During President Bush's visit to Guatemala this week, he was escorted to Iximche, an ancient Kakchiquel Mayan holy site which is the center of continued ritual practice today. Mayan peasant activist Juan Tiney, who is the head of Guatemala's Coordinating Council of Indigenous People and Campesinos, says Mayan priests have decided they're going to have to purge the site of Bush's bad vibes:
"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture."
(…)Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites — which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles — would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.
Link to wire service story. Image of Iximche, Guatemala, courtesy of "John Pohl's Mesoamerica," Link. (Thanks, Aaron Harms)
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