Abstract
From a solely art historical perspective, Rilaj Mam— usually referred to as Maximon— is a sacred Tz’utujil Maya icon, a material and earthly manifestation of divine presence (called k’uh in Maya). However, Maximon, also known as the Mam or grandfather, is much more than that as he plays an integral role for the Tz’utujil Maya in maintaining an indigenous, pre-Conquest belief system. He “lives” in the lakeside town of Santiago Atitlan in the highlands of Guatemala, his multifaceted dimensions bolstering a rich environment of ritual life connected to the ancient Maya calendar and cosmological hearth, the time and place that birthed the cosmos. Maximon as effigy is literally situated at the center of the Maya universe, a meshwork of the natural landscape, divine presence, human and supernatural action, and the ritually incipient ancient calendar. These emic cultural geographies historically frame, and still pulsate within, modern-day Santiago Atitlan. In other words, Maximon sits at the very center of an ecology of images, whether produced by human hands or conceived of as being divinely created. This paper examines Maximon’s connection, as effigy and god, to the natural landscape of Santiago Atitlan. The interplay between artificial, created image and natural landscape is significant for the modern and historical Tz’utujil Maya.
Presenters
D. Bryan SchaefferAssistant Professor of Art History, Art History, Kendall College of Art & Design, Michigan, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Sacred Images, Anthropologies, Maya, Guatemala, Landscapes, Cultural Geographies, Ritual Studies
