The Mérida city government has a new way to teach us about ancient Maya fashion — a delightful, colorful comic book. Released in February, Moda Maya (Maya Fashion) is a 10-page illustrated booklet produced by the Dirección de Desarrollo Urbano (Urban Development Directorate) as part of the current Ayuntamiento 2024–2027 administration. It was authored by…
Archaeologists working on the Maya Train project have discovered a limestone Maya sculpture that could be up to 4,000 years old in Sierra Papacal, just north of Mérida. The carved stone face, depicting an elderly Maya lord, was found by archaeologist Manuel Pérez Rivas and his team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History…
The image spread like wildfire across social media. A young Indigenous woman in an astronaut suit, her dark hair framing determined eyes, the flag of Mexico visible on her sleeve. The accompanying story was irresistible: Isabella Tapia, a Maya woman from Chiapas, barefoot on her ancestral land, had just been selected as Mexico’s first Indigenous…
The Maya language has gained official recognition as Yucatán’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, but the numbers tell a more complex story about its survival. While the state declared teaching Maya mandatory in preschools and primary schools back in 2019, only 651 of the peninsula’s 1,612 schools actually comply with the requirement. That leaves nearly 1,000 schools…
State officials unveiled a sweeping tourism initiative in Mexico City: a “Santuario Maya” (Maya Sanctuary) campaign designed to attract more visitors to Yucatán and encourage longer stays. The campaign moves beyond promoting individual attractions to position Yucatán as a comprehensive destination offering cultural immersion, natural wonders, and authentic experiences. “This campaign is something more than…
A groundbreaking discovery by a Mexican researcher has revealed how colonial-era Maya scribes wove Catholic imagery into their astronomical observations. Dr. Florencia Scandar from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) found that the Virgin of Izamal appears in ancient Maya manuscripts documenting eclipses. The discovery centers on the Chilam Balam books, a collection of…
A UADY professor calls the traditional Maya house “a perfect creation of its kind.” Sadly, this time-worn building technique faces multiple challenges.
Embroidery in Yucatán goes beyond its role in fashion and daily life. Here, it carries deep spiritual significance.
Tom Swope’s first Mérida exhibition will highlight unexplained similarities between archaic Chinese motifs and Maya art. Swope, a former antiquities dealer about to open his eponymous gallery in the La Ermita neighborhood, is inspired by Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957) and has examined Chinese jades in his own collection. “I have been looking at archaic…
In the heart of Yucatán, Mexico, a group of Maya women from the village of San Simón have embarked on a journey to reconnect with their ancestral heritage while securing their financial independence. Through a community participation project initiated by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), these women are actively involved in the…
The Camino del Mayab tour traverses areas of rural Yucatan to remote archaeological zones, historic haciendas, and natural cenotes
Artist Pedro Tec, in collaboration with Fine Art America, is hosting a photographic exhibition in homage to the Maya people of his hometown. “The Last Mestizos of Ixil” represents the first time that Tec has displayed artwork in this tiny pueblo north of Conkal. His silvery black-and-white photos depict its matriarchs in stunningly dreamlike detail,…
In the 12 century Mayapán became the seat of a confederation of city-states known as Luub Mayapán or the League of Mayapán.
In the tiny Mexican town of Yaxunah (home of the Amazonas) nine women are working to ensure that traditional varieties of corn, beans, chilies, lentils and many others are not wiped out by genetically modified variants created by multinational corporations. They do this through their own community seed bank and exchange called K’an-Lol, which translates…
Sweat lodges are a feature common to many cultures around the world, including in Finland, Turkey, and across much of the American continent. In Mesoamerica, the most well-known type of sweat lodge is the temazcal — from the Nahuatl language teme “to bathe” and calli “house.” During Mesoamerican antiquity, temazcales were used as a curative…
The Dresden Codex is a Mayan book believed to be the oldest surviving book written in the Americas, dating to the 11th or 12th century.
Trying to direct the right donations to the right people, Los Mayas Eternos AC, a charitable organization that brings food and hygiene supplies to poor villages in Yucatán, is turning to smartphone technology. Pedro Tec, the organization’s founder as well as an artist from Ixil, announced the plan — dubbed K-otoch — at Mayas Eternos…
After 3,000 years, the Maya milpa has received worldwide recognition from the United Nations. The UN was impressed by the ancient milpa system for its complexity as a productive model that includes the combined cultivation of beans, pumpkin, and, mainly, corn, the basis of regional food since ancient times. The appointment of the Milpa Maya…
A group of Yucatecan speleologists have encountered a previously unknown cave system near Ticul.
Reenactments of the Mayan Pok Ta Pok ceremony returned Wednesday to Mérida’s Plaza Grande.
A wooden canoe used by the ancient Maya and believed to be over 1,000 years old has turned up in Yucatán. It is nearly intact and extremely rare. The discovery occurred as workers were preparing a path for the massive Mayan Train project, officials said Friday. The canoe was found submerged in a cenote near…
Tatiana Proskouriakoff is remembered for laying the foundation for understanding Mayan historical texts and reconstructing the political history of Mayan city-states.
A group of INAH archaeologists led by Patricia Meehan Hermanson has begun restoration work on Kohunlich’s famous giant stucco masks in Quintana Roo.
Maya language poet María Elisa Chavarrea Chim received an award from Yucatán Gov. Mauricio Vila Dosal, who honored her work.
That’s all for now
That’s all for now