Not as big as the Amazon, but still a great contribution to our eco-system. The biggest Mexican Jungle is the famous Lacandon Jungle. It runs from the State of Chiapas, into Honduras and through the southern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. This jungle has become famous because of the conservation efforts against deforestation and its Mayan history.
They are divided into two categories: dry and humid. This river is the largest in Mexico and the 7th largest in the world. We know that rituals and objects of worship are still to this day, very important to the Mexican people and living things are especially sacred, as they are considered as gifts from the Gods.
Trees are no exception; aside from providing shelter, food, and building materials, they also have medicinal qualities. These are huge trees that can be found just about everywhere. Traditionally they are the connection between the heavens, earth and the underworld and images of the trees have been found in artwork from many cultures, not just the Mayas. The Ceiba tree plays a part in Mayan Weddings and religious or holistic ceremonies, they are also found near cemeteries.
Ceiba trees are clever too when they are young, they grow spikes to avoid animals damaging them! This actually refers to different tree species but the one thing they all have in common is they produce copal.
The resin is used to produce incense which the Mayans called Pom. The Pom is used as an offering to the guardian spirits which protect an altar or shrine. This is, of course, a Mayan name and it is unlikely that you know it by any other name since this plant is endemic to the region of the Yucatan Peninsula.
In ancient times, this evergreen tree was used to heal those afflicted with evil; a Shaman would use the yellow-flowered plant to purify bad energy and brush away the evil. Because the jungle is so dense in some areas, Mayan dwellings and even cities have been found as recently as this decade. In an ancient Maya city was found in the midst of the jungle in Eastern Mexico. Crocodiles are out of sight on the muddy beach below.
Nearby is the start to a new home Mariano is building with materials he hauls in on foot. He pulls binoculars from his tiny bag and uses them to survey the water. I take this, and the binoculars, as a challenge and soon spot a shadowy figure. It could be a person, perhaps even a spirit.
It seems still, though I sense something moving, like arms. As the sun sets, I watch the figure gradually fade into the background. And out of sight. To demonstrate, he chops off an arm-size branch of a bejuco , letting us sip the sweet running sap.
He whittles the bark and boils cut-up pieces of the branch, soon producing a bubbling gold broth. Above, stars are bright through the shadowy outline of treetops. He catches and hands over a sudden visitor. The cocuyo is a click beetle with fluorescent yellow-green lights that glow from its eyes like a penlight. Its head sharply clicks between three positions. The thing you have to worry about here, Mariano says, are the aluxes, which are something like Maya leprechauns.
Mariano tells us more about spirit people, including one who transformed into a crocodile, and also about a friend who can become a jaguar. After a half hour, silence falls around the fire. I traveled with Mexico City-based Nomad Republic , which customize volunteer tours with English-speaking guides to indigenous communities. All rights reserved. Explore the dense, verdant jungles of Chiapas with a local guide. Video by Spencer Millsap. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London.
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The name Lacandon was given to two groups of peoples who fled deep into the jungle to escape conversion and oppression by the Spanish. They would live in the jungle for the next years with limited contact with the outside world, referring to themselves as Hack Winik, or the True People, until the turn of the 20th Century when loggers, archeologists and missionaries began to arrive.
Romanticized for their white tunics and long black hair, these same features often cause them to be the victims of discrimination. As we talked, I showed him photos from the s in one of the books, and he laughed in surprise as he pointed out his family members. Land conflicts are commonplace in Chiapas, and when the Lacandon Maya were given , acres by the government in , other groups, previously encouraged to move to the land by the government, were notoriously unhappy about it.
Since then, numerous legal challenges have been made on the land. The next time I would see Daniel was a week later at a dusty crossroads on the edge of the jungle. This time it would be my turn to feel uncomfortable. He was confident and calm in his surroundings, a stark contrast to me, a self-proclaimed urbanite.
Daniel is a tour guide who leads visitors into the jungle to explore lost Maya cities, to learn about the medicinal plants and sacred trees or to raft down the powerful waterfalls that run near his village.
I was there on book research and had asked him to take me to visit the ancient Maya city of Lacanja, a place I believed might have been a spiritual site prior to the arrival of missionaries to the area. The area is surrounded by thick jungle, but boasts magnificent views Credit: Susannah Rigg. As we started our trek, Daniel was quick to tell me that his home is disappearing.
The original religious traditions of his people are no longer spoken about.
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