#k'iche'

[latin-american-diversity]

“Guatemala, Chichicastenago, Quiche. Flower market on the steps of Santo Tomas church.” - Thomas Hoepker

[folkfashion]

K'iche' Maya girl, Guatemala, by Pat de Wilde

[mistyphie]

this conversation in a textbook i'm reading has completely normal questions about someone's family and kids and then you get to the last line and get hit with the absolutely devastating

are they all alive?

[womeninfictionandirl]

Rigoberta Menchú by Allison Adams

Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959) is a K'iche' political and human rights activist from Guatemala. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala's indigenous feminists during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), and to promoting indigenous rights in the country. In, 1992, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. She has also become a figure in indigenous political parties and ran for President of Guatemala in 2007 and 2011.

[darknanigans]

so many thoughts and so many languages to choose from

inspired by @mcfanely and their depiction of the echidna language!!!

Languages in order: Japanese? Spanish? Portuguese? K'iche'? Chinese? Chinese(simplified)? Babylonian? Swahili? Yoruba? Patois? Nahuatl? Korean? Cantonese? Tagalog? Bisaya? Equiñoul(my name for knuckles' first language) english???

[bastardtrait]

hey awesome, I completed Angelo's goal before-- "before what?" --nothing!

generational goal: unlock all areas of Belomisia jungle complete!

transcript:

[SFX: Insects buzzing; jungle birds cawing…]

ANGELO: Oh god this is getting exponentially more dangerous.

[Cutaway: Angelo about to head to the Temple of the Full Moon.]

R-o’ch le Nimaq'an Ik' - The Temple of the Full Moon

ANGELO, aside: Whooaaaaaholyyyyyy shit.

ANGELO: Fuck! Would ya take a look at that shit. Abraham'll shit his pants.

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #Woodensday:

K'iche' Maya animal dance masks on display at Penn Museum:

1. Jaguar, Deer, Bull, Monkey c.1960, wood, pigment, hair, deer antler.

2. Bull, Coyote, Boar x 2 c.1960-80, wood, pigment, hair, deer antler.

“Maya masks perform origin stories, connecting humans and supernatural beings. Monkey masks, used at festivals, recall a K'iche' Maya story of twin brothers turned into monkeys. Deer, jaguar, and boar masks are worn to perform an ancient deer hunt. In the Dance of the Cowboy, bull masks are used to satirize the Spanish bullfight.”

[quotesfrommyreading]

The designation Maya comes from the ancient Yucatan city of Mayapan, the last capital of a Mayan Kingdom in the Post-Classic Period. The Maya people refer to themselves by ethnicity and language bonds such as Quiche in the south or Yucatec in the north (though there are many others). The `Mysterious Maya' have intrigued the world since their `discovery' in the 1840's by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood but, in reality, much of the culture is not that mysterious when understood. Contrary to popular imagination, the Maya did not vanish and the descendants of the people who built the great cities of Chichen Itza, Bonampak, Uxmal and Altun Ha still exist on the same lands their ancestors did and continue to practice, sometimes in a modified form, the same rituals which would be recognized by a native of the land one thousand years ago.

  —  Maya Civilization

[3027960]

gay lil blurb about valeria

you moved to las almas, temporarily at least. as a graduate student studying the differences between greek and mayan city-state politics for your dissertation, travel to mexico was necessary. as a poor student, staying in a town run by the cartel meant a cheap apartment for at least the year you would be there.

but las almas was cute. colorful. not unlike that time you visited the cuban parts of miami. the people, at least those who weren't armed to the teeth with semi-automatic rifles and knives, were generally nice. your spanish was passable, for as long as you'd been studying the mayans. your k'iche was better, but you doubted it be very useful. maybe.

you'd been there a few months, mostly holed up in your studio apartment, making do with packaged tortas from the corner store and boxed mexican juices. and coffee. lots of coffee. the cafe down the street had a wonderful dark roast shipped weekly from guatemala and you had brought your aeropress with you from the US.

it's not like you were avoiding going out. it's just, well, you had a lot of work. writing. researching. editing.

and, honestly, you were worried. a fat girl, all alone, in an unfamiliar town run by the cartel? probably not the best idea to wander out by yourself.

but tonight...tonight you were going out.

there was a small bar down at the end of your street, run by a seemingly friendly older couple whom you'd passed on the way to the corner store. they spoke english, so you were hoping you might convince them to put an american football game on the television. it was a thursday and football season, after all.

you were going for casual, but cute, dressed in a short-sleeved crop top and long pleated skirt, with sturdy boots on your feet. even in mexico, december was a bit chilly, so you brought a chunky sweater just in case.

...

the bar wasn't crowded, just a few cartel members hanging around with their guns strapped to their back, and a few local men out for drinks after work.

you slipped onto one of the barstools and ordered yourself a beer, a safe choice with your limited knowledge of alcoholic drinks in spanish.

american football didn't make it out here apparently, but you were content to watch the soccer playing on tv. apparently, december was soccer season too. you cheered when others cheered, booed when others booed, and generally felt the tension in your shoulders gradually disappear as you relaxed under the influence of the alcohol.

so, it definitely startled you when you felt a presence settle next to you at the bar. you turned, slightly surprised, your beer bottle halfway to your lips.

and the woman next to you...god.

she was beautiful. thick brows. full lips. strong nose. tan skin.

you felt yourself blush under her attention.

oh, she was saying something to you.

"....niña?"

you shook yourself, giving her a dumb stare. she chuckled.

"where are you from? i haven't seen you before?"

even her voice was pretty, accented and strong.

"i..uh..i'm from the US. i'm here to study the mayans."

"the mayans, huh? smart girl"

you blushed harder under her attention, drawn to her like a moth to a flame. you noticed you had turned your stool towards her, as she leaned her elbow on the bar, face resting on her palm. she smiled as she noticed your unabashed attention.

"what is your name, bonita?"

you gave her your name, fiddling with the lip of your beer bottle, eyes gazing away from her intense attention.

"maybe i could take you on a walk sometime? explore las almas?"

you stuttered over your breath, blinking rapidly at her. it felt like the heat of her stare could singe your cheeks. her attention was addictive, like the cigarette habit you'd been trying to kick for years.

you heard yourself agree. enthusiastically, actually. in your head you were screaming at yourself. don't seem so desperate!

you agreed to exchange numbers, handing over your busted iphone with spiderweb cracks littering the edges. listen, your grad school stipend didn't allow for many indulgences.

she handed your phone back, her fingers lingering over your palm. they felt calloused, hardened from use. the polar opposite of your soft, round palm, used to typing and turning pages in books.

she left shortly after, leaving you reeling for the rest of the night.

you climbed into your shitty twin bed, feeling the heat of her stare heating you from the inside.

before you fell asleep to the sound of the coyotes howling outside your window, you felt and heard your phone buzz on the small bedside table.

you turned to look at your phone:

mi niña, it was lovely to meet you tonight - valeria xx

[randomnoteforfuturereference]

This has probably been already-hashed and rehashed, but bears noting for my fellow non-indigenous folk with the release of Wakanda Forever:

"Maya" refers to the peoples, culture, society, etc. And it's the same whether it's plural or singular.

"Mayan" refers to the general language group.

And it's a very diverse ethnolinguistic group, with lots of mutual unintelligibility. Someone speaking Maya (yeah the Yucatec Maya language is called "Maya"...) in the Yucatán Peninsula is unlikely to understand someone speaking K'iche in the Guatemalan Highlands.

[folkfashion]

K'iche Maya girl, Guatemala, Odethy Tzep

[talonabraxas]

Quetzalcoatl 🐉 Talon Abraxas

Quetzalcoatl ("feathered serpent" or "plumed serpent") is the Nahuatl name for the Feathered-Serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerican culture. In Mesoamerican myth Quetzalcoatl is also a mythical culture hero from whom almost all mesoamerican peoples claim descent. These myths often describe him as the a divine ruler of the mythical Toltecs of Tollan who after his expulsion from Tollan, travelled south or east to set up new cities and kingdoms. Many different Mesoamerican cultures, e.g. Maya, K'iche, Pipil, Zapotec claim to have been the only true lineage of Quetzalcoatl and thus of the mythical Toltecs.

[rivedveneer]

Camazotz ("Death Bat" in the K'iche’ language), a Lord in Xibalbá, Mesoamerica

[impulseimpact]

nyktrunk and dracuzotz

nyktrunk

based on Musonycteris harrisoni also known as the banana bat, its endemic to the south of mexico and considered endangered, its very small and feeds mainly on nectar and polen

[source] [source 2]

dracuzotz

based on Desmodus draculae, a giant bat with a 80cm wing span that went extinct somewhere around the XIX century, its known from most of latin america and fed on blood, i made this version a speculative terrestrial bat as its based on a legend that might have been started by the presence of Desmodus draculae

camazotz was a deity of death and sacrifice adopted by many prehispanic cultures, the name is K'iche for kame=death and sotz=bat, it took the form of a humanoid bat and there where multiple cults formed around him

[source]

petty sidenote: many sources included the one cited call camazotz "the mexican/aztec/mayan batman", this is stupid, they are nothing alike and im pretty sure they just say it to try and get people to read the article. I personally hate this so much i just had to mention it, please dont do that :,v

[orokothe]

Redesign; K'iche inspired design, mainly for the ikat textiles.