Editing Ixtab (section)

== Comparisons ==
''Ix Tab'' is the female form of ''ah tab'', "hangman".<ref>Ciudad Real 2001: 55</ref> The function of Ix Tab as a benevolent "hangwoman" could derive from a basic association with snares.<ref>cf. Reyes-Foster and Kangas 2016: 19-20</ref> Landa (Tozzer 1941: 155) mentions the hunting deity [''Ah''] ''Tabay'' ("Ensnarer" or "Deceiver"), possibly a patron of hunting with snares, including such that hoist the prey into the air. Animals hoisted by such snares are found depicted in the Dresden and Madrid codices, the Madrid codex (MC45c) personifying one of these traps by a male hunting deity. Ix Tab could be understood as a specialized, female form of such a deity, luring the human quarry into the hanging rope personified by her. Suicides freely putting their heads into this "snare" (prompted, perhaps, by a dream) could then be seen to consecrate themselves to her. On the other hand, the [[Xtabay]] of contemporary folklore is a seductive female demon "ensnaring" or "deceiving" her male human preys so as to madden and destroy them.<ref>Thompson 1970: 309</ref>