The site of the Academia de Arte y Cultura Maya lies on the road leading from the famous church of Santo Tomas in Chichicastenango to

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The History

The site of the Academia de Arte y Cultura Maya lies on the road leading from the famous church of Santo Tomas in Chichicastenango to a secluded clearing in the mountains known as Pascual Abaj where rituals sacred to the Maya have been performed for centuries. Its location between these two religious poles, one Catholic, the other Maya, is summarized by the symbolism of the double-headed bird. The bird is ubiquitous in the textile designs of the Quiche Maya and evolved as a synthesis of the Maya deity kot and the double headed eagle of the Spanish crown. Margot Blum Schevill notes, "With one head looking upward to heaven and the other to earth, kot and aguila represent the dualism and conflict between European and Maya beliefs experienced by contemporary Quiche Maya.” But if the duality persists, so does the blending of these different cultural strands into a whole. A new Chichicastecan culture has been achieved in skillful blending of textile patterns created by the Maya weavers.
The design of kot and eagle will be represented in the on the facade of the Academia from where it will look with one head towards the traditions of the past, while turning the other head confidently towards the future to look for new and different ways of creativity.

Around the middle of the sixteenth century members of the three lordly
linkages that once ruled the Quiche kingdom, the Caucecs, the Greathouses, and the Lord Quiches gathered together in order to preserve the story of the Popol Vuh by recording it in their own language, but by means of the advanced technology of their conquerors, the Roman alphabet. The resulting manuscript which preserves in dramatic form the knowledge and beliefs of the Quiche people about their origin and gives a brilliant glimpse into the values and ideals of the Maya. The manuscript made its way to the neighboring town of Chuii La, or “above the nettles”, which became known as Chichicastenango. It was there that between 1701 and 1703 a friar by the name of Francisco Ximenez became the first Westerner to see the book which subsequently became known as The Manuscript of Chichicastenango. The manuscript has had an adventurous history until it came to rest in the University of Chicago. Today it exists in numerous translations in French, Spanish, and English.

At the request of Don Miguel Leon Ignacio, a member of the cofradia, and of his two twin sons, Juan and Miguel Leon Cortez, a religious ceremony based on traditions recorded in the Popol Vuh was performed at Pascual Abaj, a hill just outside of Chichicastenango, a 20 minute walk from the Academia. The ceremony was to seek the blessings of the Maya gods for the success of the Academia. Considered to be of great importance by the participating Maya, the three hour long ritual took place on a carefully selected propitious day in the Maya calendar: wajxagib B’atz’,Vaaxil B’at’z’,Waqxqi’B’atz’ ( Sat.19 February 2000) With a large crowd of people either watching or participating, a Maya priest fervently prayed to the old gods offering them incense and candles to assure their good will and protection for the Academia de Arte y Cultura Maya.