History and the Maya

Maria Corazon Canlas lives in the mountains of rural Guatemala.

A mother of 5, she wakes before the sunrise to prepare breakfast for her children and for her husband who will set off to the cornfields early.

Breakfast is simple. A few pieces of tortilla made from corn meal and a diluted cup of hot chocolate. After breakfast, Corazon spends her day tending to her home and weaving beautiful textiles, with patterns and traditional methods that have been passed down by Mayan women for centuries.

Corazon's daily life is not too far off from the women of her people only a few centuries ago. The difference is that, whereas the Ancient Mayans lived relatively comfortable lives amidst the lush green of Guatemala and surrounding areas, each day for Corazon is spent in close to grinding poverty.

Ancient Mayans built grand cities out of stone while their descendants today live in derelict huts with no heating to fight the cold night air. Whereas the Ancient Mayans enjoyed the fruits from the forest and the earth's bounty, these days Mayan habitats and livelihood are constantly threatened by the deterioration of the environment and industrialization.

In addition, the United Nations Children's Fund reports up to 67% of indigenous Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition. What's more, the Ancient Mayan civilization was well-known for their writing, something quite unheard of among indigenous tribes in the early centuries, as well as their advanced mathematics, astronomy and calendar.

Today, Corazon cannot even afford to send her children to school. Her daughters will be the most disadvantaged. A Population Council report states that a large percentage of women and girls don't have access to education due to economic difficulties and social norms that still stereotype women as being only for the home.

Even with access to early education, a huge number of Mayan girls are pulled from school once they hit puberty, their parents driven by the fear of interaction with boys.

The Ancient Maya was a people with a sophisticated form of government and social policy. Women were as much accepted in leadership positions as men. Today, Mayans are severely discriminated against by the lowland population of mixed Indian and European ancestry.

Mayan women are doubly discriminated against due to their ethnicity and their gender. Since the Spanish conquistadores came to South America some 500 years ago, ancient people have suffered profound injustices.

Proud civilizations have been brought to their knees and pushed towards mass disappearance or abject  poverty.

There is hope, however. The Guatemalan government and numerous global organizations have been promoting the observance of the human rights of not just the ancient peoples but of all. The United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples has provided tribal populations with high hopes for empowerment, equality and economic participation. Not only that, it is a vital step in helping them preserve their age-old cultures before they are truly lost to the world.

Still, in the mountains of Guatemala, politics and declarations are far from Corazon's consciousness. She thinks of the simple things – food on the table, health for her family. She looks to her weaving and realizes that there is a way.

In the same way that the Mayan goddess of the moon, Ixchel, blessed weaving, Corazon believes that they have been blessed by the interest of a group of women who want her to make more of the huipil¹ which they say will be sold to many people around the world.

Not only that, they also want to teach her new types of items for her to weave and they will even pay her for them. The ladies who spoke with her seemed kind and they invited her to meet Mayan women like her who are also weaving for them. Corazon has so much to tell them about the huipil. She wants to tell them to value the huipil as woven into it are her stories and the stories of her people. She wants them to know that weaving a huipil takes time and care and that her people have worn them for generations as symbols of which family, tribe and region they come from. She also wants to tell them that the huipil goes with the corte, a long fabric that makes skirts and which are typically woven by men.

For Corazon and women like her, the richness of their culture has given hope for empowerment and economic stability. Through Fair Trade, groups like Ten Thousand Villages and Colores del Pueblo ensure that weaver women are paid the right compensation for their time and the beautiful items they produce.

Moreover, a lot of these groups do not just conduct trade with indigenous people; they also give valuable training in new skills and in adapting traditional arts and crafts in various other ways and for various markets. In addition, many of these groups also help tribal women receive health information and care, a vital need in poverty-stricken areas. Finally, a lot of groups also involve themselves in assisting rural villages develop their infrastructure by putting up schools, access to potable water and electricity, and encouraging environment-friendly production and living.

¹The huipil is the traditional blouse of the Mayan woman.

  References:

1. LISA FERDINANDO. "Guatemala's Mayan Indians Endure Poverty." Contacto Online Magazine. Article online at http://www.contactomagazine.com/articles/mayanindians1207.htm

2. Kelly Hallman, Sara Peracca, Jennifer Catino, Marta Julia Ruiz. "Multiple Disadvantages of Mayan Females: The Effects of Gender, Ethnicity, Poverty, and Residence on Education in Guatemala." Population Council. NY: 2006.

3. Colores del Pueblo. www.coloresdelpueblo.com