Chicle

Photo Source:  Tree Hugger

Chicle was the original source for chewing gum.  It was first brought to the United States in 1867 by General Santa Ana of Mexico.  While awaiting entry into the United States, Santa Ana gave chicle to Thomas Adams.  Adams took the chicle home and experimented with it until he came up with a flavorful chewing product.  Thereafter, US companies monopolized chicle production by financing the tapping operations in Central America. By 1930, US companies were importing 15 million pounds of chicle per year (Amanda Neill).

Chicleros were employed by the US companies to go into the forest and obtain the chicle.  Chicleros cut zigzags into Sapodilla and Manlikara trees, then collected the sap into bags. The sap was then boiled until it thickened, molded into blocks, and shipped to the United States.  In an effort to reduce the abuse that Chicleros suffered under the feudal work system, the Guatemalan government passed a law in 1952 that ended the feudal system.  The law allowed the Guatemalan government to expropriate the unused lands from the US companies and sell them to the indigenous people.  After passage of this law, the Wrigley Gum Company refused to buy Guatemalan produced chicle (Manlikara Chicle).  Instead, the company turned to chicle substitutes and insoluble plastics.  And the chicle industry in Guatemala all but disappeared (Latin American Review of Books). 

Cardamom

Photo Source:  Spice of Life

Guatemala is the world’s biggest producer and exporter of cardamom.  The miniscule seeds of the plant are highly aromatic and valued as a spice in the Middle East, Russia, and Scandinavia.  Most of Guatemala’s crop is exported to the Arabian Gulf countries, where the use of the spice is considered to be a hallmark of hospitality.  In the Middle East, cardamom pods are either ground into a powder and used as an additive for coffee, or they are ground up with the coffee beans and brewed together (Guatemala Times).  Guatemala is one of the world’s major producers of coffee, and yet Guatemalans do not mix cardamom with their coffee.  Cardamom is strictly an export crop. 

70% of Guatemala’s cardamom crop is grown by small producers on less than 10 acres of land (Saudi Aramco). The plant thrives in the in the moist Guatemalan climate, but is not native to the Americas.  German plantation owner, Oscar Majus brought the first plants from India to Guatemala in 1914 (Guatemala Times). 

Guatemalan women and children sort through the harvested seed pods in large warehouses for less than $4 per day.  It takes one cardamom plant 3 years of growth before it begins to produce seed pods. Thereafter, the plant produces for another 4 to 6 years before it begins to decline.  The harvested seeds are so tiny that it takes 4 pods to equal one quarter teaspoon of seeds. That is why the spice commands such high prices in the global marketplace.  In 2007, the revenues from cardamom exceeded 137 million US dollars (Saudi Aramco). 

Dance of the Palo Volador

Photo Source:  Guatemala Tourism

Festivals in Guatemala often combine elements of Maya beliefs with Christianity.  This blending of cultures can be observed in the Dance of the Palo Volador.  The pre-Columbian ritual-dance is performed in Chichicastenango during the celebration for the town’s patron saint, Santo Tomas. 

Festivities are centered around the 471 year old Catholic Church of Santo Tomas. When the Spanish colonizers built the church in 1540, they placed it directly on top of the existing Mayan temple.  The steps from the old temple remain visible and continue to be venerated by the local Maya (Church of Santo Tomas). 

After several days of feasting, dancing, and parading; a tall pole is erected in front of the Church of Santo Tomas (or the Mayan temple).  At the top of the pole is a rotating frame from which dangle the ropes that the dancers tie themselves to.  Before the dancers climb up the pole, an offering is made for their safety.  When they are ready, the dancers climb up, then leap off the platform, spinning around the pole as they descend.  The ropes unravel quickly from the rotating frame and it is a gamble if the dancers will reach the ground safely before their ropes completely unravel (Lonely Planet). 

In the pre-conquest period, the dance was said to be associated with the bird deity, Itzamna, and the recreation or regeneration of the world.  A flute player stood on the top of the pole and played flute music that imitated the sound of birds singing.  The “flying bird men’ represented the four directions.  And spinning around the pole represented the regeneration of the world (Flying Men Dance).

After the arrival of Christianity, the interpretation of the dance was altered.  The ‘flying bird men’ were replaced by Angels.  And their spinning descent to the ground represented the descent of the Angels into the Underworld to do battle with the forces of darkness (Joyabaj). 

The venerated steps of the Church of Santo Tomas

Photo Source:  Church of Santo Tomas

Rigoberta for President

Photo Source:  University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth

In the news today, it was announced that Rigoberta Menchu is expecting to run in the election for President of Guatemala.  She will most likely be the candidate representing Frente Amplio de Izquierda (Humanitarian News). For those unfamiliar with Rigoberta, she is a K’iche’-Maya activist who has worked for decades to protect the indigenous people of Guatemala.   

In 1983, Rigoberta told her life story to a journalist.  The notes of that interview became the basis for the book, I, Rigoberta Menchu.  The book documented the loss of several of Rigoberta’s family members to rape, torture, and murder during the years of the Guatemalan Civil War.  Because of Rigoberta’s book, the international community woke up to the genocide that was happening in Guatemala (Nobel Peace Prize).  Rigoberta, along with other survivors, brought to trial a number of the perpetrators of the genocide. 

In 1992, Rigoberta became the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize.  The speech given at her award ceremony can be read here. 

Reading the Ancestors

Image Source:  Library Thinkquest.Org

The Ancient Maya wrote in a beautiful, highly artistic script.  They carved with it, painted with it, and wrote it in in their bark-paper books. But, Bishop Diego de Landa did not share my view of their artistry.  To him, the Mayan script was a tool that the devil used to spread heathenism. Consequently, he outlawed the Mayan language and writing. The Maya who disobeyed this law, were arrested and tortured. In 1562, the Bishop burned the Maya’s books; and destroyed much of their history, literature, and traditions in the process (Diego de Landa). Over time, the Maya lost their ability to read the ancient script.

Painting of Bishop Diego de Landa burning Mayan books

Photographed in Mani, Mexico by Keith Walbolt 

It was not until the late 1800’s that serious decipherment began.  Progress was hampered by the researchers’ preconceived notions. Yet, they were able to decipher the Mayan method for counting and recording dates.  Tatanya Proscuriokoff decoded the glyphs for ‘birth’, ‘coronation’, and ‘death’. Then she correlated those glyphs with the stalea at archaeological sites.  From this, she was able to read the history of several Mayan rulers. 

Other researches added pieces to the puzzle.  Uri Valenovich Konorokoff was the first to note that some glyphs represented the sounds of the Mayan language, while other glyphs were actual words.  Perhaps the most startling discovery was that of 18-year old, David Stuart.  He found that a single phoneme could be represented by many different glyphs. And, that these phonemic glyphs could be combined or merged with other glyphs, of the artist’s choosing.  This added an unexpected complexity and flexibility to the script.  

When about 80% of the glyphs had been deciphered, the researchers began teaching the modern-day Mayan how to read the ancient script.  For the first time in centuries, the Maya could read their own history, in the words of their ancestors.  

Image Source:  Beryl Gorbman

Most of the information for this post comes from the fascinating documentary, Cracking the Mayan Code.  There is much more to the decipherment story then what I have outlined here. For those who want to explore the subject further, the documentary is linked below.