This and the previous painting illustrate childbirth and the role of the midwife.

The painting Childbirth by Juan Fermin Gonzalez Morales not only depicts a birth, but it also keenly observes aspects of the lives of a typical Maya campesino (farmer) family. Kneeling directly on the bed, the iyoom (midwife) assists the woman giving birth. We can see the baby’s head just emerging from under the edge of the shawl that is draped across the mother. Both women wear the white huipiles typical of San Pedro la Laguna. The bed does not have a mattress. Instead, the wooden boards of the bed are covered only by a woven bamboo mat called a petate, which is made in nearby San Pablo la Laguna. At the head of the parents’ bed, we see two small children asleep in a miniature bed. Typically, campesino families are large and have more children than they have rooms, so the youngest children will sleep near their parents.

In the lower right-hand corner of the painting, a woman—probably a family member—prays in front of the family altar. On the altar we can discern flowers, a candle, and what looks to be a crucifix, probably made by a local Maya woodcarver. On the left-hand side of the painting, Juan Fermin has painted the tools used every day—the mother’s clay cooking pots, and the father’s machete and adz. The father, who probably got up at three o’clock in the morning to work in the fields, has fallen asleep in his chair, exhausted from a long day’s work. Another woman holds a candle so the midwife can see what she is doing in the darkness. The midwife’s tools lie on the bed and the floor—her scissors to cut the umbilical cord, a bowl of hot water, a black cup, and a basket with towels. The floor of the house is dirt, and footprints are visible—which carry both literal and symbolic meaning. The artist reveals here the footprints of generations of ancestors.