ELVIRA
A cheerful, hard working, twenty six year old devoted mother of four, Elvira epitomizes the qualities of a bare-footed traditional Kekchi Maya woman. At daybreak you’ll hear her sweeping or washing the previous night’s dishes at the outdoor spigot otherwise referred to as the “pipe”. By the time you rise and head out to the open-air kitchen for breakfast the water is on for instant coffee and fry-jacks or tortillas are in the skillet on the open wood fire. Keeping her home neat and tidy and bellies full whenever possible are Elvira’s top priorities...not to mention keeping four very active children in crisp clean clothing that’s she’s laundered in the nearby Jacinta River! Other duties include gathering firewood in the bush, tending to her garden, managing the family finances, and caring for the needs of her children and extended family.
San Benito Poite, where Elvira was born, is a remote village deep in the “bush”, a dusty and bumpy forty mile drive from Cuxlin Ha where she now lives with her husband Ponciano and children Magdalena, Carlos, Marcelino (Marc), and Chrelina (Cheri).
ROSARIO
Rosario is a quiet Maya woman who came to Belize from Guatemala. Like her mother-in-law, Catalina, you will always see her in the traditional Maya dress and is most often barefoot. Rosario is married to Elvira’s brother, Alberto, and they have four children, Oscar, Benjamin, Alicia, and Brenda. They live a stone’s throw across the road from Elvira & Ponciano in Cuxlin Ha Village.
Rosario grew up in Guatemala and speaks primarily Spanish and Kekchi. She depends on her husband and sons to communicate with visitors. She is a skilled crafter and somehow manages to find the time to make baskets, hand bags, belts and jewelry. Like every Maya woman, Rosario is very hard working and takes great pride in caring for the needs of her family.
PRIMA
Along the Rio Blanco River in the village of Santa Elena, an hour’s drive into the bush from Cuxlin Ha, lives Ponciano’s brother Eucebio with his wife Prima and their four children. Eucebio is a farmer and the “chairman” of the village. His father, Hillario, lives in the village too. Hillario is a gentle man who has recently lost his vision so he depends a great deal on his family. There is no electricity in Santa Elena.
Prima is kind, soft spoken and shy until she gets to know you. There are few visitors that come to her village so the opportunities to sell baskets and other crafts are few. Many Maya women in remote villages like Santa Elena will leave on the bus long before dawn and travel a great distance to a tourist town in the hopes of selling some items. Quite often their sales are not even enough to cover the bus fare. They will sit all day without food or water asking passers-by if they would like to buy something. Then, returning to the village after a long day, the women will resume their duties of preparing the evening meal and tending to their family.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
JIPPI JAPPA
The Jippi Jappa palm grows wild in the rainforest and often in abandoned fields of the southern Toledo District of Belize. The shoots and flowers are edible and the young palms can be used as a material to be woven into beautiful baskets.
The young palm frond is first stripped of its “bark” or covering and then very thin strips are peeled away just like a stalk of celery. Once the strips are thin enough to fit through the eye of a needle, the palm is boiled for 15 minutes and then dried in the sun for 2-3 days.
A bundle of fibers (maybe 6 to 8) are then held tightly together while another is twisted around the outside of the bundle. Once a few inches of a rope-like covered bundle are produced a tight coil will then be formed and thus the bottom of a basket begins to take shape.
The Jippi Jappa palm grows wild in the rainforest and often in abandoned fields of the southern Toledo District of Belize. The shoots and flowers are edible and the young palms can be used as a material to be woven into beautiful baskets.
The young palm frond is first stripped of its “bark” or covering and then very thin strips are peeled away just like a stalk of celery. Once the strips are thin enough to fit through the eye of a needle, the palm is boiled for 15 minutes and then dried in the sun for 2-3 days.
A bundle of fibers (maybe 6 to 8) are then held tightly together while another is twisted around the outside of the bundle. Once a few inches of a rope-like covered bundle are produced a tight coil will then be formed and thus the bottom of a basket begins to take shape.
THE ANCIENT MAYA
The earliest known inhabitants of southern Belize were the ancient Maya. Great Maya cities and ceremonial centers grew and flourished throughout the region until about 900 A.D. Eventually, these great cities disappeared beneath the dense jungle canopy. The reason for the collapse of the Maya Civilization is hidden in the mists of time. Some sites still remain relatively unexcavated and others have only recently been discovered, such as Nim Li Punit (“Big Hat”) in the 1970’s.
Throughout the 16th and 17 centuries a group of people called the Manche Chol Maya remained unconquered in southern Belize, resisting attempts by the Spanish to rule them. Disease and small pox eventually all but eliminated the Chols and in the 18th and 19th century the entire population of Chols was transported to the highlands of Guatemala by the British.
After this forced exodus out of southern Belize, the Toledo District was mostly unpopulated until the mid 1800’s. In the late 19th and early 20th century two distinct groups of Maya Indians, Mopan and Kekchi, began migrating into southern Belize from Guatemala, fleeing oppression and heavy taxation. The Mopan Maya settled the uplands of Toledo. The Kekchi Maya spread out into the isolated lowlands and along the many rivers.
Today the Mopan and Kekchi Maya comprise the largest percentage of the population in the Toledo District of Belize and have remained the most traditional and culturally distinct. The Mopan and Kekchi Maya have together formed over thirty communities throughout Toledo. The foundation of Mayan society is still based mostly on subsistence agriculture, family units, communal assistance, and self-government. They subsist on staple crops of beans, corn, rice, tubers, cacao and sugar cane. Increasingly they are becoming involved in cash crops of citrus and rice.
The earliest known inhabitants of southern Belize were the ancient Maya. Great Maya cities and ceremonial centers grew and flourished throughout the region until about 900 A.D. Eventually, these great cities disappeared beneath the dense jungle canopy. The reason for the collapse of the Maya Civilization is hidden in the mists of time. Some sites still remain relatively unexcavated and others have only recently been discovered, such as Nim Li Punit (“Big Hat”) in the 1970’s.
Throughout the 16th and 17 centuries a group of people called the Manche Chol Maya remained unconquered in southern Belize, resisting attempts by the Spanish to rule them. Disease and small pox eventually all but eliminated the Chols and in the 18th and 19th century the entire population of Chols was transported to the highlands of Guatemala by the British.
After this forced exodus out of southern Belize, the Toledo District was mostly unpopulated until the mid 1800’s. In the late 19th and early 20th century two distinct groups of Maya Indians, Mopan and Kekchi, began migrating into southern Belize from Guatemala, fleeing oppression and heavy taxation. The Mopan Maya settled the uplands of Toledo. The Kekchi Maya spread out into the isolated lowlands and along the many rivers.
Today the Mopan and Kekchi Maya comprise the largest percentage of the population in the Toledo District of Belize and have remained the most traditional and culturally distinct. The Mopan and Kekchi Maya have together formed over thirty communities throughout Toledo. The foundation of Mayan society is still based mostly on subsistence agriculture, family units, communal assistance, and self-government. They subsist on staple crops of beans, corn, rice, tubers, cacao and sugar cane. Increasingly they are becoming involved in cash crops of citrus and rice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
