The Identity of the Maya Achi People, before, during and after the internal armed conflict

Abstract

The Identity of the Maya Achí People, before, during and after the internal armed conflict. The research focuses on the community of Rabinal, Maya Achí people, which in general survived a structural and systematic repression, called by the United Nations as an internal armed conflict (CAI) and called by civil society as genocide, has faced internal structural problems and external factors that have weakened their socio-political organization and have jeopardized the continuity of the reproduction of the ancestral knowledge of their own people, which are necessary for the social cohesion and harmony of all human groups. During the genocide important people died, bearers of culture, who knew the local political system, annual traditions, ancestral practices, uses of musical instruments, use of farming tools, ancestral weavings, production of ceremonial costumes, elaboration of festive meals, use of medicinal plants, among many other practices that disappeared during that time, which was of fear and anguish for the population. Also died spiritual guides, ajq’ijab ‘, healers, bonesetters, saddlers, dancers or dancers, authorities, midwives, weavers, cooks, merchants, catechists, builders, makers of pots, jugs, among many others. Currently there are people with important responsibilities in the community who try to take back the lost, the broken or the destroyed. Some feel the commitment to share this knowledge with young people, because that has been a family tradition in the Mayan community of Rabinal.