Maya Spiritual Rebirth: Towards Self-Determination of Sacred Sites and Cultural Heritage

Maya People and other Indigenous nations have lived for thousands of years in Mesoamerica with their own systems of government, justice, health, education and spirituality. Invasion from the Spanish colony not only meant forced subjugation to a foreign system, but also a shift in spiritual practices. Thus, for example, 92% of Guatemala’s population is Christian and only 4% is Maya, when there is a population of 60% Maya. Fortunately, this 4% have not forgotten a spirituality based on a connection to the earth, everything that lives in it, and the spirit world recalled in the daily use of the Cholq’ij Calendar. In recent decades, Maya ancestral spiritual leaders and practitioners have organized to have more access to Maya spiritual sites in former Maya cities (also known as archaeological sites), so as to be able to continue their tradition and healing practices. They have also been pressing congress to pass a bill regarding access to sacred Maya sites nationally. This presentation will focus on the connection between the contemporary Maya and their sacred temples through spiritual ceremony, and on how Maya peoples are struggling to have the Guatemalan State recognize their cultural rights and spiritual practices.