Scene of a Maya woman about to give birth
The museum of traditional Maya healing is on the outskirts of San Cristóbal, past the sprawling local market. I was the only visitor and I was first led to a bench to watch an interview with a Maya midwife which included scenes from her helping a woman give birth. She was in charge of prenatal and postnatal care as well, performing protective spells and advising the new mother on nuturition and care of the baby. One of the very moving aspects of birthing in the Maya way is that the woman's husband sits in front of her and embraces her during labor.
The museum included dioramas of traditional fire ceremonies and making beeswax
candles -- colored candles are an important part of Maya ceremony, though many
of them are now made from parafin. There were illuminated photographs of the
healing herbs found in this region of Chiapas and a small herb garden in back of
the museum.
One room in the the museum is also used for shamanic ceremony. I could hear the shaman chanting and smell the sweet incense of burning copal.
heali
candles -- colored candles are an important part of Maya ceremony, though many
of them are now made from parafin. There were illuminated photographs of the
healing herbs found in this region of Chiapas and a small herb garden in back of
the museum.
One room in the the museum is also used for shamanic ceremony. I could hear the shaman chanting and smell the sweet incense of burning copal.
heali
The last room of the museum would be a surprise anywhere but San Cristóbal. The entire room was taken up with a discussion of biopiracy -- the theft of plant material by pharmeceutical corporations who then synthesize the chemicals and produce a synthetic compound of the pill, often drawing on indigenous knowledge of the healing power of the plant. But at the same time, stealing both the knowledge and the genetic makeup of the plant itself for corporate profit. These two men in the murals are with Bayer. To the left the Zapatistas are pictured protesting. Other posters implicated government officials working with corporate interests and pocketing the money for themselves. Numerous corporations and universities engaging in biopiracy were specifically named in large posters and murals in this room.
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