MAYAN CULTURE

Who: Mayan
Where: Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
When: 2018
How Much: $6,500

The Mayan culture is well-known throughout the world, and although many anthropologists have written extensively about this civilization, there has never been a book about Mayan wisdom written by a Mayan. The Boa Foundation supported Tata Pedro Cruz, 2005 World Peace Ambassador, and his daughter Nana Marina, as they brought together wisdom keepers from across Guatemala, documenting their meetings and put together the first book on Mayan cosmology, mathematics and ethnobotany. The Mayans have been persecuted for generations for their way of life, for which they have suffered unimaginable abuse sanctioned by the state. In 1996 they signed a peace treaty that gave them the right to practice their culture, and ID cards that grant them free access to ancient sites to perform rituals. This has been a vindication of their right to exist, and a broad effort to rescue and renew their culture is now in action.