Contrary to much popular use, the plural of Maya is Maya not Mayan.
There are 22 distinct groups of Maya in Guatemala, each with their own indigenous language. The Cakchiquel and Tz'utujil Maya have lived on the lands surrounding Lake Attitlan for 4, 000 years, where they settled after migrating from Chichen-Itza and Petén in the north. For 2,000 years they fought each other for possession of the lake. And then, like Solomon, they divided it down the middle, so that the Tz,utujil live in the south and the Cakchiquel in the north.
War returned with the vicious conquest of the Spanish and then land theft and labor enslavement as foreign owned plantations helped forge laws that the Maya give 1/3 of their labor for free to the plantations. There the Maya were treated as disposable slaves -- sometimes on the very land their families had lived on for thousands of years. During the Guatemalan government’s more recent US supported campaign of genocide against its majority Maya population, the area around Lake Atitlán was a military target, resulting in many local people disappeared, killed, raped and tortured.
In the years since, tourism has stimulated increased production of local crafts and provided more employment, lifting many Maya in the lake area from extreme poverty. Less extreme poverty still prevails with the Maya struggling against low wages, the high cost of education, the rising cost of food, the loss of farm land to development and the contamination of the lake.
In the years since, tourism has stimulated increased production of local crafts and provided more employment, lifting many Maya in the lake area from extreme poverty. Less extreme poverty still prevails with the Maya struggling against low wages, the high cost of education, the rising cost of food, the loss of farm land to development and the contamination of the lake.
The Maya continue to practice a traditional way of life and are aided in this by the rich land of the Atitlán area. Many Maya grow coffee as well as corn and a rich array of fruits and vegetables. The tortillas are hand made and cooked on wood stoves, while many local residents bathe and wash woven clothes on the same rocks used by generations before them.
The women, young and old, wear colorful traje,traditional handwoven clothing. Metallic threads catch the light. Different types of traje and embroidery are associated with different pueblos on the lake. The ability of the Maya to combine colors – in both the weaving and the coordination of these colors to form a daily outfit of woven and embroidered huipil or blouse, wide woven decorated belt, and multi-colored corte provides a daily delight in the enchantment of color.
The persistence of the Maya in choosing a hand-made life instead of succumbing to the allures of mass made articles is partly due to poverty. People without money don’t buy a lot of stuff. And yet even among the Maya who are making more money, they are not buying a bunch of technology or cars. In fact, hardly anyone has a private automobile, let alone having one person per each one --rather they invest in the education of their children and in the handmade clothing of the women, even though it is much cheaper to buy clothes from PACA, where new and second-hand clothing pours in from the US.
As in Mexico, money is also invested in building a concrete house, often adding additional floors. And yet visiting these houses the Maya are seated on the concrete floor instead of the decaying plastic chairs or rockety wooden ones that are against the wall. There may or may not be a mattress for a bed. There will be a wood fire cook stove even if there is a propane stove and a refrigerator. In fact the rooms seem almost empty with little furniture and lacking the collections of chain stores. I asked a friend of mine, a Maya young man in his 20’s why they didn’t accumulate more possessions. He said “the Maya say that if you buy modern things you will just want more of them.” And so they don’t seem to buy them, relying instead on what has worked for so long.
The absence of machines and the high price of electricity means that things continue to be made by hand, with focus, concentration and creativity. Such skills that are nearly forgetten in the “developed world” where the hand has been reduced to a linearity of poking at the ever shrinking screens of technology.
In fact, the Mayas of Lake Atitlán are extraordinarily skilled at making things by hand. They are also continually innovating and offering products which replace the flimsy wares of WalMart. Shoes made from hand woven huipils and rubber tires are both uncommonly beautiful as footware but longer lasting than any mass made shoes on the market. Backpacks and bags made from sturdy handwoven fabrics tested by lifetimes of being scrubbed on rocks are now often combined with leather, another handwork that Guatemala excels in. Other skills include intricate embroidery, leather goods, bead jewelry, master painters, murals, marimba music, mask and drum making, and the art of carrying a baby always attached to your body while doing the work of being alive.
In fact, the Mayas of Lake Atitlán are extraordinarily skilled at making things by hand. They are also continually innovating and offering products which replace the flimsy wares of WalMart. Shoes made from hand woven huipils and rubber tires are both uncommonly beautiful as footware but longer lasting than any mass made shoes on the market. Backpacks and bags made from sturdy handwoven fabrics tested by lifetimes of being scrubbed on rocks are now often combined with leather, another handwork that Guatemala excels in. Other skills include intricate embroidery, leather goods, bead jewelry, master painters, murals, marimba music, mask and drum making, and the art of carrying a baby always attached to your body while doing the work of being alive.
And then there is the Maya skill at masonry, at putting blocks together first to make pyramids. So that now this skill of heritage is evident in making roads and paving mountain trails with interlocking blocks on the main streets of pueblos as well as in the efficient construction, by hand and sustained physical labor, of houses.
Physically the Maya are short but mighty. They begin carrying laundry or wood or corn up and down the steep slopes of Lake Atitlán before they are five years old. They learn to sustain their labor and to carry heavy things on their heads and their backs. They work until a job is finished, rarely indulging in breaks other than for lunch. The Maya never stop this work of life. And yet so many of their faces are kind and split with genuines smiles. People play with their children instead of parking them in front of the TV or plying them with toys. When a baby is hungry, the breast is only the distance from the being held next to her back to finding the nourishment of the mother’s front body. The children seem less anxious than those I have known.
Physically the Maya are short but mighty. They begin carrying laundry or wood or corn up and down the steep slopes of Lake Atitlán before they are five years old. They learn to sustain their labor and to carry heavy things on their heads and their backs. They work until a job is finished, rarely indulging in breaks other than for lunch. The Maya never stop this work of life. And yet so many of their faces are kind and split with genuines smiles. People play with their children instead of parking them in front of the TV or plying them with toys. When a baby is hungry, the breast is only the distance from the being held next to her back to finding the nourishment of the mother’s front body. The children seem less anxious than those I have known.
Each pueblo around the lake, while similar because they are Maya, has a distinct history, organization, attitude and skill.
Santiago, for example, was the capital of the pre-conquest Tz’utujil world and remains the largest pueblo on the lake. In addition to hosting the Maya saint Maximón and the attendant Maya spiritual leaders, Santiago produces exquisite embroidery of birds in every movement and mood. Indeed in Tz’tujil, Santiago is known as the “house of birds.”
San Pedro is the home of painters who record the knowledge of Maya life in detailed paintings. The painters continually evolve and expand their techniques. San Pedro also boasts a number of fine murals. Neighboring San Juan hosts several community based collectives and is the Guatemalan leader in the use of traditional natural dye, producing remarkable colors from local plants and spinning the cotton threads from the cotton plant. They also have export coffee collectives and as well as a collection exquisite Maya themed murals. San Marcos is a healing center which offers both traditional Maya and alternative healing including yoga. Panachel, Atitláns most touristed town, offers a dizzying array and many excellent values on handmade items .
Santiago, for example, was the capital of the pre-conquest Tz’utujil world and remains the largest pueblo on the lake. In addition to hosting the Maya saint Maximón and the attendant Maya spiritual leaders, Santiago produces exquisite embroidery of birds in every movement and mood. Indeed in Tz’tujil, Santiago is known as the “house of birds.”
San Pedro is the home of painters who record the knowledge of Maya life in detailed paintings. The painters continually evolve and expand their techniques. San Pedro also boasts a number of fine murals. Neighboring San Juan hosts several community based collectives and is the Guatemalan leader in the use of traditional natural dye, producing remarkable colors from local plants and spinning the cotton threads from the cotton plant. They also have export coffee collectives and as well as a collection exquisite Maya themed murals. San Marcos is a healing center which offers both traditional Maya and alternative healing including yoga. Panachel, Atitláns most touristed town, offers a dizzying array and many excellent values on handmade items .
Several months ago I bought a handwoven huipil in Santiago, embroidered with birds in a delightful variety of poses. It is very beautiful and I always receive comments when I wear it. But what I notice, past the thrill of wearing something that shines its beauty onto the wearer, is a unique comfort from having an article next to my skin that was imagined and brought by hand into being.
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