Sacred Mayan Crossing will take place from May 31, 2007 every year that season.
The oarsmen left the old Polé, present Xcaret, made the island of Cozumel to venerate the fertility goddess Ixchel and the oracle.

The first sacred journey began the night of May 31 in the area known as two beaches inside the park Xcaret, to offer rituals to the goddess Ixchel and involved about 300 oarsmen who will cross the Cozumel canal to visit the oracle of the Deity on the island
The event began with the dramatization of one of the main traditions of Mayan culture: the veneration of the goddess of fertility and the oracle of Ixchel in the ancient Cuzamil, today island of Cozumel.

Even with the absence of the moon, clothed by rain-anticipated clouds, as planned the first part of the project managed to catch the attention of about a thousand people who gathered in the ecotourism park, located 30 minutes from the Hotel Maya Tankah .

The purpose of this journey is to spread and promote Mayan culture and its roots to the whole world.

Between the smoke of incense and pre-Hispanic dances to the rhythm of percussions of native instruments, a Mayan priest (h’men) arrived in a canoe, while a woman in a state of pregnancy was preparing for the pilgrims arriving on the island of Cozumel , Ask good wishes to the goddess Ixchel.

In Mayan cosmology, Ixchel is the wife of Itzamná, the god of the Sun, besides relating it to fertility, it was made with the earth, the harvest, the moon and love. Your energy and presence can be felt when visiting Tankah.

Each year Maya Maya from the Yucatan Peninsula arrived to the shores of Quintana Roo in order to worship it, but the custom became stronger because the sanctuary of the goddess was also an oracle-

The Mayas crossed about 50 kms (round trip) although only 18 kms away they separated the coast from the insula. The crossing was made longer by the sea currents.

The island of Cozumel is located off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and from the bay of Tankah you can see at night the glow of the southern lights of the island.

Twenty-two boats took part, three of them with 10 women rowers departed at 6 am to make the 50kms round trip to the island of the swallows. Among the women participants, the famous Mexican sailor Galia Moss stood out, who along with their companions left very early. All the participants, men and women, spent several weeks of training and there were difficult times, especially due to the weather, which at the last minute improved considerably leaving a sea without waves.

Women distinguished themselves from men by their garments, dressed in a gown of a crude blanket decorated with scourges.

Prior to the departure of the Ixchel worshipers, the H’men (Mayan priest), with a crystal sphere in his right hand, squeezed it, augured well and asked the gods for their protection as if in a trance. The incense, like a snake of smoke, faded in the air, making capricious figures impregnating the environment with a penetrating aroma. The arrival was scheduled at one o’clock in “Playa Casitas” in Cozumel. In the same place, at eight o’clock at night, the consultation of the oracle would take place.

The rowers will return today June 2. They plan to leave the island at 5:30 am and arrive at 13 hrs. A Xaman-Ha (Playa del Carmen), next to the pier.