blowing through the hollow

blowing through the hollow

body of a clay turtle

a shaman invokes rain

As soon as my friend and I enter Xcaret, a huge Yucatan theme park, we head for the area called the Maya Village, hoping to see how the ancient Maya lived. I am pleased to find a group of Maya artisans practicing their crafts, from wood carving to weaving to painting. At one little shop, a man makes beautiful feather jewelry.
          The artisan, who is wearing a necklace of large tubular coral beads, tells us that feathers are very important to the Maya. As we consider which of the beautiful sets of feathered earrings to purchase, he points to each type of feather and reverently pronounces the name of the bird in Maya. 
          He also sells terracotta ocarinas. This sonorous device is basically a flute with a globular body capable of varying ranges of tone and pitch. Many ocarinas have been found in archaeological digs and it seems likely that they were used in ancient Maya rituals of agricultural and fertility cults and burial ceremonies. The artisan picks up a large ocarina in the shape of a turtle and demonstrates how to play it. The tones are deep, resonant, a suitable sound for the mythical Turtle believed to uphold the Earth. He tells us that this sound is used to invoke rain. We had a drought last year. The turtle ocarina is soon safely wrapped and stowed in my backpack.
          I wander inside the shop, which is full of ritual items: headdresses, shields, drums, censors, costumes. I long to ask him about each fascinating object, but he speaks mostly Maya and my Spanish is very limited. So I content myself with admiring the wealth of native culture, which vibrantly alive on in this modern age.