And here is Princess Sac-Nicté ("white blossom") of Mayapan. She and King Canek ("black snake") of Chichen Itza eloped at her wedding to her betrothed, Prince Ah Ulil of Uxmal; Canek had just reached 21 years of age and had just taken the crown and he and Sac-Nicté (who had just reached 15 years of age and thus marriageable age) had seen each other in a vision. The infatuation was immediate. But he knew that the princess of Mayapan was already engaged and he had been invited to the wedding and had been told that he would be seated next to the bride.
On his way to the wedding in Mayapan, an elderly seer spoke to him, telling him, "The flower awaits you in the garden. Shall you allow another man to take the flower that belongs to you?"
Suffice to say, upon his arrival at the wedding, Canek and Sac-Nicté were instantly attracted to each other and, despite Ah Ulil's anger and effort to stop them, Canek and Sac-Nicté fled together. Upon after reaching Chichen Itza, after the fugitive lovers had gathered provisions for their journey, Canek gave the command for his people to flee the city with him and his ill-gotten bride. Thus, when Ah Uilil and his forces arrived to retrieve his fiancée, they found the city of Chichen Itza empty and abandoned.
The tale could very well be an allegory for the fall of Chichen Itza and the rise of Mayapan in the Postclassical times (around 900-1521 CE) and Ah Ulil is demonstrably a historical king from the 11th century, although based on available evidence Chichen Itza declined as a regional center by 1100, before the rise of Mayapan.
I chose a model from an existing photograph (not my own photo) and worked around that. As Mayan royalty, she would have access to jade, which was a very expensive commodity for the Maya, hence her necklace and jade earrings. And traditionally, the ideal of beauty for the Maya includes flowing, unbound hair; men as well as women still keep their hair long, but the hot, humid climate makes that ideal almost impossible to maintain for most people, so hair is braided and tucked out of the way. Here, her hair is unbound except for the blue headdress.
The Classic (if not the Postclassic) Maya favored a sloped forehead (bringing the head to a point), a high-bridged nose, and slightly crossed eyes, among other attributes, as part of the ideal of beauty. Hence, I have incorporated those things here.
The white blossoms in her hair band are a nod to the meaning of her name. I admit that I would like to know whether there are any inaccuracies that I need to repair.
The background of a temple in Chichen Itza and the lightning storm over the forest are meant to evoke the crisis and the seriousness of what this young couple has done.
As somebody living in the middle of a historic drought, the lightning scares me because of its connection to wildfires and the climate change crisis
I was inspired by this beautiful picture by rico2012: Original Mayan art of a Mayan Queen
I developed away from the original design because I do not want to plagiarize anybody.
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