Maya Museum Events Celebrate Indigenous Heritage

The Gran Museo del Mundo Maya in Mérida kicked off a week-long celebration of International Day of Indigenous Peoples on Friday with traditional music, artisan markets, and ancient Maya ball game demonstrations.

The festivities began at 10 a.m. with the opening of U K’iiwikil koonol, an artisan bazaar featuring work from communities across Yucatán’s interior. The market showcases traditional clothing, jewelry, melipona bee honey, wooden crafts, spices, and corn products from indigenous artisans.

Patricia Martín Briceño, director of Yucatán’s Secretary of Culture and Arts (Sedeculta), praised the participating craftspeople during the bazaar’s inauguration. “This space is more than a point of sale,” she said. “It is a meeting place between creators who safeguard and keep Yucatán’s traditions alive.”

The Museum Orquesta Mi lindo Tixméhuac and the State Youth Folkloric Ballet performed traditional Maya music and dance outside the museum’s permanent exhibition halls. Their performance served as a prelude to free guided tours offered throughout the weekend, including special nighttime tours called “Time and the Stars.”

A highlight of Friday’s programming was a demonstration of pok ta’ pok, the ancient Maya ball game, performed by the team from San Pedro Chimay community in Mérida. The team won the 5th World Cup of Ancestral Maya Ball Sport held in Belize in 2023. Players use only their hips to keep a solid rubber ball weighing up to 9 pounds (4 kilograms) in play while attempting to score through vertical stone hoops.

The ancient ritual sport dates back at least 3,500 years and holds deep spiritual significance for Maya communities. Archaeological evidence shows ball courts throughout Mesoamerica, from Arizona to Nicaragua, with some of the most impressive examples found at Chichén Itzá and Uxmal in Yucatán.

Following the demonstration, the museum’s Mayamax theater screened “Hasta el último latido” (Until the Last Heartbeat), a documentary chronicling team members Ángel Be Chi and Andrés Chi Cob’s efforts to revive and share the traditional game with the world.

The United Nations established International Day of Indigenous Peoples in 1994 to raise awareness about the world’s 476 million indigenous people, who represent less than 6 percent of the global population but account for at least 15 percent of the world’s poorest. This year’s theme, “Indigenous Peoples and AI: Defending Rights, Shaping Futures,” highlights how artificial intelligence impacts indigenous communities.

About the Mundo Maya museum

The museum, which opened in 2012 and houses more than 1,160 Maya artifacts, was designed to resemble a ceiba tree, sacred to the Maya as a connection between the underworld, earth, and heavens. Located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of downtown Mérida on Calle 60 Norte, the contemporary complex spans nearly 5 acres (2 hectares).

Saturday’s program continues with the artisan bazaar from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., plus free guided tours and the screening of “U bejil alux: el camino del alux” at noon, exploring oral traditions of Yucatecan Maya communities.

The celebration concludes August 16 at the Artisan Museum in Tixhualactún, Valladolid, with community performances by local jarana groups, the Mayab Orchestra, and cumbia in Maya by artist Didier Chan. The event will feature textile exhibitions and a Maya embroidery fashion show.

Efforts to preserve Maya language and culture continue gaining momentum across Yucatán, where approximately 800,000 people speak Yucatec Maya. The state now offers Maya language classes to 35,000 students in 75 municipalities, starting in elementary school.

Sedeculta has also announced new Maya language courses for municipal culture staff, journalists, and the general public, along with the Isaac Carrillo Can State Poetry Prize in Maya, honoring the renowned Maya literary figure.

The museum’s Indigenous Peoples Day programming underscores the ongoing vitality of Maya culture in contemporary Yucatán, where ancient traditions continue to thrive alongside modern life.