Posted on 03/09/2007 9:24:31 AM PST by presidio9
Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.
"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.
Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.
Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.
Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.
The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."
Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.
Tell it to the Spanish Cuzco.
Seems the memory of rivers of blood from human sacrifice has faded from the collective consciousness. And where, pray tell, are the holy cathedrals of Mayan worship these days? Mel Gibson is quite amused.
You mean nothing?
or...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mendoza_HumanSacrifice.jpg
He's an ignorant fool, or a liar.
I do agree, however, that the "migrant brothers" should flee persecution here and return to their oh-so-superior homelands...
I can already see the TV promo --
"We're Mayan priests -- and we've been sawing up people for millenia. Throat-cutting Islamic terrorists? Muhammed-come-latelies, as far as we're concerned, and real pikers when it comes to vivisectioning fellow human beings--but we share their yearning for the 9th Century. Viva Atzlan!!"
The AP might have made up this story entirely.
Failing that, they might have paid some people to pretend to be Mayan priests and to pretend to 'purify' the site.
Failing that, these Mayan priests are most likely frauds on their own account without AP's involvement but people who are certain of getting US press notice for 'purifying' things.
And I didn't know there were Mayans that far south.
My bad. I see it is in Guatemala. Plenty of Mayans there.
Isn't that the religion that practiced human sacrifice and tore hearts out of living people?
exactly what I meant. better yet, bring a suitcase full of ganja with,too.in the unlikely event of capture, tell the press you are an angel of mercy bringing dying cancer patients this weed free of charge.
Ha ha, I was just thinking the exact same thing! :)
"Does anyone care........"
Apparently Juan Carlos Llorca and AP, not that this matters to the rest of us.
Uh... Guatemala is majority Mayan.
Mayan priests?
How about pagan priests?
Schmucks.
how bout clearing the bad spirt of poverty, drug cartels and rampant crime in the area while they're at it.
"There's only one kind of soap that can get these hands clean, mister. Lava!"
I want to know if these priests have been continuously practicing this "religion" since the Mayan empire fell in the 9th century or if this is a new-age 20th century revival. If it is the latter, it has about as much legitimacy as those nutballs in the UK who list "The Force" as their religion.
That's just what I was thinking.
That, and where on earth will they ever find a virgin to sacrifice?
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