imon, the Maya restored the positive as- 

 pects of sex and fertihty. 



According to one myth of Maximon's 

 origin, the ancient authorities decided to 

 make a talking figure to scare men away 

 from other men's wives, who would other- 

 wise be seduced during their husbands' 

 trips to the plantations or the capital city. 

 Created as a guardian of sexual morality, 

 however, Maximon became the principal 

 transgressor. He would impregnate 

 women, whose children would then re- 

 semble him or perhaps show some defor- 

 mity. Or he would transform himself into a 

 woman and lure men into sexual relations, 

 after which they would die in three days. 



Thirty years later, anthropologists 

 Nathaniel Tarn and Martin Prechtel report 

 that the cult of Maximon is still ahve and 

 well in Santiago Atitlan. In their research, 

 they identify Maximon with Mam, the 





50 Natural History 3/94 



