Hi, it's me again -- Mary,
Our daughter married a man from El Salvador. That's why we have a family
connection to the Mayans.
Long ago, when I was 14 years old I wrote a poem for school that won me a silvercup. The second verse began "I remember reading of Chichen Itza, an ancientshrine of Yucatan, where men and maids were sacrificed to the god of rain, by the Maya clan. Cast into waters far below...dark slimy fingers dragged themaway down to the caves of the rain god's court, forever and ever there to stay."
When I was so young and wrote that I never imagined that three of my grandchildren would have Mayan heritage. It's interesting how some things showin much later generations that you wouldn't expect. For instance, one of ourlittle boys suddenly assumed a spear-throwing stance and moved as though he threw a spear. It happened in our kitchen as we stood talking and he was just
playing as children do. He was so lithe and perfect at it that it almost tookmy breath away. I've never seen any other child in all my life make such a perfect, ancient movement. I think it was something in his genes that was the cause
. Of course I had never seen Central American children with native ancestry playing before, either. He has never been out of Canada, needless to say.
Anyway, due to the Mayan addition to our family tree I am interested in things Mayan, so I would like to tell you about what is being called the most ancient writing in the so-called "New World." North and South America are supposed to be
the "New World," of course. The find was made very recently in Guatamala in the
rubble used in the centre of if to rebuild an ancient pyramid. The rubble was
from the earlies version of that pyramid on the same site, that builders used when they reconstructed their pyramid for the third time over thousands of years.
It was a piece with ten thick black hieroglyphics that ran down its side following a faint pinkish-orange guideline. One of the glyphs means "ruler."
Radio carbon dating dates it to between 300 and 200 B.C. the same age as the earliest writings of other Mesoamerican cultures.
There are still Mayan people. But it's thought that drought brought on the
death of the ancient Mayan culture of the eight and ninth centuries. There are
theories of overpopulation, and class warfare, to climate change and environmental stresses. Recent detailed sediment analysis suggests climatic variation. A
prolonged dry spell, with three more severe droughts during that long dry spell
could have been chiefly to blame.
This reminds me of the piece I'm working on in my little studio. Its theme so far is of global warming and the melting of polar ice. Do you know that we have
been having springlike weather here since early January? This is supposed to be
the depths of the Canadian winter! The weather is screwy again, all over the world. How about where you are? So I hope we don't wipe ourselves out as happened to the Maya, but on a world-wide basis. We're "taking care of business"
instead of taking care of the most important thing. So our completely balanced
and intertwined ecological system is growing threadbare as species rapidly die off at a great rate every day. Every one of those species is part of the pyramid
of life that sustains us, too. We are really nuts to quarrel and makewar while the planet gets more and more out of whack.
Our grandchildren are very beautiful. Their parents are schooling them at home.
They don't go out to school. Their mother has a Masters degree in geography,
so she's perfectly capable, and she uses the home-schooling curriculum provided.
Their father is quite a remarkable man. I find him difficult to describe. That's why I haven't tried. He's pretty unique in oursociety. I think you would like him very much. He has some qualities that you
would be comfortable with and maybe Chinese explorers did reach those Central American lands before others. Maybe that's why he has eyes with a certain form, and a certain kind of beard....? I like him a lot. He's a very good husband and
father.
Warmly, and with concern for all my grandchildren, and yours,
Mary