The three great struggle of the mayans, from the glories of Tikal to the Conquistadors to the genocide of 1954 under Efrain Rios Montt

1. Long before Galileo improved the telescope, before Rome or any
other great empires discovered the number zero.

2. There existed a group of people in the deep jungles of what is now
Guatemala, Belize, southern parts of Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador
who were accurately tracking the movements of the sun, moon and Venus

3. T H E M A Y A N S
They were the first to use a “quatrefoil, a shell-in-hand, a head variant, a full figure form
[or even an]… oliva seashell” (Blume 53) to express the concept of zero .
The mayans were the first to record in hieroglyphic form, to record dates and
the first to lay out monuments and cities in grid-form

4. T H E M A Y A N S
Zero
Quatrefoil glyphs for Zero in Long count Inscriptions
Head Variants of Zero in Long Count inscriptions
Full-figure Zero in Long Count inscriptions

5. T H E M A Y A N S
Zero
Full-figure Zero Full Figure Zero Oliva shells for zero

6. T H E M A Y A N S
Head Variants
for numbers
0-19
There are distinct
words for 1-10, for 11-
19 Mayans combine
3,4,5 with lah for ten.

7. T H E M A Y A N S
There are three periods in the history of Guatemala that shaped the
course of the Mayans.
Their splendor glory in the temples of Tikal
The brutal era of the Conquistadors
Genocide of the civil war of 1954

8. T H E M A Y A N S
The origin of the Mayans is still a mystery for scholars.
The Mayan people established along the Panuco River as early as 2000 years B.C.
Our knowledge of the Mayans comes from "only of handful of Maya texts [that]
survived the Conquest because the Spaniards destroyed thousands of scroll
books full of histories, science, songs and prophecies."
Popol Vuh was one of those books that survived, it is from this book that
we get a glimpse into the mayan religion and philosophy

9. T H E M A Y A N S
Popol Vuh is considered to be the K’iché Bible
The book was discovered in a Catholic church:
Santo Tomás de Chichicastenango
Father Francisco Ximénez translated it in Spanish
The Book is written in three parts
Creation
The adventures of Hunahpú and Ixblanqué
Tribal warfare and arrival of Pedro de Alvarado

10. T H E M A Y A N S
The world was created by: Tepeu, Gucumatz, and Hurakán
Through trial and error they finally managed to created four perfect
beings: Balam Quitzé, Balam Acab, Mahucutah and Iqui Balam
The gods created wives for these four lest they become more powerful
than the gods.

11. T H E M A Y A N S
Conquistadores
Chilam Balam prophesied the coming of the Spaniards.
Cuando lleguen vuestros Hermanos menores, cuando lleguen vuestros Hermanos
Mayores, cambiarán entonces vuestros bragueros-ceñidores, … cambiarán los colores
blancos de vuestra ropas los malditos extranhjeros barbudos (Montijo 13).
In 1954 Pedro de Alvarado marched in to the
now country of Guatemala. The Conquistadores
achieved military success because of preexisting
conflicts between tribes.It took the Spaniards years
to conquer the entire Mayan Empires.
The Kingdoms of K’iché, Kaqchikel, Mam, Tz’utujil
were now just ashes from the past.

12. T H E M A Y A N S
Civil War of 1954
The United States was a key player in backing one
of histories bloodiest man
A men that would wipe off over 400 villages off the face of the map.
Killing over 200,000 people
Raping women, killing children.
Efrain Rios Montt
Thousands were kidnapped, murdered,
burned to death
All because they were born in the
wrong family: Mayans

13. T H E M A Y A N S

14. T H E M A Y A N S
To Montt and his soldiers
these weren’t Human
Beings that they were
killing.

15. T H E M A Y A N S
The war officially ended in 1996

16. T H E M A Y A N S
My dad’s I.D. from the civil war era.

17. T H E M A Y A N S
The Mayans today
Contrary to popular belief we are still alive
More than 50% of Guatemala's population is Mayan.
We still speak our Mayan dialects as well as spanish
and some of us English.
In 2006 the WINAQ party was formed for Mayans
to run in the presidency
Rigoberta Menchú Tum was the first
Mayan woman to run for Presidency

18. T H E M A Y A N S
Popol Vuh
There are many versions of Popol Vuh if you want to
read a good version highly recommend the one
by Ermilio Abreu Gomez.
There is a version written by Dennis Tedlock but it is
a poor translation although he does give you an insight
about the Mayan world, but it is still a very poor translation

19. T H E M A Y A N S
A Mayan Blessing
Hurakán, corazón de la noche, dador de la virtud,
creador de nuestros hijos, vuélvete hacia nosotros.
No nos prives de tu presencia. Da vida y fortaleza
a nuestros descendientes para que crezcan y se
hagan firmes en el bien y sepan propagar nuestra
fey decir tu nombre, el cual será invocado en los
caminos, en los barrancos, en los rios, bajo los
árboles y más allá de todo lo que es
posible…Impide que sobre Ellos caiga enfermedad
ni daño ni maldición de ninguna especie.
-Popol Vuh
Hurákan, heart of the night,
giver of virtue, creator of our
children, come back to us.
Don’t take your presence from
us. Give life and strength to our
descents for them to grow up
strong. That they might know
what is good, that they may
know our faith and pronounce
your name, which will be
invoked in the highways, in the
rivers, under the trees.. don’t
let sickness nor curse fall on
them.

20. T H E M A Y A N S
Mayan Traditional dance