An illustration of a Mayan ceremony.
The tour begins with a warning: “If you are going to join us, you have to open your mind. Their customs, knowledge, biases ... all that is left behind. From now on he will be one of us ”, warns one of the Mayan spiritual guides as the vehicle moves away from the last town on the edge of Departmental Route number 13 and plunges into a network of dirt roads, between the inclement and hot jungle of the municipality of La Libertad, in the department of Petén, in northwestern Guatemala. The entourage of four spiritual guides (three men and one woman) and two journalists approach an area tormented by drug trafficking, illegal migration and the trafficking and theft of protected flora and fauna.
The
light blue
pickup
from the year 95 moves slowly from San Benito, one of the twelve municipalities of Petén, bound for a Mayan community submerged in a jungle green in a department as chaotic as it is virgin, very close to the southern border of Mexico.
Mayan spiritual guides are preparing to celebrate there the last of three ceremonies commissioned by a family that sent one of their children to the United States.
“To give thanks because Brother Carlos Humberto has arrived safely at
United,
” explains one of them, the one who speaks Spanish the best, Julio Tot.
A matter of luck
The first ceremony sponsored by Tot and his team of spiritual guides took place the day before Carlos Humberto - a young man in his twenties - left in May for the United States to try his luck. "That was a petition ceremony, because we asked the ancestors to open the way and accompany our brother throughout the trip to the North," says Tata Tot, between beers and sudden jolts along the dirt road to be traveled. to reach the remote Mayan community. “The coyote even arrived, whom we also blessed and made him promise not to leave our brother forsaken. It was very strong, there was a lot of energy ”.
Like Carlos Humberto, there are thousands of Mexicans, Central Americans, Haitians, South Americans and even Africans who undertake the route north each year; towards a kind of promised land in the 21st century. For some, even the worst luck there is worth a thousand times more than the best luck that awaits them in their countries. The community in which the migrant lived is a few hours from El Ceibo, a town located in the Mexican municipality of Tenosique, in Tabasco, on the border with Guatemala, a key point for the clandestine crossing of migrants into Mexico. Carlos Humberto crossed that way, according to his relatives, when that town was a blind and indifferent spot on the map. It was like this until on August 2, the US Government began to transfer the undocumented that it expelled under Title 42,a policy implemented by the United States at the beginning of the pandemic that allows the immediate return of migrants who cross its southern border without papers.
More information
Washington, the capital of Guatemalan justice in exile
Central America celebrates 200 years of its independence plunged into its greatest crisis since the Cold War
Biden's puzzle in Central America
Since the beginning of August, local Guatemalan media have reported bus caravans arriving in that town to abandon hundreds of undocumented immigrants to their fate.
The delegates of the Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM) have counted flows of up to 300 people per day, something that had not happened before.
Once in El Ceibo, surrounded by the inclemency of the Petenera jungle, many return to undertake the route north.
But that was not the case for Carlos Humberto. He was luckier. “What happens is that this is what ceremonies are for, thanks to them he managed to cross without problems. Do you see the importance of this? ”Tot says and winks at his teammates. The second ceremony occurred a month later, when the guides calculated that the migrant was halfway through the Mexican desert. "That was a protection ceremony, in which you have to pay a lot of attention because fire, light, usually reveals the state of the person for whom the ceremony is performed," Tot explains as it gets dark. The ceremonies of this type, according to the spiritual guides, are to receive some message of the state in which the migrant is. “Sometimes the fire reveals that everything is fine and that is why we ask for more protection. But other timesthe fire tells us that the person has not been able to complete the trip. Either because the police caught him or because he has died ”, Tot qualifies in a serious tone, without his characteristic smile. But the fire, in the case of Carlos Humberto, told them that things were going well in the last days of June.
Nahuales, creeds and colors
Three hours later, the pickup stops in the middle of a plain occupied by small wooden houses, dirt floors and thatched roofs.
One of the guides asks for everyone's birth dates to confirm their
nahuals
and make sure the group's energies are in tune for the ceremony.
"Tata Julio is one of the best
nahual
readers in
the Petén," says the spiritual guide, Nana, pointing to her partner with a gesture on her lips.
The
nahual
is a protective spirit that, according to the Mayan worldview, all people acquire at birth and is responsible for protecting them for the rest of their lives.
A retinue of at least thirty Mayans parade down a narrow path that leads into the community: they are men, women, children and the elderly who advance in single file towards the guides, led by the oldest in the community, Grandfather. Quickly, the guides shed their shirts, jeans and other garments and put on their ceremonial costumes. The men, with colorful shirts, a
tzut
- a kerchief that belongs to the Mayan clothing - on the head and a sash of red cloth around the waist and above the navel. Nana prepares herself a little more. She dresses in a
güipil
- a wide cotton tunic, adorned with typical embroidery, which is mainly worn by indigenous women - and her long black hair is released.
“The red ribbon around the navel is a form of protection represented in the color red.
The girdle seeks, within the Mayan spirituality, that at the time of the ceremony the spirit of the person does not leave through his navel, nor that other energies enter through that way ”, explains Ana Vides Porras, doctor in anthropology and professor at the Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala.
According to Diego Vásquez Monterroso, a Guatemalan anthropologist and doctoral student in Geography at the University of Edinburgh, although the clothing is from the pre-Columbian era "it has undergone innovations in production techniques, materials used, even in designs and colors."
More information
The lost frontier in the jungle
After having sprinkled with incense and flowery water on the visitors and the tributes - the merchandise that the guides carry to prepare the central altar - the Grandfather indicates that they can enter the place where the ceremony will take place.
It is a spacious living room covered with wooden walls, a dirt floor and an aluminum ceiling.
In the center, a hole about 30 centimeters deep and 118 in diameter: it is the altar.
The Mayans place the offerings - ocote wood, palm leaves, roses, black, yellow, red, white, green and blue candles, bottles of alcohol, tobacco and garments - on a wooden table located at the back of the room, along with speakers that blast music from the marimba, Guatemala's national instrument, and a small statue of Saint Joseph, a saint of the Catholic Church.
Crushing
"Elements such as flowery water or incense are intended to clean and purify prior to the start of the ceremony," notes Vides. The anthropologist points out that the presence of the image of Saint Joseph in the place is a representation of the religious syncretism - the mixture of various spiritual worldviews - that has existed since the Spanish conquest. “With the European invasion, there was a lot of pressure on indigenous populations to adopt Christianity. So they were simply incorporating these other Catholic energies back to normal.
Vásquez, on the other hand, considers that it is a “complementary duality”.
“The problem with the term syncretism is that it tends to mean a spiritual fusion that basically favors the dominant group, in this case, the Catholics.
And this is not necessarily the case.
For the anthropologist, Mayan spirituality respects the beliefs of others and does not impose its own.
However, that does not mean that by respecting them you absorb the beliefs of others.
“In this case, the Catholic saint is there, in that room.
If those present need something from him, they will ask for it and make offerings, but if not, as is the case with the ceremony, they will ignore it, because they don't need him, ”says Vásquez.
"We are not witches"
Grandfather says a prayer and sprinkles some alcohol and incense on the tributes and begins the preparation of the altar. Everybody to the floor. They place the palm leaves, ocote and rose petals at the bottom of the hole. Then they put the candles, which depending on their color go in the direction of a different cardinal point. Finally, they sprinkle everything with sugar and liquor. “Everything has an order. There is protocol. We start in the east and move counterclockwise to the west. Then south and then north. And it is done this way because we open an energy portal to be able to work with it. It is something very spiritual, but some people do not understand it and think that we do witchcraft ”, Tot explains.
The word witch carries a pejorative label that has been strengthened over the years in Guatemala, and that can be deadly.
On June 6, 2020, a 55-year-old Q'eqchí Mayan priest and healer, Domingo Choc, was assassinated by residents of Chimay, a village in southern Petén, a few kilometers from the border with Belize.
The reason: there were accusations against him, as the neighbors identified him as a witch.
The verdict: death at the stake.
A mob doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.
"That is why they prefer to use the term spiritual guide than witch or healer, due to the prejudices that have been created around these terms and the tragic consequences that we have seen," Vásquez details.
More information
The dark conviction of Domingo Choc
Julio Tot has been performing Mayan ceremonies throughout the department of Petén for several years.
The spiritual guide is also a certified tour guide and, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, offers Mayan Cosmovision courses in English via Zoom to dozens of European students.
His fame as a spiritual guide has spread throughout Petén, especially for his ability to read nahuals, as well as advising people on decisions to make based on the energies projected by the Mayan calendars.
Every day he gives more than one advice.
He keeps very busy.
"The spiritual guides walk from one place to another, this is a work that does not stop because many people always need our help," he explains.
Maltiox
and the North
The ceremony begins promptly at midnight. All those present, to the sound of the marimba, dance around the sacred fire, while repeating some prayers that the four spiritual guides say aloud. The ceremony takes place in Q'e'qchí, although from time to time there is a “
Maltiox
[thank you] for Carlos Humberto” and some passages taken from the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayans, which are read in Spanish.
A 16-year-old boy is in charge of distributing alcohol equally among all participants. Go around the circle, one by one, with a bottle and a small glass in hand. He carefully pours some of it in and offers it to the person in front of him. Meanwhile, one of the spiritual guides distributes tobacco and other herbs to the men present. "It is to protect yourself from any negative energy that may be present now," he says and asks that they place the cigar in their shirt or trouser bags. "We don't want anything to happen to them."
Behind the consumption of alcohol, herbs and tobacco there is a historical explanation. “In Mesoamerica, a product of Christianization, a kind of demonization of the consumption of liquor and psychotropics, such as mushrooms, plants and other psychoactive substances, emerged. But for the Mayans they were perfectly normal and valid. It was the Europeans who, as colonizers, were banning them and turning them into taboos ”, explains Vásquez. "Just as the red color of the girdle implies a certain protection from other potentially damaging energies or forces, there are also other elements with this functionality," explains the anthropologist. Tobacco is one of them. But there are many more. "For instance,there are those who see it desirable that those present use jade necklaces or some ancient stone such as quartz that are references to the pre-Hispanic past and even loans from other spiritual practices of the world and of which the Mayans are aware ”, the expert emphasizes.
When a few minutes pass one in the morning, the guides bring a tribute to the altar. A black duck that flaps strongly. Blood should be shed at the ceremony and a living being offered as a thank you to the ancestors. They give the duck a little alcohol to drink and amid shouts of joy and marimba, they decapitate the animal to throw it into the sacred fire.
To the sound of the last flames of a dying fire, Nana steps forward and signals the men to move away. “Now only the women, only us”, she says and begins to dance around the circular altar, followed by girls, young people, adults and old women. The men, on the periphery of the room, watch the dance, some on their knees, others with their heads bowed or with their eyes to the sky. “This is your moment and we cannot interrupt you. The dance will last as long as they decide, ”Tot explains quietly, as if muttering. “They ask for the fidelity of Carlos Humberto, so that he does not fall in love with any woman there. And they also ask for the fidelity of her, his wife, to wait for him until he returns, without having left with someone else ”, explains another guide. The women carry in their hands some garments that Carlos Humberto could not take away.They use them to generate a remote connection with the migrant, who is at least 3,000 kilometers from home. "But the energies are so strong, that I'm sure he feels something in his heart, pressure in his chest, he feels heat. It's us, ”says Tot.
The boy who distributed the alcohol arrives with Tot. After offering him another drink, he says very seriously: "Tata Julio, I'm ready to go too." The guide smiles at him. "Really?" He asks. The boy nods confidently. “But you have to know that the route is long and that, when you arrive, you have to help your father and your brother. No
spitting
[laziness] because your community is counting on you, ”Tot warns him. The young man fixes his gaze on the ground and says with determination: "I swear to you, I'm ready to go there [United States], whatever it takes."
It is four in the morning when the last flame is extinguished after four hours of ceremony and the altar is reduced to burning embers.
There is no trace of the duck, the candles, the ocote, the roses.
There is also no excess alcohol.
Submerged in a deathly silence, the Mayans proceed to cover with the same earth the hole in the ground that a few minutes before they called the altar.
The ceremony has come to an end.
The music stops.
Now Carlos Humberto can work in peace and his community will dedicate itself to waiting for the dollars that arrive month after month, as a sign of life, as a source of hope.
Subscribe here to the
EL PAÍS América
newsletter
and receive all the informative keys of the current situation in the region.