Yucatan Mothers

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The Indians of Yucatan were described as a people of good physique, tall, robust and of great strength, and commonly are all bow-legged from having in their infancy been carried astride the mother's hip when they are taken somewhere. It was held as a grace to be cross-eyed, and this was artificially brought about by the mothers, who in infancy suspended a small plaster from the hair down between the eyebrows and reaching the eyes; this constantly binding, they finally became cross-eyed. They also had their heads and foreheads flattened from infancy by their mothers.[276]
High-status Maya mothers would artificially induce cross-eyedness (strabismus) and would strap on boards to flatten the foreheads of high-born infants as a lifelong sign …show more content…

They did not grow beards and say that their mothers were used to burn their faces with hot cloths to prevent the growth. When beards were grown, they are very rough, like hogs’ bristles. They burned or used tweezers to pluck out all facial hair, such as eyebrows on both men and women. Facial hair wasn't regarded as very fashionable, although some earlier murals depict some rulers occasionally with mustaches or beards.
They allowed their hair to grow like the women; on top they ringed it, making a, good tonsure. Thus it grew long below but short on the crown; it was braided and wound around the head, with an end left behind like a queue. All the men used mirrors, and the women not; and to call a man a cuckold they said his wife had put the mirror in his hair behind his head. Ground and polished stone mirrors date back to 1500 BC in Mesoamerica. Depictions of the Classic-era Maya court often show kings gazing raptly into mirrors, usually made from a mosaic of iron pyrite pasted onto wood, slate or other material.
Scene from a painted vase, a lord gazes at a small effigy …show more content…

These ends were embroidered by their wives with much care and with feather work. They wore large square mantles, which they threw over the shoulders. They wore sandals of hemp or deerskin tanned dry, and then no other garments.[138]
Portrait of Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcoco, attributed to Ixtlilxochitl, although Mexican, illustrates well the garments here described. William Gates, [1937] pg.33.[138]

Body painting was a common Maya practice, classic period murals and vases depict warriors in red or black body paint. Men often painted their bodies and faces to look fierce, women would paint themselves to look more beautiful. Small paint jars of red hematite mixed with mica were found in houses in Ceten. Unmarried men painted their bodies black, as did those purifying and fasting themselves for ritual. Priests often wore the color famously known as, “Maya

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