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Los Maya y La Guadalupana

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     This past week has been full of activities. We attended a conference at I.N.A.H. (Instituto Nacional de Antropologia y Historia) which spanned the entire week and was devoted to presentations from researchers on their findings regarding the Mayans in Northern Yucatan. We heard experts speak about cosmovision, architecture, speleology, archeoastronomy, bioarcheaology, anthropology, as well as epigraphy and the Mayan language. As the conference was geared more towards experts and less toward the general public, much of what was presented was difficult to understand, but nevertheless interesting to catch a glimpse of at the very least.

Our students between speakers- photo taken from article about the conference: http://yucatan.com.mx/merida/educacion-merida/maya-y-espanol-deben-ensenarse-juntos

Emily interviewing a participant during the break
The group lining up to check in with Karla

Some students interviewing a speaker


Artifacts on display in the INAH


    
     December 12th is a day of celebration in Mexico. It is dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe who appeared in 1531 to an indigenous man. Juan Diego, was working with the Spanish friars in the Catholic church at the time. The virgin told Juan Diego in his native Nahuatl (Aztec) language that she wanted a church built to honor her son on the exact site where she appeared, the hill of Tepeyac. Juan Diego went to the archbishop to tell him of the news, who promptly sent him away wanting proof that Juan Diego had truly seen the virgin Mary. The virgin appeared again and told Juan Diego to gather the flowers that he found on the hill of Tepeyac. Normally, in December, the hill was barren, but Juan Diego found an abundance of Castillian roses that are not native to the region. He took them up and brought them to the archbishop. When he opened his cloak, they spilled out revealing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe that is revered to this day. The original fabric still exists and the image upon it remains clear as day.What's more, there are many miracles associated with the cloak, such as the fact that the blue pigment used for the virgin's cloak did not exist in Mexico in the 1500s as well as the recent discovery of the image of Juan Diego found, upon extremely detailed inspection, reflected in the virgin's eye. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHlIwhH2yRE).

     Since this day is extremely important in all of Mexico as well as in many other Latin American countries and for folks all over the world, the students were given some activities associated with the day. On the 11th of December, pilgrimages coming from near and far arrive to the center of Merida to the church San Cristobal, whose patron saint is the Virgin of Guadalupe (La Guadalupana). The students visited the church in groups. It was absolutely filled with people, music, lights and high spirits. The students were given slips of paper with questions about the significance of the day to ask the people about. One student, Galen, even ran in one of the pilgrimages that came into the city from Hunucma, a pueblo about 30 km from the city. He ran (relay-style) with a group from one neighborhood. They started around three in the afternoon and reached their block a little after 10:00pm which, by that time, had been blocked off from vehicles and had music blasting and seats, tents, balloons and food set up for a late-night church service and subsequent fiesta!



San Cristobal the night of December 11th


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