Maya History of the Guerra Social Maya (Caste War)

The red and yellow show the areas under control of the independent Yucatec maya communities during that era. Today the Yucatec Maya are still found in Belize mainly in Corozal,Orange Walk and Cayo. Mostly elders speaking Maya and the younger generations speaking Spanish and English. Somos un pueblo Maya vivo todavia en Belize . The Yucatec Maya in Belize Wayano'one (We are here) ,Kux'ano'on (we are alive) ,toone masehualoon (We are Maya).

Information for the picture courtesy of:

Saint Johns College:
http://www.belizehistorysjc.com/

Simply Belize:The Yucatec Maya:
http://www.simplybelize.org/episode02.html

Belize Northern Maya:
http://www.northernbelize.com/cult_mayan.html


A reaction to museum day in Orange Walk, 18 May 2017

Hugo Carrillo Cocom is an angry young man full of intellectual passion on the quest to help fashion the true historical imperative, the right condition for historical facts to blossom at the right time. History is not just a series of great events perpetuated by great ideas at the right time by ordinary men whom circumstances forced to be extraordinary figures. In the age of alternative facts, in the era of intellectual darkness, in the age where moral erosion has saturated the national landscape with corruption, this, as in any other age, is the right time for us to question whom we really are, where are we going, what is a Belizean. We need the questions to search for answers to discover whom we really are as a nation, as a people and as individuals. We then write with indelible ink our history in the conscience of the nation but more importantly, in our souls. As a nation of immigrants, many times in our own land, in the age when the despicable monster of racism rears its ugly head, this is time for us to question. Eventually we will get semblances of answers by those, whom like Hugo, dare to pursue our true Belizean history through the eyes of Belizeans satisfying intellectual curiosity. The basis of our present written history is seen through blue eyes that justified their greed and reckless exploitation of our national resources. They substituted indigenous Maya history with perceived myths. Historical lies cannot flourish forever because the Maya temples are too tall, our writing too complex, our calendar very accurate and we the descendants of the Mayas will not be silent spectators any longer to historical myths about ourselves in our own land. Many of us now have the tools to shout our truth and uncover the true Mya historical identity not for the tourist but for ourselves. Our legacy of resistance will never die as long as we are here.

In order for us to go forward we need to go backwards. We need to know and understand whom we are so that we can forge a true democratic Belizean nation where our national resources serve all and not just a select few.

Our educational system is anchored in colonialism. Our system of governance is a carry-over from obsolete British roots that is not even functioning in Britain and our judiciary system has failed the nation. Thugs rule the streets at night and the parliament during the day. Our major institutions are tottering, our established Belizean historical facts are tainted by the musket of the conqueror but our indigenous blood is washing it clean for the true Belizean history to emerge. This is the other side of History, a misnomer because it is not his story, it is our story. With intellectual passion, Hugo Carillo delves into the essence of the soul of the Yucatec Maya, paves a lithic literary path for understanding whom we are today. This is not an easy task because the subject covers volumes in libraries not easy to reach. The abuelitos, tatitos and chichis, jealously guard the last essence of our oral history that cover more material than the written word. They are sentinels of our sentiments and ferociously cling to our indigenous pride and dignity not even permitting death to rob us of our spirit of resistance. We must honor them by becoming them and thus strengthening whom we are in order to survive and resist as we have done for over 3,500 years here in our own land.

A topic of this magnitude needs more than the allotted linear time but the urgency of the message forces one to abbreviate and encapsulate. Content is shrunk but not the message. The Baymen called us rebels and bandits, drunks and lazy but the spirit of our rebellious freedom fighting ancestors still survives in us today, sometimes hidden so deep that we do not notice it. We did not go to Europe to attack them, they came here and took away our land, killed our ancestors, destroyed some of our temples to utilize the same material to build their European temples, enslaved our people, sold us into slavery, burnt our sacred books and raped our women. We did not attack them, Europe is too far from us. We defended ourselves, protected our women and children, hid in the jungles and survived another 500 years to resist.

We were conquered but never defeated, we were killed but we live through our children, we resisted then and it is our sacred duty to resist today. We need more sessions like this to illuminate our historical darkness. Ideas are powerful weapons of the revolution.

I am Marcos Canul, I am Chief Joseph Chatoyer, I am Vincent Ramos, I am Jesus Ken, I am Antonio Soberanis, I am George Price, I am fourth generation Yucatec Maya living in the sweet flatlands in the heart of the Maya nation, I am Belize.





Belize Caste War project by SJC

The history of the Maya of northern Belize today known as the Yucatec Maya. This is the stories of Maya of Orange Walk who are telling their story from their Grandparents about the Guerra Social Maya "Caste War". The Caste War was a Maya rebellion where the Yucatec maya fought against the Spanish and British.

More on the Caste War Project here