Imagine going back 1500
years in time to TIKAL and hit the central plaza in a market-ceremony
day, everybody is there, agriculture men, religious men and women, builders,
craftsmen's, painters, ball players, principals, warriors and many other
members of the society.
As before most of the people present did not live in the constructed
part of the ceremonial center they lived in small houses spread
in the surrounding areas of the
state-city
By
example in Chichicastenango today you can
still see the same ceremony-market mix costume going on, the people lives
in the numerous small villas around the city, they come to pray to
their same Gods mixed and masked with the catholic saints imposed by the
Spanish conquistadors in a church built over an Mayan-quiche temple, in
some places and occasions they still make use of ceremonial drugs to get
closer to their Gods just as the old chamanes did, Today they use alcohol stead of
the Balche (honey based beer) or the sacred mushrooms and other substances formerly
used to get a state that allows the gods to talk to men easier trough
their dreams,
allucinations and spiritual revelations.
The Sto.Tomas
church was build over a sacred temple as used to be done by the Spanish
to force the people to get into the catholic church rites, you can see
the old rites
in many old Indian towns in Mesoamerica and places as the
Witz IK sacred montain , Pascual Abaj, Chicabal volcano,
caves, ruins etc.
Many
as this ceremonies still occur in the ancient ruins of Guatemala, a well
worth place to visit for a spiritual healing. We can arrange a Mayan
priest to celebrate an energy, protection or purification in Guatemala
while you travel. (send us an email)
"It was my fortune to be invited to a Maya ceremony
by friend and tour guide,
Vicente Cuscun. His daughter, Nidia Indira, had just graduated from
nursing
school in Guatemala, and her parents, of Kakchiquel Maya descent, wanted
also to celebrate her graduation in the old ways. The ceremony was held
by a
Maya priest at the ruins of the ancient Kakchiquel capital of IXIMCHE,
located between Antigua and Lake Atitlan. After preparing a fire near
the
altar and placing colored candles to the north, south, east and west,
pine
needles were scattered around it and we were each handed thin candles to
help keep the fire burning strongly. To one side was a marimba. Nidia
Indira
was attired in the traditional huipil and corte of Tecpan, looking a
little
embarrassed, but also obviously proud of her heritage. Nearby her school
friends were dressed in contemporary youthful fashions. The priest
proceeded
to beseech blessings on Nidia from Maya and Christian deities in
Kakchiquel
and Spanish. In the background the marimba played softly. We were all
asked
to kneel around the fire and hold hands to complete a circle. The priest
explained the conjunction with the deities and the forces of nature. It
was
obvious in his sermon the importance the Maya people have always placed
on
natural resources. After the ceremony, we discussed the place of the
Maya in
today’s society, a very complex question and one not easily addressed
without sounding somewhat revolutionary. I was quite surprised to learn
that
a ceremony such as we were attending would have had to be done in secret
5
years ago, before the 1996 peace accords. The priest also spoke of the
Spanish invasion in such a way as to appear that the Maya still lived in
an
occupied country. This is an opinion that he probably would not have
been
able to express freely a few years ago, and even today creates
controversy.
It seems that the ancient ways will be sustained, even as the indigenous
people enter the computer age. The Cuscun family is a good example of
acclimatization to our modern westernized world, while still retaining
customs and traditions."
Temple stairs in Chichi selling flower
and inciense offerings
