Mayan Women

In the folder “7 Media as Gendered” as part of the class readings there is an article called “Mayan women incantations”. I read this article and found it pretty interesting. In Tzotzil, a Mayan civilization in Chapas, Mexico, writing and painting are considered to be the same thing. The word for book and paper are also the same and as part of tradition women would pierce their tounge, let the blood drip onto paper, and then burn the paper as an offering to the gods.

Also, today women in Tzotzil write by weaving. They believe that they can read their looms. It also interesting that Mayan’s had books so long ago. They had books prior to invasion in the 16th century and sadly only 4 of those books remain. Many were destroyed by the Spanish in the 16th century. “Incantations of Mayan Women” is the title of the article because it is the first book that Mayan people have made. The book is a collection of writings of poetry from several Tzotzil women.