Sacred Space

As I write this Saturday morning I'm wearing my Quirigua tee-shirt. Five bucks from a friendly Kek'chi grandmother at this historic Mayan archaelogical site. The Mayan civilization, which extended from the Yucatan in Mexico down into Guatemala and Honduras, lasted less than 1,000 years -- from roughly 100-900 A.D. The civilization, which was comprised primarily of a single dynasty (the Sky) suddenly disappeared for reasons that are not fully known.
Quirigua was an economic, political and cultural center that was an offshoot of a larger community in nearby Copan in Honduras. The "golden age" of Quirigua was 730-790 A.D., the 60-year reign of Cauac Sky. During this time, numerous stelae (vertical carved sandstone monoliths reaching as high as 60 feet) were erected on a vast expanse of grassland between Rio Dulce and Guatemala City near the Honduran border. An acropolis was also constructed on a hill overlooking the field with steep stairs going up to it. A number of other monuments and altars were also built during this time. The steles were built every five years and together document the reign of Cauac Sky. When Mayan civilization disappeared, so too did the archaelogical wonders of Quirigua. They were not rediscovered until the mid-1800s and were not excavated until the 1930s.


They are a wonder to behold. We were awestruck, not just by their beauty, but by their ability to carry us back through the centuries, all the way back to the times of the early Christian church a couple continents away. This unity of the human spirit was particularly powerful at Quirigua as we are in the midst of discovering our unity with the Kek'chi, who are so different but also so like us. Human connections -- the stuff of life itself -- are so powerful at Quirigua that we were mostly left speechless (which you CHPCers who know us so well KNOW must be quit a trick).
David Wiseman shared with us an excerpt of the Popol Vuh, the story of creation as told by the Maya. This is long, but note the parallels to the Biblical creation account. Once again, it's all about human connection.

THE CREATION

Here is the story of the beginning,
when there was not one bird,
not one fish,
not one mountain.
Here is the sky, all alone.
Here is the sea, all alone.
There is nothing more
--no sound, no movement.
Only the sky and the sea.
Only Heart-of-Sky, alone.
And these are his names:
Maker and Modeler,
Kukulkan,
and Hurricane.
But there is no one to speak his names.
There is no one praise his glory.
There is no one to nurture his greatness.

And so Heart-of-Sky thinks,
"Who is there to speak my name?
Who is there to praise me?
How shall I make it dawn?"
Heart-of-Sky only says the word,
"Earth,"
and the earth rises,
like a mist from the sea.
He only thinks of it,
and there it is.

He thinks of the mountains,
and great mountains come.
He thinks of trees,
and trees grow on the land.

And so Heart-of-Sky says,
"Our work is going well."

Now Heart-of-Sky plans the creatures of the forest
--birds, deer, jaguars and snakes.
And each is given his home.
"You the deer, sleep here along the rivers.
You the birds, your nests are in the trees.
Multiply and scatter," he tells them.

Then Heart-of-Sky says to the animals,
"Speak, pray to us."
But the creatures can only squawk.
The creatures only howl.
They do not speak like humans.
They do not praise Heart-of-Sky
And so the animals are humbled.
They will serve those who will worship Heart-of-Sky.

And Heart-of-Sky tries again.
Tries to make a giver of respect.
Tries to make a giver of praise.

Here is the new creation,
made of mud and earth.
It doesn't look very good.
It keeps crumbling and softening.
It looks lopsided and twisted.
It only speaks nonsense.
It cannot multiply.
So Heart-of-Sky lets it dissolve away.

Now Heart-of-Sky plans again.
Our Grandfather and Grandmother are summoned.
They are the most wise spirits
"Determine if we should carve people from wood,"
commands Heart-of-Sky.

They run their hands over the kernels of corn
They run their hands over the coral seeds.
"What can we make that will speak and pray?
What can we make that will nurture and provide?"
asks our Grandmother.
They count the days,
seeking an answer for Heart-of-Sky.

Now they give the answer,
"It is good for you to make people with wood.
They will speak your name.
They will walk about and multiply,"
"So it is," replies Heart-of-Sky.

And as the words are spoken, it is done.
Th doll-people are made
with faces carved from wood.
But they have no blood, no sweat.
They have nothing in their minds.
They have no respect for Heart-of-Sky.
They are just walking about,
But they accomplish nothing.

"This is not what I had in mind,"
says Heart-of-Sky.
And so it is decided to destroy
these wooden people.

Hurricane makes a great rain.
It rains all day and rains all night.
There is a terrible flood
and the earth is blackened.
The creatures of the forest
come into the homes of the doll-people.

"You have chased us from our homes
so now we will take yours,"
they growl.
And their dogs and turkeys cry out,
"You have abused us
so now we will eat you!"
Even their pots and grinding stones speak,
"We will burn you and pound on you
just as you have done to us!"

The wooden people scatter into the forest.
Their faces are crushed,
and they are turned into monkeys.
And this is why monkeys look like humans.
They are what is left of what came before,
an experiment in human design

# # #

And so it goes...

Jerry