| Description |
1 online resource : illustrations (some color), maps |
| Contents |
Maruch's apprenticeship and childhood experiences in nature -- Chamula creation stories -- How the messenger birds assist the heavenly lord and the underworld Pukuj to warn humans about their future life and health -- How the messenger birds assist our sacred mothers - Mother Earth, Mother Moon, the Mother of Jesus -- A guide to thirty-six birds -- Final reflections on a long tradition |
| Summary |
Tsotsil-Maya elder, curer, singer, and artist Maruch Méndez Pérez began learning about birds as a young shepherdess climbing trees and raiding nests for eggs to satisfy her endless hunger. As she grew into womanhood and apprenticed herself to older women as a curer and seer, the natural history of birds she learned so roughly as a child expanded to include ancestral Maya beliefs about birds as channels of communication with deities in the spirit world who had dominion over human lives. In these testimonies dictated to her lifelong friend, anthropologist Diane Rus, Méndez Pérez describes her years of dreams, instruction, and experience. Her narrative sheds light on the basic values of her Chamula culture and cosmovision and has remarkable parallels to concepts of the ancient Maya as interpreted by scholars |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 02, 2023) |
| Subject |
Birds -- Mexico -- Chiapas Highlands
|
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Mayas -- Folklore
|
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Birds -- Folklore.
|
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Birds.
|
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Animals.
|
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NATURE.
|
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Hispanic American Studies.
|
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Ethnic Studies.
|
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SOCIAL SCIENCE.
|
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Anthropology.
|
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Birds
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Mayas
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Mexico -- Chiapas Highlands
|
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books
|
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Folklore
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Rus, Diana, author.
|
|
Silva Rivera, Jorge, photographer
|
| LC no. |
2022047785 |
| ISBN |
9780826365149 |
|
0826365140 |
|
