The Lacandon Maya
Utzim putzikal! (Greetings!) Welcome to my school webpage! This is a college anthropology project, updating old information on the Lacandon Maya (or Hach Winik as they refer to themselves) from an article by Trudi Duby with more recent info researched via the web. If you want to see where this information comes from, try the Links page.
The People
The
Lacandon Maya live in the jungles between Guatemala
and the state of Chiapas (the southern most state of Mexico) (Rittlinger
10).When Duby wrote her article,
there were no more than 200 Lacandon left, they had been so ravaged by
foreign diseases (Duby
277). Between the massive frontier settlement and the deforestation of the
rainforest since the 1950s, before even Duby's time, the Lacandon are not
doing much better today- their numbers are only up to 500 (Hach Winik). It
is "sometimes claimed that the Lacandones are the direct descendants
of the classical civilizations of Palenque, Yaxchilan and Bonampak. More
likely, their ancestors came to the jungle of south eastern Chiapas to
escape Spanish colonial domination during the 17th & 18th
century" (Hach Winik). While the Lacandon Maya language is distantly related
to Cholan Maya- that which is written on the inscriptions in ancient Mayan
cities- Lacandon is most closely related to Yucatec Maya, suggesting that
the Lacandon once lived farther north on the Yucatec peninsula (Vann).
What language one speaks is important in Mexico, because only those who
speak an Indigenous language are counted as Indians by the Mexican
government.
Geography and Settlement Patterns
When Duby wrote her article, there were three groups of Indians, separated by location:
There was the Northern Group, that spread over the territory enclosed by the Rio Santa Cruz and the Rio Santo Domingo, north of Arroyo Jetha (Duby 276).
There is the Cedro-Lacanha Group, which lives along the Cedro and Lacanha rivers (Duby 276).
And
there is the Jatate Group that
lives along Jatate and lower Azul rivers. Culturally and linguistically
belong to the Cedro-Lacanha group, but have been separated from them for
about 50 years (at the time this article was published) (Duby 276).
Today, there are two groups of Indians- the Jatate group no longer exists, having since moved in with the Lacanha (Duby 276). Since the 1970s, the Lacandon have resettled or been relocated by the government to three principle settlements: Lacanjá Chansayab (or simply Lacanjá), in the south and Najá and Metzabók (Mensäbäk) in the north of the Lacandon Rainforest (Hach Winik). The Lacandones that live in Lacanjá Chansayab are culturaly distinct from those that live in the northern villages of Metzabók and Najá. However, the population does intermingle- many northern families moved south to live in Lacanjá or settle in the new community of Bethel, nearby. The principle reasons for north to south migration are either economic- the South has better land for farming, and lusher rainforests- or religious- the south is home to the Baptist missionaries that are resisted in the north (Hach Winik).
Lacanjá
Chansayab (Lacanjá) is on the edge of the Monte Azules Biosphere Reserve near
the ruins of Bonampak. It is the main southern community. Lacanjá Chansayab lies along the Lacanjá river is at
320 meters above sea level, with the Sierra Cojilita (at 620 mtrs.) to the
east and the Monte Azules (at 1400 mtrs.) drain into the Rio Lacanjá and
Laguna Lacanjá (at 250 mtrs.) 8 kms. south of the community. (Hach Winik).
Metzabók (Mensäbäk) is on a large lake surrounded by mountains. It is the smallest Lacandon community. The village is 4 kms away from the main road to El Tumbo and has a remote and tranquil atmosphere. Laguna Metzabok (at 550 mtrs.) lies at the foot of the Sierra Piedron to the north east. The community is five km. to the north of El Tumbo (Hach Winik).
Najá is by the lake of the same name. Najá is the more traditional of the three communities. Najá overlooks Laguna Najá (at 820 mtrs.) to the north which lies in a depression in the Monte Azules range 15 kms. north east of Monte Líbano (Hach Winik).
05/03/2004 12:43 AM