Mayan Ceremonies

This past weekend I had the opportunity to experience two Mayan ceremonies. The first was a “surprise” planned by my host family on Friday night and the second was one planned by the Peace Corps office. I’m not sure if I’ve explained this previously, but I live with a spiritual guide (the mother) and so three times a week she does natural/spiritual healing for people and then on specific occasions she puts together ceremonies (sometimes people ask for them specifically or she personally puts them together during the day of her nahual). I personally love that I get to learn about an aspect of Mayan culture that many people are not exposed to and even though many find these beliefs to be superstitious or unrealistic, I think it’s absolutely fascinating.
So Friday night, a group of about five people get together for the ceremony. My host madre carefully gathers and prepares all of her materials. First she creates a design with sugar on the ground. Then one by one she places small pieces of incense that look like rocks. At first they are placed on top of the sugar but after she finishes that pattern she continues to fill the circle with the incenses. On top of that there is a large assortment of different colored candles and other types of incense. Each color of candle represents something different. I can’t recall what each color represents but it just emphasizes how every step has a purpose, an order, and a specific meaning…nothing is just randomly placed. Everything is blessed before being placed into the pile and the candles are set on fire after everything is set up. Prayers are said in both Spanish and Katchikel (the indigenous language in this region). The fire continues to grow and the group becomes entranced with the flames and prayer. This part is truly captivating and I wish I could get it on film; it’s almost surreal to watch the fire and hear an unknown language. As the flames rise up, everyone cannot help but notice that the fire and smoke are always coming towards me. People comment and in my head I’m thinking, “I could be totally screwed or lucky depending on how they interpret that!” Nonetheless, I keep my cool as the ceremony continues with prayer and some observations by my host madre. We are all blessed with rose water to take away negative energy and she gives some special attention to some members who had especially negative energies (this was also especially interesting to watch). The flames began to die down and closing prayers were said. Afterwards, my host madre decided to explain to us all what she was told by the “abuelitos” (grandparents which signifies God and ancestors, the ancestors are paid homage and are typically present during these ceremonies as they have much knowledge to give). She specifically discussed what she was told about each person and saved me for the last. “Mihijaadoptada” (my adopted daughter) is how she started, she proceeded by telling me how I have become more comfortable here in Guatemala but that I am still holding on to the United States and that I need to embrace my stay here and receive more positive support from home. She said that it was very clear that Guatemala is welcoming me as the sagradafuego (sacred flame) was definitely in my favor (turns out smoke and fire in the face is a good thing!) Basically, Guate is giving me good vibes and it’s up to me to really go all in! This was a relief to hear and made me think about how I can mentally, emotionally, physically adopt my new home.
The ceremony at the Peace Corps was a very different vibe. Since it was such a large group, it’s difficult to get such personalized attention and to also personally be attached to the ceremony. I learned a lot more about the symbolism behind various things (i.e. the sugar, soda, chocolate, honey, liquor are all offerings to help ask for happiness)and the entire procession was different. We had to greet all the various nahuales as well as each of the four corners of the earth. With each greeting the spiritual guide proceeded to tell us what each nahual represents. It was also a little difficult because this ceremony was during the day and the school nearby was blasting some bumpin music so it was a stark contrast to the serene atmosphere of the ceremony.
This all led me to be very curious about my nahual. What is a nahual you ask? Well, the Mayan calendar is composed of different kinds of months, days and years than the traditional calendar. Thus, every day has a specific energy to it which is signified by the nahual. There are 20 nahuales and thus there are 20 days in a Mayan month. In summary, a nahual is an energy. Each person has a nahual, actually each person has 9 nahuales but there are 3 principle ones which make up a person’s Mayan cross. The day you were conceived, the day you were born and your destiny narhual are the three principal ones. The day you were born dictates the other two (there’s an assumption that you were conceived nine months before birth…pretty rare to know the day you’re conceived!) The nahual tells you characteristics about yourself and also who you get along well with and who you may clash with. It’s kind of like your animal on a Chinese calendar. So I became curious and decided to look online to see what mine was and I was pretty happy with the result. I read the description and for the most part it fits my personality type. Also my host madre said I was very lucky to have this nahual as it is very intelligent and has other positive connotations. She advised me not to just let people know what it is as some may find out and use it to make me weak. Sooo call me superstitious but I don’t want to just post it online  (if you’re really curious just email me and I’ll let ya know what it says in detail).
So that’s my two cents about some interesting Mayan experiences I had over the weekend. This Wednesday is Guatemala’s independence day and I’m quite excited for the festivities! This morning there was a parade of tiny little ones in traditional traje which was incredibly cute!! I’ll have to snag pics from my sitemates to post because it was truly adorable! Thus, more parades will take place as well as awesome drumlins (my favorite part!) and lots of food. Apparently my host family wants to dress me up in traditional clothing as well, but I’m not sure if they were joking or serious about that…we’ll see!!