex Maya Dictionary says that the name means “devil’s flea”, from chic, a flea, and xulub, an animal’s horn, or the devil.
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