Inauguration Day

Dec 21st, 2012 was highly recognized as the final day on the Mayan calendar. Rumors were rampant concerning the possibility of the end of the world. Of course the world didn't end. Since Guatemala is the center of the Mayan civilization, we were on a mission to find them and set them straight. We failed to find any Mayan prophets but we found plenty of Mayan T-shirts.

While pursuing our quest for anything Mayan, we found out that an authentic Mayan ceremony was to be held in Antigua on January 20th, Inauguration Day for the president of the United States. The purpose was to invoke a special blessing on Barack Obama during his second term, since the economy of the world is effected by his leadership and policies. At only 25 quetzals donation (about $3) it was quite an opportunity to see the Mayans in action.

We passed down an average walled street and entered through a doorway into an inner courtyard that continued on to a tree lined open field, adequately hidden behind the outer walls. Including the officiating Mayans, the small group consisted of about 25-30 people, and one full-size cardboard stand-up of president Obama. Two colorfully dressed Mayan women were busy setting out the ceremonial candles, herbs, spices and other unidentifiable items. In a clearing under a canopy of trees, a traditional Mayan design had been poured on the ground with what looked to be salt. Within the confines of the oddly shaped design were many compressed pellets (about the size of a hockey puck) that were made from burnable materials gathered from the forest floor rather than harvested from living wood. These pellets are said to burn longer and hotter than regular wood.

The Mayan women continued preparations by placing piles of fresh green herbs around the pellets within the confines of the ceremonial circle, then placed many small vibrantly colored candles on top of the pellets. Before the ceremony began, we were all presented a handful of green herbs and seven candles; red, yellow, green, blue, black, cream and white.

Our shaman for the ceremony was an intelligent Mayan woman who spoke several languages and held several degrees. Throughout the ceremony she seamlessly switched back and forth between Spanish, English, and Kaqchikel (traditional Mayan), yet she did need an occasional reminder for an English word. She explained that the full ceremony could last up to five hours, and for this particular event it would be shortened for the comfort of the visitors who may have never previously experienced such.

We formed a circle around the gathered supplies as the center fire was lit. The ceremony began with a cleansing ritual as our leader walked around the circle waving between each participant a censer with burning incense made from rosemary, sage, and other dried herbs. After the second pass, everyone knelt to the four directions inviting the blessing of our creator and honoring Mother Earth, kissing the ground before moving on to the next direction. We invoked the blessing of our maternal and paternal ancestors, favoring neither gender and honoring both.

The next part was a much wetter experience. Our shaman brought around a container of blue water for us to dip our herbs into and then swat ourselves with them. Most of the non-Mayan participants apparently did a sub-par job, for she then came around again with a much larger cluster of grasses, wet them considerably, then whacked us from head to toe with the dripping herbs. All of this was for cleansing our physical bodies for the ceremony, getting rid of undesirable odors and other such contaminants that would compromise the event.

The wind direction varied throughout the ceremony, and at any time any one of us could be standing within the thick smoke from the central fire. There were many additional candles handed out, each having their own mini ceremony before tossing them into the fire. There were candles representing the air, water, fire, fertility, seeds, income tax (!), personal health needs, and personal requests. At one point our Mayan Shaman sported a large cigar and specifically blew a smokey blessing on the cardboard Obama, and on anyone else who needed a specific blessing or prayer. She later picked up the flattened representation of our president and waved him repeatedly over the fire from all four directions. There was certainly speculation as to what the actual procedure would have been had he actually been present in place of the light weight cardboard image.

The overarching purpose of the ceremony was to pray for President Obama to lead with wisdom and compassion. Prayers were also offered for restoration and healing for the earth and her inhabitants, and for individual requests. The ceremony lasted around two and a half hours, and by the end we were thankful that it wasn't full length. Whew. It was quite interesting to see a alternate view of world politics as seen from the viewpoint of an indigenous people in a different country from our own. It reinforces the idea that we really are one huge world family, and we need to act with respect and compassion toward each other.