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4 Sep 2018
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Culture

The Xtabentun flower grows wild in the Yucatan and produces the pollen Yucatecan honey bees use to create the sweet nectar needed to make a delicious Mayan liquor. Like many things Mayan, this unique flower has a a legend attached to it that goes something like this.

There once lived a beautiful Mayan woman named Xtabay who was said to have given herself to anyone who solicited her love. However lusty she may have been, she was just as much a kind soul who gave help to anyone in need, no matter how much the town ridiculed or look down upon her. When she died, a delicate, white flower with the sweetest fragrance grew around her grave, a testament from the gods that true virtue comes from the heart. It is said that drinking a cup of the Xtabentun liquor made from these flowers causes a euphoric drunkenness, the same effect Xtabay had on the men that loved her.

Xtabentun flower