Cosmovision:
                            
Encompassing all of existence, Maya cosmovision is a spirituality that binds all living things, and promotes equal and harmonious relationships. Rather than anthropocentric – centered on human experience – Maya spirituality is cosmocentric, in which one interrelated and harmonic relationship is intimately connected to the order of the universe – the whole of creation.

Using a metaphorical example which Fr. Greg Schaffer frequently employs, Maya spirituality can be illustrated by drawing to mind a spider’s web; all of existence is tied together by connectedness, and held together along the exterior – Ajaw – or, God. In Maya thought, the human is not understood as an individual, but as a relational being – one who cannot be conceived of without multiple relations.

Likewise, the idea that Maya religion is not polytheistic is frequently expressed by its practitioners. Instead, the Maya concept of God is explained as containing various aspects of a single deity. As with the Christian conception of the Trinity, there are many aspects of a singular deity and a pronounced reverence toward the natural manifestations of the transcendental.

The precepts of the cosmovision are enumerated in the Popul Vuh, considered to be one of the greatest literary histories of indigenous American peoples and societies, compiled by a group of K’iche elders in the Guatemalan Highlands confronted by post-conquest persecutions of indigenous customs and knowledge.

Time & Maya:

The classical conception of time in Maya culture is uniquely distinct to that of our own, western, linear understanding of temporality, in which time is progressive. In our own western understanding of time, times change, the present is built on the past, and the future lies outstretched in front of us.

In turn, the Maya concept of time is fundamentally cyclical, and the passing of time is viewed as accumulative, using elaborate calendars that work within each other, similar to the inner workings of a clock, in which smaller and larger wheels mesh in unison.

The largest of the calendars is the Long Count – a 5,125 year cycle of history ending December 21st, 2012, which records the beginning of history (August 11, 3114 BCE, using our Gregorian calendar), and the largest cycle of time.

Within the Long Count is then an eighteen month/twenty day, 360-day cycle called the haab. Much like our own annual 365-day calendar, the haab is an agricultural measure used to mark the changing of the seasons.

The third and final calendar working within time is known as the Tzolkin calendar, a 260-day ceremonial calendar consisting of thirteen months of 20 days. Each day within the Tzolkin has a plethora of mystic signs and overtones, and is still used by day-keepers in Maya life today to remember the days.

Enculturation:

As there is a current in Guatemala within the past several decades attacking the traditional customs of the Maya people, specifically within the rise of Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal influence, the Maya culture and its practices are often condemned as heathen.

Within the Catholic Church, however, there is often deep admiration and respect for the spirituality present in Maya culture.

Especially since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has set itself to the “…adaptation of [the] universal church to national and local cultures and awareness of the presence of God in other religions.”

As acceptance to this understanding varies from parish to parish, San Lucas is one example in which the ancient Maya culture is highly respected and encouraged.

Maya ceremonies and spirituality share many similarities with Catholic ones, specifically with reference to the usage of symbols such as the cross, candles, incense, water, food, offerings, and music.

Both also share deep adherence for the principle of “stewardship”, as well as the interconnectedness of life, teaching an integral relationship with nature and the immorality of destroying or wasting resources that God has bestowed.