Three Mayan Wise Men in Havana
By Aurelio Pedroso
HAVANA – Just when notorious alarmists are announcing the end of the world on Dec. 21, misinterpreting the Mayan calendar (God knows why), and after most people have watched in fear the movie “2012” (even in remote African villages), three wise men have arrived in Havana, descendants of that ancient culture. No doubt, some will brand them as practitioners of witchcraft.
Only a few days ago, I had the privilege of seeing and touching that emblematic pyramid called the Temple of the Great Jaguar in the heart of the El Petén jungle in Guatemala. By then, it was impossible to make hotel reservations to await Dec. 21, known there as 13 Batkún.
Built in 700 A.D. and discovered in 1848, the 45-meter-tall Great Jaguar demonstrates the grandeur of the Mayan civilization, the people who created the zero, devised a calendar as good as (or better than) the current one, and made remarkable advances in astronomy and the exact sciences. Even today, the reasons why they disappeared after coexisting in a city between 50 and 60 square kilometers are an enigma.
And do you know something, dear reader? It wasn’t a famous American or notable English researcher or Mexican or Guatemalan scholars who deciphered the complex Mayan hieroglyphics. Many of them contributed to the task, certainly, but the one who succeeded was a former Red Army soldier named Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov. That may be why the Russians keep in Guatemala a sort of research institute.
Let’s return to our illustrious visitors. They are two women and one man, two of Kitché origin, the other a Kaqchiket. Their names are Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez, María Faviana Cochoy Alva, and Pedro Celestino Yac Noj. Their background is heavy in the representation and defense of a population group that descends from the true and authentic owners of Guatemala, now forgotten and hurt by the passing of time and the mistreatment of successive rulers of the nation.
Today, some Guatemalans criticize their customs and underestimate their intelligence, but in their daily diet and even in grand celebrations they consume corn tortillas and puréed black beans, a combination that is not at all Spanish but ancient Mayan.
Their 13-day itinerary in Cuba, drawn up by the Guatemalan Embassy and numerous Cuban government organizations and NGOs, includes tours of provinces near Havana. They plan to hold a Mayan ceremony and offer to “read” people’s birthdays through a Mayan interpretation.
Their public appearances have been well attended, a demonstration of the Cuban people’s interest in learning about the Mayan world, a culture studied in Cuban public schools. Guatemala – so near and yet so far. The trip to Petén from Havana takes less time than to Santiago de Cuba from Havana.
Let’s hope that in this New Age – and in the new era that is coming to Cuba – it will not be the privilege of a few to see the temple of the Great Jaguar. Guatemala should not make it so difficult to grant visas to Cubans. After all, Cuba has made flexible its own immigration policy.
May the Mayan gods and the Catholic saints help us in this just request.
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