Today, Thursday July 26, you are invited to the the Maya Ceremony “Uh-Bel-Ki’in” (The infinite Path of Time), at the Tumen Lu’um Botanical Garden, located in Xcunyá, Yucatán (just 15 minutes from Mérida).
This ritual ceremony is focused and dedicated to the wisdom of the medicinal plants and herbs used and worshipped by the ancient Maya.
It will take place at the Tumen Lu’um Botanical Garden, located right next to the Church of Xcunyá, at 6 PM on Thursday July 26.
Xcunya is located 10 miles north of Mérida (INEGI)
Other ceremonies will take place on Saturday July 28 in Xcunyá, and the New Fire ritual will be held in Muna Yucatán, on Sunday July 29 at 12 noon.
Independent journalist, Maya culture expert and indigenous rights activist Alicia Oyoqui, sent the following press release for the people to understand what these ceremonies mean for the people of Yucatan:
A group of Maya natives with an ancestral, spiritual knowledge, decided to join, in order to raise awareness on the situation of a world that has been going through “extreme times” in recent years.
Society is experiencing a big crisis in terms of health, family values, love and environmental care. However, the confluence of ancestral, spiritual and timeless knowledge, together with new science, is creating a true revolution in thought and understanding, so radical that it can change the world in many ways.
For this reason, the descendants of the ancient Maya, have survived through modern times, preserving the real essence of their ancestral culture.
These Maya brothers and sisters, each with their own knowledge of different healing techniques, massages, presentations of offerings in each ceremony, are true experts in medicinal healing plants, midwives, healers of spaces and people, and guardians of the environment, among others.
But the most important thing about this is that they are among us!
Even when they have never received any recognition, they have developed great skills and aptitudes, to know the needs of “our Mother Earth”, which as they say is what gives us the sustenance of our food; it is important to emphasize that they have the knowledge of the universe, the sun, the stars, the elements: earth, water, air and wind and invoking them to be grateful at every moment.
They perceive and feel human behavior, as well as natural phenomena. This wisdom has been inherited and guided by their ancestors. Through this they have demolished paradigms, to renew a new fate for their people.
These revelations can change the way we think about ourselves as society, our limits, and most importantly our potential.
The modern Maya say that humans are connected to the universe and Mother Earth, that we are cosmic dust and all we need is to learn to connect with ourselves and elevate our spirit, open our mind, connect our hearts, challenge our creativity and take flight towards our destiny.
For this reason and in honor of the ancient Maya, the few inheritors of this culture that remain gather, to perform sacred rituals every moon cycle, and especially every year, to carry out the Celebration of the ” MAYA NEW YEAR “.
With their own resources and no support from the local government, these people preserve of the culture and traditions of the ancient Maya of this region.
This organization is totally nonprofit, they respect all kinds of religions and they consider that in the end, we all worship a single God. This group of modern Maya want to create awareness on the great damage that the human being has inflicted on Mother Nature through deforestation, air pollution and water contamination, for the wealth of a few.
Every July 26 this Celebration is held in Yucatan, in honor of Mother Earth, a ceremony that the ancient Maya perform during rainy season, which represented for them life, resurrection, rebirth, offspring, and the opening of mind to transmit new ideas to future generations and all humanity.
The purpose of course, is to continue to preserve the Maya traditions, but above all the great commitment to respect, take care and honor our Mother Earth, and in the same way, to raise awareness of the importance to care for the environment and human values.
Our group is always looking for new places to perform the sacred ceremonial ritual of the New Fire (or Maya New Year), so that each and every person (regardless of their origin, race or religion) may approach the event, and get to know, live and enrich themselves from an ancient culture that is still alive thanks to the Modern Maya.
Different experiences have been lived in different places in Yucatan, such as Chumayel, Maní, Mérida, in the archaeological site of Mayapán, in the caves of Loltún and in the Ecological Reserve of El Corchito, which have allowed us to perform these ceremonies in previous years; likewise a group of natives of Minnesota USA (Indian Brothers Redskins) “Spirit Walkers”, have joined us to share their culture, honor the ancestors, as well as strengthen human empowerment before their sacred forces of nature through ritual ceremonies.
By Alicia Oyoqui (Communicator)
