:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elfinanciero/XLIBXJUKNFHBHFJB25K4KB2IRQ.jpg "Xibalba, the character who gave the COVID variant its name and who appears in the films – El Financiero")
In recent weeks, diagnoses of the Xibalba subvariant have strengthened in the Yucatan peninsula. The nomenclature of this type of COVID-19 is not accidental or fortuitous. If you want to know its origin and also its relevance in literature and in the entertainment world, here we tell you.
Xibalba is not a character, but the name that the Quiché Maya people gave to the underworld in their mythologies. The word has been translated as “Place of the disappeared”, as quoted by Mercedes de la Garza in her article “Death and her deities in Mayan thought” in the magazine Mexican archaeology.
According to Mayan mythology, people who did not die a triumphant or violent death would remain in Xibalba.
Xibalba in movies
The entertainment industry represented Xibalba as a place and as a character with sinister intentions.
One of the most prominent depictions of the Mayan underworld was portrayed in the titled tape Xibalba (2017). The film, directed by Alexa Macchi, puts a group of divers led by actress Carla Ortiz to investigate some caves. In that place, by chance, they discover the doors of the ‘place of fear’.
Other iterations of Xibalba turns the place into a gloomy character With bad intentions. Such is the case with the film The book of life (2014) directed by Jorge R. Gutiérrez and starring Diego Luna, Zoe Saldaña, Catherine of Castilloamong other figures.
the tape continues a story as part of Day of the Dead which sets two friends as rivals for the sake of Maria.
The book of life exposes the myth that exists with the November celebration and portrays Xibalba (Ron Perlman) as a being trying to take over the souls of the protagonists.
- Where is it? The animated film is available on Disney+.
Xibalba is a concept that too has been featured in the world of documentary, since there are some pieces like Hidden World: The Cave of the Dead exploring the possibility that it is a physical site in the Yucatan.
- Where is it? The documentary is available at AppleTV.
