Peeping into Maya Culture

I'm finding Maya culture both alluring and confusing. We understand Greek and Roman culture because ours is based on theirs and also because we know Greek and Roman writing, sculpture, remnants of buildings and so forth. Maybe the confusing aspect is the Maya calendar, or perhaps their practice of animal and human sacrifice to the gods. Because the Spaniards did such a good job of destroying Maya documents, archeologists have had a challenge ferreting out information.

It was toward the end of the tour yesterday that Julio showed us the stones upon which victims were sacrificed. To us, the idea of animal, let alone human sacrifice is abhorrant. But for the Maya, sacrifice was common, especially during festivals, rituals and in times of calamity.

According to the most recent research, the practice started with the Olmecs, the first pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilization. The person was placed on the square stone you see below and dealt a blow to the neck.

After the blow, the person was transfered to another stone where a religious or politcal leader would remove the heart. Blood was smeared onto paper and burned or onto maize and baked into sacred bread.

Blood letting was an alternative to human sacrifice. The most common body parts used were the tongue and ear. The most sacred blood came from male and female sexual organs.

Prisoners of war were also sacrificial victims as were children born between August 8-12 as I mentioned yesterday. It was awful listening to the gory description and we all stood around the stones yesterday with one big grimace. A number of children were sacrified to dedicate temples and other structures.


If you look closely at the top of the round stone, you'll see a groove. The blood from the victim was captured in a vessel from the grove. Awful isn't it?

It's late now and class tomorrow begins at 8:00 am. So off to bed now. The story won't be gory tomorrow. Promise.

Saludos

Recuperating

I'd forgotten what dehydratation was like. So when I felt out of it with a headache and fatigue yesterday, I couldn't imagine how, after three liters of water and two beer (in desperation) that I could be dehydrated. Dolt again.

I have a day off today for laundry, banking and study before moving to my new place. I discovered the roof top last night when Enelda (la mama) hung the laundry there. The photos below are of neighbouring houses and my laundry (exciting business).

washer woman

 

 

 

neighbour to the left preparing truck -- to his right is a BBQ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

neighbour to the right

 

 

 

 

 

 

bird flying in distance

 

 

 

 

 

The next post will be Las Ruinas

Hasta pronto

 

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Luck at the Ruins

There were a lot of quasi informed fellows at the gates this morning who, for $30 wanted to guide me through the ruins. Nuts to that I thought. Just as I was paying the entrance fee and wondering how to manage, I heard a fellow giving lots of detail to a group of young people. I joined the group as surreptitiously as I could with a bright yellow back pack. They were a group of university students from Oregon working for the non profit organization Stove Team.

As in Nepal, cooking involves deforestation, respiratory problems and burns, especially among young children. A woman working with a medical team in Guatamala noticed the problems and in 2004 began the org which now has factories in five countries, one here in Copan. The stove manufactured is very hot and fuel efficient.

the national bird of Honduras. The Scarlet Macaw.

In this post, you'll see some of the ruins but also important trees in the area. Scarlet Macaws flew overhead today in great sweeping arcs as they used to in Mayan times. In those days, they were sacred, representing the daylight and the rising sun. After sunset, the Lord of the Night, a stalking Jaguar appeared.

Naked Indian

 

 

 

The sap of the Naked Indian tree, named for its peeling bark, was used as an anti inflammatory and also coagulent. The Mayas cut their skin in ceremonies, and after cutting applied this sap to stop bleeding.

The Mayans had an excellent underground pipe system and areas to collect water.

Mayan gutter

 

When archeologists arrived on a scene, they looked for square stones, stones shaped by people.

In the next post you'll see photos of stelae, a learning centre, a ball court, the large stones used for various stages of human sacrifies and the impressive Hieroglyphic Stairway. As a sidebar, the Mayan calendar lacked five days to cover a full year. So children born between August 8 and 12 were from birth on deemed for human sacrifice. This was an honour apparently.

Along the lines of birth past and present, Stinging Nettle was used as an abortive in Mayan times. Mayan women today receive contraception injections. The doctors tell the husbands that the injections are vitamins. Poor Mayan families don't name their children until they are two because infant mortality is high and they don't want to waste names. So until the age of two, children are called "El Nino" or La Nina."

On Tuesday I move to a new home and new instructor. This is Easter Week here and a holiday for many. I bought my bus ticket to San Pedro Sula in the nick of time.

At the moment I'm hot and tuckered. The posted temp for here was 88. But it felt like 95.

Hasta Manana

nature and man made

 

 

 

 

finding what once was

 

 

 

 

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My Neighbourhood

My bed is on the second floor under the water tank. If you were here now, you'd be playing or working in the dark because the power just went off. You'd hear the sounds of kids playing in the streets, dogs barking, cars honking and music blaring. It will be quiet sometime after midnight. The stores in the photos are two or three doors away. Many homes are partially converted into stores of some sort.

Tomorrow you'll see photos of the ruins.

under the tank

mattresses sold next to motorcycles

 

general store

 

delivery man

good exercise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just returned from the family's paneria. It's in the basement of a small home and it's as dark as the photo (Calcutta) shows. Two men were baking bread in the wood fired oven. It was 32 degrees here today and so smoky and hot in that oven of a room. You can just see the white shirt of a baker in the background -- bread in the foreground. The working conditions are unimaginable.

Hasta manana

Calcutta

 

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To the Research Station

Carolina, Social Anthropologist

As is so often the case, when you set out to find something, you stumble upon so much more. I set out with my backpack full of books this afternoon in the heat of the day to find "The Tea and Chocolat Place." My plan was to read while sipping tea.

But the route conspired against me.The map and directions seemed clear. Walk up the hill six blocks and turn left. I walked and walked and finally, all hot and dusty, and tired of hearing people say, "I've never heard of this chocolat place. If you want chocolat go into town," I found a wonderful oasis which is also The Copan Botanical Research Station. The young woman in the photo is now working with her parents to develop the Research Station and at the same time provide wonderful Noni tea and homemade chocolat (the real deal) to clients.

She returned not long ago from seven years of study in the United States and is doing anthropological work in Copan, funded by an American endeavour. Her family has purchased land and their objective is to halt deforestation, to plant trees which will prevent future erosion of the Copan land and to educate the local children on the issue of land conservation.

The driver of this huge undertaking is the woman's step father, Dr. David Sedat who was a Consulting Scholar with the University of Pennsylvania Museum. He served as the field director of the team that discovered two of the richest tombs found in the Americas. They contain Copán’s dynastic founder and his queen, the so-called Lady in Red.

The photos below give some idea of the area. It's a beautiful place and I can't wait to go back.

Guapinol Tree and fruit

 

tea drying

 

 

 

 

chocolat beans

cactus drying to be made into tea

 

view from The Place's balcony

 

from the past

 

getting ready for dinner

 

over the hill is the planted land

 

Noni tea, chocolat and pumpkin seeds, all made my hand

Saludos

 

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For the Birds

eye to the world

 

Sometimes it takes time to find beauty beneath the rubble. For me it's been that way here. People are so incredibly friendly and helpful. I've had to ask for directions a ton of times and everywhere people have gone out of their way to help.

The other night I went out for a cup of tea, and it being the first night with my new "family," and being night time, I got myself turned around (of course). So I asked a friendly looking guard along the street where Hotel Puenta Maya was. He had no clue and suggested I ask another fellow up the street. That guy had no clue either. "I'm looking for the house across the street from the hotel," I said. (Houses here don't have numbers.)

"Who lives there?" he asked. "Enelda and Ivan," I said, not knowing even their last name. "I know exactly where they live," he said. It seems that everyone knows everyone here.

At the end of the day today, as the the Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve was closing, the young guy in the souvenir shop stopped his bike where I was waiting for my "taxi." I'm going to wait until your ride comes," he said. Nice.

sudden encounter

This fellow was sitting quietly on his perch while I was getting my camera out. All of a sudden he flew to the edge of the cage inches from where I was standing. I practically levitated.

 

 

the Scarlet Macaw -- sexy business

 

 

 

 

The Scarlet Macaws live to age 80.

On a chance visit here in 2010 , Dr. Jamie Gilardi, Director of The World Parrot Trust, was surprised by the number of parrots flying freely in the Copan Valley as they did in Mayan times over a thoudand years ago.

He began a serious reintroduction program. Experienced parents are placed in the same enclosed area as new parents. Young birds have already hatched and are being placed in another large area for wing strengthening. When they are ready, they'll be let out into the wild. Incredible.

catching on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naked Indian Tree

posing by the river

 

 

 

three young caballeros

 

These are the three boys in my new family. They are unbelieveably well behaved. We've had a lot of laughs together.

Hasta manana

 

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The Other World

Yoga Centre

You've seen the shanty town world. This is a yoga centre in the other world. Hotel San Lucas is high on a hill top that looks down on pastures. It's tranquil and clean and only a few minutes from the more common life around here.

a pasture below

 

my favourite flower

making corn flour

an old wheel on the hotel property

Un Sapo. a frog - side view

 

 

a frog -- front view

 

Londin, my guide

There's an area on the narrow path leading to the hotel called Los Sapos. The Frogs. Frogs were fertility symbols for the Maya. If you look closely at the side view, you'll see a frog foot and leg. I suppose they haven't been restored because they're in an isolated area.

Londin is a very ambitious Mayan. For three years he taught children painting, drama and sculpture. Four years ago, he won a $1000 contest to rid his home district of garbage. This meant getting even his mother to cooperate. That was a challenge. Londin is a true leader and wants to improve living conditions here in Copan -- reduce narco trafficking and corruption and improve infrastructure.

Left leaning people here are totally fed up with the current rightist government. The former left leaning government built schools, hired teachers, provided school supplies and a meal program so kids could be alert in class. Medical care was improved.

That assistance is gone now. Governments are elected for a four year term and if you are of that political stripe, you'll get a government job -- a better paid job than one in the private sector. Otherwise you will wait until your political stripe gets in.

the road back home

In town, the roads are like the Appian Way, the ancient Roman road in Italy. Outside of town, the roads that lead into the mountains are like this one. The photo doesn't do the ruts justice. They remind me of logging roads in Quebec. The three-wheeled mosquitos, as I've been calling them, are very powerful. But the ride is hair raising.

Saludos

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