2013 Dia de La Raza– Temple V – Tikal National Park

For me visiting the Tikal National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site) is a ritual experience.  I am always awed by the beauty of the rainforest and the site of the Temples rising out of the jungle.  Having visited the ruins since 1998, I find that as I walk through the park I look for the special trees where the jungle bees live, where the silver fox likes to cross the path offering the lucky tourist an opportune photo, and all the while I imagine the way that the Ancient Maya ceremonially processed to and from various religious activities.

October 12^th for the modern indigenous Maya is a nationwide day of ceremony and Tikal is one of the most popular locations for the different linguistic groups to meet and perform a fire ceremony.  At the different temple complexes you will find Itza Maya, Mopan, Quiche, and Kikchi village groups gathering with their marimbas, drums, flutes, and other instruments making music, dancing, and feeding the ceremonial fire to feed the Gods and their ancestors the best and most beautiful they have to offer (copal, sugar, rum, scented waters, tobacco, and more).  The smoke carries their prayers and is used to cleanse their spiritual selves.

I offer you this video that condenses a day into minutes.  When we arrived at Temple V the ceremony had already been in progress for several hours and we stayed for another four hours.  The plaza was packed and then as each group had its turn around the fire and then processed out the plaza until it was empty and once again the domain of the Howler Monkeys.

Dia de La Raza - Tikal Temple V - video