<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In this paper, I present two very different and yet very similar ethnographic examples of mountain-related pilgrimage and sacrifice ritual performed by the present-day highland Maya. The question I ask is why the sense of sacredness, animation and power of the mountains endures among the traditionalist as well as Pentecostal Maya in spite of the extensive transformations of the world today. In so doing, I examine the native concept of the mountain not merely as a social or cultural representation, but as an expression of everyday lived experiences and existential relationships between people and the physical and spiritual world they inhabit. Finally, I argue that the experience of interaction, communication and intimacy between the Maya and their mountain deities can be best defined as a dynamic participation in the course of the world – an existential economy of ‘working the world’.</p></abstract>

In this paper, I present two very different and yet very similar ethnographic examples of mountain-related pilgrimage and sacrifice ritual performed by the present-day highland Maya. The question I ask is why the sense of sacredness, animation and power of the mountains endures among the traditionalist as well as Pentecostal Maya in spite of the extensive transformations of the world today. In so doing, I examine the native concept of the mountain not merely as a social or cultural representation, but as an expression of everyday lived experiences and existential relationships between people and the physical and spiritual world they inhabit. Finally, I argue that the experience of interaction, communication and intimacy between the Maya and their mountain deities can be best defined as a dynamic participation in the course of the world – an existential economy of ‘working the world’.

Maya Intimacy with the Mountains: Pilgrimage, Sacrifice and Existential Economy

Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Philosophical Faculty, University of Hradec Králové, nám. Svobody 331, 500 03 Hradec Králové,

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Maya Intimacy with the Mountains: Pilgrimage, Sacrifice and Existential Economy"}

In this paper, I present two very different and yet very similar ethnographic examples of mountain-related pilgrimage and sacrifice ritual performed by the...

Maya Intimacy with the Mountains: Pilgrimage, Sacrifice and Existential Economy

Published Online: Sep 18, 2016

Page range: 25 - 41

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0002

Keywords
Maya cosmology, pilgrimage ritual, cultural continuity, life-world, existential anthropology

© 2016 Jan Kapusta, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Maya Intimacy with the Mountains: Pilgrimage, Sacrifice and Existential Economy

Published Online: Sep 18, 2016

Page range: 25 - 41

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0002

KeywordsMaya cosmology, pilgrimage ritual, cultural continuity, life-world, existential anthropology

© 2016 Jan Kapusta, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Maya cosmology, pilgrimage ritual, cultural continuity, life-world, existential anthropology