Bone Doctors of the Mayan Variety

that is sunrise on lago de atitlan...two steps out of my bedroom there

On my last day of Spanish class in San Pedro, Guatemala I had a really wonderful conversation with my teacher (en español of course!). it started out with me telling her that we were going to go on a hike the next day to a forest. she asked if it was the forest on the town limits. it wasnt but she described to me this place.

apparently for... thousands of years maybe, Mayan priests have been coming to this forest because it is a very sacred place. they hold various rituals there and ceremonies too. within the last ten years the christian church bought it and since then is trying their best to prevent the Mayans (which is a religion as well as a lifestyle) from performing these ancient rituals. The church has gone so far as to put a huge christian altar up in the forest and tells people to go pray there.... hmm... i mean i am ok with whatever religion you want to be but its when people prevent other people who are doing no harm from believing what they want to believe, thats when i get upset. the idea of buying or owning that land never even occured to the Mayans. Similar to the Native American in the U.S. way back when, that is not how they think.

I asked my teacher who told me like many other locals that she is very Christian (they are very proud of it and see it as being modern as well). I asked her what percentage of the people on Lake Atitlan practice the old religion. It was then that she got this funny little twinkle in her eye and said that a whole lot more than you would think. because although San Pedro is a beautiful village that shows strong undertones of the way life was for hundreds of years there are also a lot of signs of change too. more capitalism, less traditional dress, and many many new non-mayan churches.

apparently people either practice in secret or in her words they do it subconsciously. the mayan religion is so infused in who these people are and their lifestyle that there it is inherently a huge part of their lives but they dont even see it as that because they dont know any different type of life. she said that there are quite a few people who practice it when it is convenient for them as well. for example if they break a bone or come down with some serious illness.

there are 2 kinds of shamans that she told me about. depending on what day a mayan is born on there is a gift that is associated to this person. occasionally right away a midwife can tell a mother that this child is going to be a shaman.

one type of shaman is harder to explain she said. for example, lets say a person is picking fruit and suddenly they fall down. maybe they are ill for several days after this. the mayan people believe that when that person fell down that their soul escaped them. a ritual is then performed by a mayan priest in the middle of the night while the person is sleeping in their house. they would never do it in the daytime because it would scare the soul away.. the priest and his helper go to the tree and light candles and give some simple offerings and do this thing while hitting a stick on the ground that chases the spirit back into the person´s body. she said that you are able to see the sleeping person shudder in their sleep when the soul returns....

another kind of shaman is a bone shaman. this person has a special tool that is kept wrapped in cloth that they use for their entire life. they find this tool through their dreams and they say that it is impossible for them to lose it.

my teacher has seen this ritual performed twice where a person has a fractured bone. apparently the shaman does nothing other than lightly rub their special tool upon the fracture in this ritualistic fashion and the person within days is healed. sometimes faster and sometimes slower, my teacher said that she once saw it done and actually HEARD the bones snapping back together. the person had to be held down because they were in so much pain but the wrist was no longer broken!

i am not sure what to believe but there are so many cultures and rituals in this world that are being lost through globalism and capitalism and it was really relieving to me to hear that there is still a strong rhythm of ancient ways in this beautiful sacred place.

if you like this kind of thing, i HIGHLY reccomend: Martin Prechtel´s Secrets of the Talking Jaguar. it is about an american man who was called to lake atitlan through his dreams and once he arrived became a highly respected shaman.