Maya Pilgrimage to Ritual Landscapes: Insights from Archaeology, History, and Ethnography

7. Conclusions: Interpreting Maya Ritual Landscapes and Pilgrimage

 chap t er seven Conclusions Interpreting Maya Ritual Landscapes and Pilgrimage When we arrive to ask for a cure for the sick at a stream or mountain, we speak to them [the earth lords], we tell them to release them [the victims’ souls] because we have not stolen anything from them. We don’t ask for anything, we don’t have anything of theirs, that is why they do not have to bind us [our souls] up in the mountains, caves, or rivers. We arrive at the cave of San Antonio [Mountain] where the [Earth] God that we believe in exists. —Ch’ol Maya narrative, José L. Pérez Chacón, Los Choles de Tila y su mundo, 1993, 289 Throughout this book, we have seen the importance of ritual landscapes in the Maya worldview, pilgrimage traditions, and social life. Additionally, I argue that Maya pilgrimage to ritual landscapes and associated religious and social behaviors must be examined holistically instead of piece by piece. With this approach, we can better understand Maya ritual landscapes as communicating places where deities and ancestral spirits , who live apart from humans, are contacted so that people and gods might maintain mutual ceremonial obligations. As portrayed in the opening narrative, pilgrimages to significant geographical features and the rituals conducted there help achieve world balance. Thus, rituals in the landscape are necessary for the collective good, and pilgrimages must be carried out continuously, not just a few times in a lifetime, to preserve the covenants with spiritual forces. Pilgrimages in this culture area were also carried out to alleviate stresses, ranging from illnesses to conflicts to droughts. Maya and Mesoamerican pilgrimage, therefore, contrasts with  Chapter Seven other religious traditions in which pilgrimages are undertaken to define self- or group identity or to acquire economic prosperity, individual blessings , and personal health. This study examines Maya ritual landscapes using archaeological, ethnohistorical , and ethnographic data to demonstrate continuities in religion and pilgrimage from the development of Maya civilization to the present. Archaeology, with its focus on material culture, provides insights on the evolution of Maya pilgrimage to ritual landscapes, and the landscapes discussed in this book, such as caves, boulders, ruins, bodies of water, islands, mountains , and cliffs, figure prominently in Maya religion and community identity. These landscapes are places of origin of local tutelary deities, ancestors, and, hence, entire communities. At the same time, the use of pilgrimage shrines in the landscape surrounding settlements was crucial for setting community boundaries. Ritual landscapes are fundamentally important since they are the homes of divine forces that release necessary resources to worshipers and protect their communities from conflict, illness, and infertility. Pilgrimage to ritual landscapes requires people to leave their settlements to communicate with divine forces directly at these places and acquire what they need for community survival. Maya elites and male religious specialists have managed shrines in ritual landscapes and organized pilgrimages for the collective good, and these ritual practices have structured social organization, political life, in addition to individual and group economic benefits. Contextualizing Maya Ritual Landscapes The Maya selected particular ritual landscapes for their unique physical properties and their impacts on the human body and senses; these landscapes included large cave openings, isolated boulders, mountain summits, and springs near cliffs (Brady and Ashmore 1999; Stone 1992; Vogt 1981). Such landscape features are often found together: pools of water inside caves, ruins on mountains, boulders near rivers, and islands in ritual lakes. Examples of combined ritual landscapes that attracted Maya worshipers and that we have covered in this book include the large Naj Tunich Cave and its spring, the Xoc rock art shrine with a boulder and stream, and the ruins of Chinkultic near cliffs, caves, and cenotes (see figs. 4.26 and 5.13). Movement to and around these sanctuaries, such as the Mirador Mountain shrine at Lake Mensabak, affects people and how they experience the world. Pilgrims  Conclusions encounter unusual sights, sounds, and smells at ritual landscapes, like rushing water out of a spring, panoramic views from mountaintops, and odiferous , dark caves. Touching the sanctuaries is important, as we know from the handprints found on cliffs, ruins, and caves. Eating clay and drinking water at the shrines, such as Esquipulas and the Ch’orti’ Maya springs, have been important practices at ritual landscapes as well. Additionally, ritual landscapes have influenced the actions and thoughts of Maya people (Olsen 2010; Tilley 2008). Their significant features drew...