Before our next adventure began in the community of Yaxunah,Yaxcabá,Yucatán, we first visited the traditional pottery studio “Najil Kat” belonging to the family Espadas Xooc, in Uayma. Here, the students had the chance to explore the diverse materials and traditional techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation in this family of artists. With the help of Virgilio, we learned about the many types of local soil and clay that are mixed to make a diverse range of creations like vases, plates, mugs, toys, musical instruments, incense holders and more. As part of the workshop, each student sculpted their own little artistic creation, exploring their creativity and the skills necessary to work with the clay.
Similar to the time spent in the city of Mérida, the families in Yaxunah are an invaluable aspect for the students to settle into the rhythm of everyday life. The arrival to Yaxunah marks the beginning of a beautiful new family relationship. Students can make strong ties with their new families and experience many different activities together, all of which aids the students in understanding the culture of the community.
While in Yaxunah, students continue their culture and language classes, which are an important part of our time in this small community. On one hand, the language classes continue to be a fundamental part of growing students’ oral and written production of Spanish, but they also help contextualize certain concepts that may have different meanings in the community. For example, some words used in the community are regionalisms derived from the Mayan language that will only be heard in the Yucatán Península.
In the case of the culture classes, living in Yaxunah gives insight into many concepts that are discussed in class since the students now often find themselves in the middle of these contexts in real life. Because of this proximity, students can better understand these concepts, but more importantly, they are able to learn directly from the people they interact with.
Often it’s important to bring the classroom outside, for students to learn directly in nature. That is why our first workshop in Yaxunah was dedicated to the milpa, or traditional agriculture practices focused on growing corn, squash, beans and other staple crops. Students learned about the milpa from don Francisco Canul Poot, an expert milpero who taught us about essential aspects of this agricultural system, from choosing what soil to cultivate,the different types of corn and what is grown along with it, to what challenges the milpa faces today.
Another valuable workshop in Yaxunah was about traditional medicine and introduced students to other perspectives on health and knowledge of the human body. In this workshop the students got to see the expert hands of doña Lupe Poot, a fantastic partera (traditional midwife) , from the nearby community Kaua, and “sobador” (traditional masseuse) don Teodoro Chan, from Yaxunah. They demonstrated different ways of healing the human body by using “sobadas”, a therapeutic type of massage used to help with a wide range of issues. “Sobadas” can cure problems related to a woman’s pregnancy and challenges with fertility, as well as problems in nutrition and digestion, or moods caused by the organ known as the cirro being out of place, or even physical injuries that cause problems in muscle and bone.
Earlier in the program, during their time in Mérida, students had the chance to start learning about the Mayan language that is still spoken today in Yucatán, but it is also important for them to learn about the writing system used by the ancient Mayans so they can understand some of the complexity of the Mayan culture in prehispanic times. That is why our students, along with other interested community members, attended a workshop about this topic. They were taught by cultural advocator Alfredo Hau Caamal, about how the ancient Mayas expressed themselves through glyphs, and how to represent words or even sentences in Spanish or modern Yucatec Mayan with Mayan hieroglyphics.
Another important activity in Yaxunah was getting to know the community and identify the kind of traditional architecture that can still be observed, with the goal of being able to analyze the characteristics of today’s traditional Mayan houses, and what modifications have been felt over time. This tour of Mayan architecture concluded with a visit to the archeological site of Yaxunah (or “first house”, when translating the community name to Spanish and then to English). Here, we observed the architectural characteristics of this site and compared some of the cultural aspects of the past with what we have seen in modern day. This visit to this ancient Mayan city, the students learned a little bit about its history, the architectural styles that are predominant in its structures, the function of different spaces as well as what alliances and connections the city had with other places.
The cooking workshop is a fundamental and complementary follow-up to the milpa workshop, as the students can understand more about the food system and can observe the entire process of corn from harvest, degraining, nixtamalization (soaking and cooking the corn with limestone), and the preparation of tamales cooked in píib, an earth oven. Students also participated in obtaining and preparing the other ingredients, like the colorful annatto seeds, and leaves from the banana tree, processing the chickens, chopping wood, and preparing the underground oven. Many thanks to doña Noemi Chuc Caamal and doña Rubi Canul Mex for being our teachers! Without their expertise, it would not have been possible to enjoy these tasty tamales, which in Maya are known as “cha’chak waaj”.
Another activity during our time in Yaxunah where we were joined by the community, jarana traditional dance classes. Thanks to the direction of master jaranero Cresencio Chan Uc from the community of Chikindzonot in Yucatán, kids, teens and adults, along with our students, had the chance to learn the many steps and rhythms that are characterize this traditional Yucatecan dance. After four days of practicing, the parents of our host families together with municipal officials organized a small event where the youngest jarana students delighted their audience with their talents!
One of the most enjoyable events for the community, especially the youngest ones, were the Movie Nights in the community dome. For this activity, we invited the whole community to participate in this opportunity to relax and have a pleasant evening watching a movie and enjoying popcorn.
It is important to mention that we always visit the authorities of the community before starting any of our activities. This is not only for the community representatives to personally meet our students, but also to explain the objectives of our presence in the town and what activities we will be organizing. This meeting also gives insight into the families that will be hosting our students. We would like to express our gratitude to the authorities; municipal commissar José Juan Chuc Uicab, and community commissar Amancio Tec Tun, for their disposition and communication that made our stay and marvelous experience in Yaxunah possible. Thank you!
As a result of the Mayan Hieroglyphic workshop, two of the students, Leander and Maddie, produced two hieroglyphic texts alluding to the meaning of the name Yaxunah as well as the name of the cenote in the community, Lol Há, which is an important reference point in the town. They wrote and decorated these illustrations with the goal of contributing to the linguistic tradition of Yaxunah and as a way to thank the people of this community for their hospitality, warmth, and knowledge. These projects were given to the local authorities, and during this reunion we were able to say goodbye and thank them for everything.
As in every Yucatán Program, saying goodbye is always the hardest part. However, it’s not really a goodbye but rather a “see you later”! Although difficult, moving on to the next community is necessary to continue learning about Yucatán, and most importantly, to experience other sociocultural contexts, and spend time with other caring and unique families. Our next destination is San Felipe, a community on the northeastern coast of Yucatán.
