By Maggie Zinck
Today we drove to Santiago Atitlán by truck to meet with a Maya activist named Dolores Ratzan for the day. Our group paid respects to the shrine of Maximón, a folk saint in the Maya-Catholic tradition. Maximón is represented as a wooden effigy where offerings such as cigars, money, and candles are given in exchange for granting wishes in one’s life.
We continued our morning by walking around the city, hearing Dolores speak about the lived experiences of women during the Internal Armed Conflict (IAC) in Guatemala, highlighting their resilience. We also visited the shrine of Padre Stanley Rother, an American priest who was assassinated in 1981 due to sheltering those at risk during the IAC, as well as his fierce advocacy efforts for Indigenous rights in the region.
We also met with 13 Batz, a Maya weaving cooperative located in the city. We learned about weaving acting as a political agent of resistance by keeping Maya tradition and knowledge alive, as weaving illustrates a community’s surrounding natural environment, history, and cultural identity.
To end off our day of activities we had lunch with Miguel Pablo Sicay, a man in Santiago who leads Indigenous efforts in the community to monitor and prevent corruption within their municipal government.
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