A Maya Muralist Shares Grandmother Earth’s Gifts

“El colibrí es tan pequeño y trae un mensaje tan grande.”

“The hummingbird is so small and carries a big message.”

—Evelyn Morán Cojoc

Under the shade of a tent on the National Mall, 4 vibrant and colourful work instantly captured guests’ consideration. Each represented a standard crop of the land of the quetzal , Guatemala’s nationwide chook, and the life phases present in Maya Cosmovision. Created by Indigenous Guatemalan artist Evelyn Morán Cojoc, these work served as dialog starters with guests on the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and complemented the twenty-eight-by-eight-foot mural in progress all through the week.

The first art work depicts a fetus in a womb; the womb takes the form of a cacao bean. Cacao, the bottom ingredient of chocolate, has been a key a part of Maya foodways and non secular life because the pre-Hispanic eras. The subsequent art work encompasses a child blessing chili peppers. Visiting moms, grandmothers, and aunts talked about how they acknowledged the pose featured right here and knew all too properly the best way to multitask cooking whereas holding a child on their hip.

The third portray options the adolescent lady, surrounded by beans, together with her coronary heart related to a hummingbird. Hummingbirds are good omens in Maya tradition. They deliver excellent news; they convey messages from our grandparents. Just past the portray, guests would see extra adolescents—Central American college students Kevin Cabrera, Selvin Vail Diaz, and Jairo Vásquez—onerous at work serving to younger guests paint a part of the mural.

Finally, we see an older lady surrounded by maize and the remainder of the crops which have nurtured her all through her life. As the presenter for Morán Cojoc’s tent on the Festival, I shared how my mother and great-grandmother used black beans (boiled, refried, mashed) and corn (tortillas, atol de elote, popcorn, corn chips) in each meal. These 4 items evoked tales of nurturing from individuals and guests alike.

“Los cuatro puntos cardinales son la guía de nuestros abuelos,

como los cuatro colores del maíz que nos alimenta.”

“The 4 cardinal factors are our grandparents’ information,

in the identical manner that the 4 colours of maize nurture us.”

The work and mural pay homage to Grandmother Earth’s items, exploring themes of regeneration and connection to put. Before touring to the Festival, Morán Cojoc ready a sketch for the mural primarily based on this idea. Then, following a non-public workshop with the youth artists, who come from Arlington, Virginia, and Silver Spring, Maryland, she included everybody’s concepts for the mural so every particular person would have the ability to share their data. Responding to the Festival’s theme, Youth and the Future of Culture, Kevin, Selvin, and Jairo had an enormous message to share.

The proper facet of the mural options the marimba doble. In the morning, Kevin would assist younger guests paint the mural’s marimba keys. In the afternoons, guests might hear the sounds of Kevin enjoying marimba. He realized to play the marimba from his father and now has his personal marimba ensemble.

The heart of the mural depicts a younger lady who carries her millennial heritage on her again: 4 maize in 4 colours. Selvin needed to function maize for example of Grandmother Earth’s items of crops and the ancestors’ reward of data. It can be a logo that unites the earth by means of the 4 cardinal factors. Each course is related with a shade and a selected which means: the north refers back to the shade white and spirituality, the south with yellow and agriculture, the east with crimson and the solar, and west with black and thriller.

“El centro de la obra es una mujer

que cuenta la historia del tejido como un libro.”

“The heart of the mural is of a lady

who’s telling tales by means of weaving, identical to a guide.”

The lady within the heart of the mural additionally carries her heritage by means of her clothes. The clothes of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, the place Morán Cojoc was born, is a logo of cultural identification and custom, with deep which means in every of its parts. The woven huipil, or girls’s shirt, is constructed from three items of handwoven material with colourful designs representing parts like pitchers, deer, and flowers. Her hair is tied with a tupuy, a crimson woven hair accent that was additionally used as a measuring instrument for ladies throughout being pregnant. Historically, it was 9 meters lengthy to symbolize the 9 months of being pregnant.

Visitors had been capable of see Morán Cojoc’s huipils, Selvin’s hat and bag, and different woven equipment all through the Festival. Morán Cojoc can be a weaver and realized the best way to weave from her mom. Kevin and Selvin additionally realized to weave from their respective moms once they had been younger. One of my favourite presenter moments was deciphering for Morán Cojoc and members of the Karen Weaving Circle from Minnesota, who keep it up a textile custom from their homeland in Burma, once they came visiting our tent. In a roundabout of English, Spanish, Maya Poqomchi’, and Karen language, we had been capable of discuss in regards to the backstrap loom in each of their traditions, what supplies they use, including embroidery and gildings, and complementing one another’s shirts and designs.

“En la obra tenemos el Saq’ Be’: el camino que dirige y los guía.

Este mismo camino me llevo a ellos.”

“In the art work, we’ve got Saq’ Be’: the trail that directs and guides.

This similar path took me to them.”

The left facet of the mural encompasses a path on prime of operating water with stunning mountain landscapes on the horizon. Kevin, Selvin, and Jairo all used imagery of a path of their sketches. Jairo remembered getting jugs of water along with his mother each morning in El Salvador. For him, Grandmother Earth’s items included water and sharing that have with his mother. Morán Cojoc mixed this concept into Saq’ Be’, the white path. Associated with one of many 4 Maya instructions, white paths are options of many Maya sacred websites. One’s journey on the white path is protected as a result of it has been blessed by grandparents and ancestors.

Interpreting Saq’ Be’ into English was an attention-grabbing expertise as a result of guests requested, “Where does the path lead to?” After clarification from Morán Cojoc, I used to be in a position to clarify how this path is just not a lot in regards to the vacation spot because the journey.

Visitors would then ask, “Where will the mural be displayed after the Festival?” At that time, I didn’t have an reply. However, I’m blissful to offer an replace on the mural’s journey. It was not too long ago put in at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, the place Selvin is the president of Club Maya, devoted to sharing Maya tradition and the views of younger Maya individuals with the broader group.

Although the mural is a good looking completed product, what was simply as stunning was the collaborative course of we shared in between brush strokes. We in contrast vocabulary in Maya Mam dialects whereas cleansing paintbrushes and talked about our favourite taste of Tortrix chips whereas consuming our lunchtime “mystery meal,” as Kevin referred to as it. Morán Cojoc and her husband, Nicola Fasoli, shared tales from their Maya marriage ceremony ceremony to offer extra context for the work.

Morán Cojoc shared her data of portray and Maya tradition with Kevin, Selvin, and Jairo, and, in flip, all of them created a mural that pays homage to their interpretations of Grandmother Earth’s items. My position as a presenter was to convey these meanings to the general public, however I additionally related myself in these methods. With or with no brush, every second shared was a contribution to the mural.

Julia Aguilar Jerez is an arts educator and a presenter for the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.