THE ANCESTORS
For the Maya, the ancestors are the building blocks of our lives and ancestral worship is customary and celebratory. Like many other original people in the Americas, they have honoured the ancestors for centuries in prayer, ritual and ceremony.
The history and nature of Maya culture allows them to grieve openly and mourn completely at the time of death. If this is not done thoroughly, there will be no healing and continued connection to the deceased, who become an ancestor. Of high importance to the Maya is remembering lost family members so that their spirits will gift their presence in this dimension.
In the West, it is common to blame personal and health problems on hereditary factors, but rather than heal the root cause, the common practice is to "cure" the symptom using allopathic means (drugs, surgery, non-awareness based treatments). The symptoms typically reemerge, oftentimes in a different form because the ill energy has not fully released or transformed.
The Maya, like many other indigenous cultures, know that the only way to liberate the soul is by healing the dark, unwanted elements of the self.
There are carved drawings of Mayans spilling blood on dead ancestors, archaeologists interpret this as a bloodletting ceremony as ancestor veneration. In addition to this they would regularly pray to their ancestors- who's spirits they believed were watching over them- to keep them healthy, happy and with good fortune. The greatest concentration of Maya descendants are in the present-day country of Guatemala, located in Central America.
Weaving is one of the outstanding Maya crafts, an ancient art that has survived uninterrupted for centuries and is now famous all over the world.
The Maya also make baskets, pottery and wood carved of animals, saints and brightly-painted toys and chests. They are known for their traditionally brightly coloured clothing. While Spanish and Indian cultures integrated into the country's "mestizaje", the purest of the Maya influences can be found in both the performing and design arts, in particular, the handicraft of textiles.
The Guatemalan Mayas have mixed their Maya customs with Western European traditions and religions. The modern Maya practice their own brand of Christianity, which is a blend of Catholic traditions and ancient rituals, an interesting note in Mayan genealogy. Modern Maya religion is a colourful hybrid of Catholicism and ancient Maya beliefs and rituals. The ancient gods have been replaced with statues of santos (and secret Maximóns) but the stories of these saints only remotely resemble those of their European counterparts.
Today there are about 7 million indigenous Mayans in the countries of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador. Most speak a combination of the Mayan language and Spanish. However, there are some 21+ different versions of the Mayan language.
Since the Maya civilisation originally was composed of numerous tribes or groups, the present-day Mayans identify with their own ethnic group, rather that the overall collected name of Maya, a significant aspect in Mayan genealogy. A few of the distinctive groups are Yucatec, Wastek, Achi, Kekchi, and K'iche. Over the decades several have held their original Maya names of: Ak, Can, Chan, Be, Cantun, Canche, Chi, Chuc, Coyoc, Dzib, Dzul, Ehuan, Hoil, Hau, May, Tamay, Ucan, Pool and Zapo.