Ceremony

With an aquaintance from Texas, newly back in Antigua (friendships are difficult here, as most people come and go,) I go to Café Pena de Sol Latino for their first anniversary party. I look forward to some good music and a few lemonades. On a whim I call several other friends and ask them to join us; a Guatemalan man from our writers' group shows up. The young band playing first is very good, though their repertoire a little limited (I liked hearing “Hotel California” en español.) Toward the end of the afternoon, they had a Mayan ceremony to bless the café. I had seen one of these here before, and was tempted to leave, as I had a bad cold, but am glad I stayed. As part of the ceremony blessing the café, they demonstrated a healing ceremony for several of the regular band members. The fact that three of them did it suggested a genuine request for healing rather than just a demonstration. An older non-Mayan appearing man spoke en espanol about the meaning of this day in the Mayan calendar…..having to do with seeds and planting for future harvest. Virtual seeds, and seeds of pensamientos, thoughts. The shaman, a short dark-skinned man with short-clipped hair and a red tshirt, put on the traditional red headwrap, with its four tails ending in long tassels. In this act, he transformed himself. The traditional fire – containing chocolate, tobacco, sugar, and candles of several colors - was lit in a metal bowl in the center of a circle of rose petals. The ceremony proceeded, to the best of my recollection, with the shaman circling his hands around the head of the supplicant, releasing whatever energy he picked up with a snap of his hands, behind the man’s back. Then a bundle of herbs was passed around the head and then down the arms and around the body of the supplicant, much as I’ve seen in attempts to follow Native North American ceremonies, but these bundles were not sage – probably sietemonte - and not burned. The bundle was then broken in half by the shaman, and the two bundles pressed firmly, first to the temple and back of the head, then to the two sides above the ears. The bundles were broken in half again and two of them deposited around the outside of the fire on the rose petals. The smaller remaining bundle was again pressed in the four directions around the head of the supplicant, who was kneeling upright with his eyes closed. The shaman then took another bundle and sprinkled it with alcohol, which was also sprinkled into the fire, making it flame up. This bundle was then rapped sharply from shoulder to hand on both sides, leaving small wet marks on the man’s long-sleeved shirt, and then across the back and on buttocks and knees. The shaman then took a large two-handed bundle of small tapered candles, colors presumably selected to meet the applicant’s need, and set them on top of the man’s head, then on each shoulder, on his chest in the middle, then on the back on both sides, and then, after holding them slightly aloft in a supplicating pose, distributed them in the fire. Just before doing this, he had to stir up the fire, and I noticed when he took the candles away from the spot on the man’s chest, that he had the man put his hand on that spot for the moment that the candles were away, as if “holding the energy" of that position. He then took an egg, and touched it to the top of the man’s head, his forehead, and then each shoulder. He then gave the man the egg to hold in both hands at the midpoint of his chest, while the Shaman held one hand on the man’s forehead and one on the back of the head in a firm pressure that I myself could feel, watching. He then snapped his hands (flapping all fingers sharply against themselves) to release the energy. He then took the egg, held it up toward the fire and then put it in. Then I think there were more candles, maybe more bundles of herbs….the last one appearing stiffer and different from the rest, like rosemary. This same ritual was repeated with the two other band members. The organizer then offered all of us in the audience (maybe 30 people, including some kids) an opportunity to take a taper and throw it in the fire, as an offering for seeds we wanted planted. What came to me as I did this, was that I keep hoping to find something here that feels truly like My Place, (though I do love being in Santa Ana – where this morning the singing from the church mass is wafting through my window - and potentially like the work I’m doing) and what I received was that until I’m in My Place inside myself (because I’ve gotten so thrown here; feeling so off-center without adequate language) I’m not going to be able to find the external Place. So that was very helpful. I was also very moved by the sincerity of the ceremony.