The following article is an excerpt from the Vancouver Sun on February 22, 2010. To read the article in full, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemalan indigenous Maya people held religious and cultural ceremonies Monday to mark the start of the year 5126 under the ancient Mayan calendar.
Culture Minister Emilio Ajquejay said that under the Mayan calendar, 5126 marks Kej, year of the stag or deer.
The four-legged creature symbolizes four cosmic points of strength and power, said who said that this is likely to be a year in which “world powers will be strengthened,” he said.
Director of Indigenous Affairs Maria Quezada said the stag reflects the four energies of life: physical, mental, spiritual and emotional, as well as mankind’s dominion over other beings on earth.
In the Mayan faith, the new year is ushered in after the end of Wayeb — a five-day period of reflection, meditation, planning and goal-setting — and to mark the event ethnic Maya leaders held vigil services across Guatemala overnight Sunday into Monday.
Roberto Cajas, director of a confederation of indigenous groups said the new year celebration offers Guatemalans the chance to express their “profound gratitude to Nature” for having provided humans all the essentials needed for life.
To read the rest of the article, please click here. To read more about the Mayan calendar, check out our review of the MY2K blog, which focuses on Mayan symbols in Guatemala.
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