With a religious service and dancing to marimba music, Bay Area
residents from Guatemala and Mexico will mark the Mayan and Aztec new
year at two events this weekend.
The first, at 6 a.m. tomorrow, is a 45-minute religious Mayan
ceremony at Dolores Park that will feature Mayan priestess Maria del
Carmen. The dawn ceremony will be followed by Mayan and Aztec dancing
to marimbas and drums.
The second weekend event is an instructional session on how
followers continue to use the Mayan and Aztec calendars in their
daily lives. The workshop is Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Centro
del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street in San Francisco.
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Mayan refugees from Guatemala live
in the Bay Area, according to Adrian Cuyuch, who organized the new
year celebration. Many of the displaced Guatemalans, who call
themselves Mayas, live in hope of returning to their homeland.
Cuyuch said the celebration is integral to the spiritual life of
Mayas.
``Our preoccupation as a Mayan culture is how are we going to show
our children their language, their culture, how are we going to show
them to be proud of being Mayan?'' Cuyuch said. ``I did this so that
we would not lose our culture. I want to be in touch with my roots. I
want to be proud of leaving something to the children.''
The Mayan new year was celebrated with a similar event at Dolores
Park last summer. The event drew about 100 observers. The Mayan
calendar is a lunar calendar that has a new year every 206 days.
This year, Cuyuch decided to include a celebration of the Aztec
calendar in recognition of indigenous people from Mexico.
This weekend's celebration marks the year 5109 and is organized by
Cuyuch's organization, Grupo Maya Kusamej Junan, and also the Chicano
Moratorium in Oakland.
Cuyuch fled Guatemala seven years ago and moved to Los Angeles
before coming to San Francisco.
``We're a group of Mayas who have had to leave for different
reasons, but principally because of the war in Guatemala. We have a
relationship with the earth and sun. To be here in the United States
is like being in a desert, spiritually, because we don't have that
kind of communication with our brothers and friends who are
celebrating this new year in Guatemala.''
Suzanne Espinosa Solis, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
FRIDAY
02/24/95
PAGE: A19