THE EVENT
CONGRESS OF MAYA EPIGRAPHERS* In
May, 2014, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, our organization MAM is co-sponsoring a
week-long
all-Maya conference with workshops, classes, lectures, and site visits
for 110
Maya participants, including two teams of Maya teachers. Mayas teaching
Mayas,
our goal. Mayas will come from three countries, Mexico, Guatemala, and
Belize, to participate and take what they learn home to their own
indigenous
communities to spread and instill that knowledge among the Maya-speaking
population. Your contributions will make this congress possible,
providing
transportation and meals, charter buses, vans, teaching materials and
workbooks.
* Epigraphy: The deciphering and interpretation of ancient inscriptions.
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Crisanto Kumul, Maya epigrapher (second from right) and members of his team at the 2012 Congress that MAM co-sponsored in Valladolid, Yucatan.MAM I am Bruce Love, President of MAM. I
live in Juniper Hills, California, and spend three months a year working with our Maya colleagues in Southern Mexico and Central America. I have a Ph.D. in Anthropology from UCLA and
have 40 years of field experience among the Maya of Mexico, Belize, and
Guatemala. MAM is a tax-deductible charitable
organization dedicated to bringing the glyphs and ancient calendar back to the
Maya people. Our web site is http://discovermam.org/. Check us out!
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Working
among the Maya for the last 40 years, I found they have a burning desire to learn the glyphs that record their own history, a history that has been
hidden to them. As someone who can read the glyphs, I am now dedicating my life, working with MAM and our Maya colleagues,
to bring that knowledge back to the Maya people, descendants of the Classic
Maya civilization that built the pyramids and wrote in sacred hieroglyphic
writing.
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Example of Maya hieroglyphs from Temple XIX, Palenque. Photograph by Jorge Pérez de Lara, used with permission by The Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute.MAYA LAND
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Ocosingo, Chiapas, site of the Congress of Maya Epigraphers.
GLYPH WORKSHOPS FOR MAYAS
Linda Schele pioneered efforts in the 1980s to bring knowledge of the glyphs to the Mayas, but with Linda's passing, those efforts lagged.
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Linda Schele, Nikolai Grube and Federico Fahsen leading a glyph workshop for Maya students at the site of Iximche', Guatemala.
Today, our organization, MAM, working directly with indigenous groups and local institutions in Maya communities, is spearheading efforts to return knowledge of the glyphs to the Maya people.
SUCCESS
In 2010, in Antigua, Guatemala, MAM co-sponsored a two-day workshop for Mayas that brought 70 participants from all across Guatemala.
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PLFM workshop in Antigua, Guatemala, 2010.In 2011 we gave cash grants and digital projectors to support local workshops. In 2012 we co-sponsored the Congress of Maya Epigraphers in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico, attended by 70 participants from three countries. In 2013 we gave 9 cash grants and 2 more digital projectors in support of local grass-roots efforts by the Mayas themselves. To see our 2013 efforts, click here.
This year we embark our our largest undertaking yet, the Second International Congress of Maya Epigraphers, co-sponored by MAM and three local institutions in the state of Chiapas.
WHAT WE NEED
We need to raise $29,590 for the Congress of Maya Epigraphers. That may
seem like a lot for a week of classes and workshops, but with 110 participants,
including students and teachers, it comes to only $269 per participant. That
includes transportation and meals to and from the Congress, as well as all
expenses while at the event. This low price is only possible because the
President of Ocosingo, Chiapas, is generously covering many of the local costs
of meals and lodging, and local institutions are contributing transportation
and facilities.
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MAM's partners in Chiapas: The State Center for Indigenous Languages and the Arts, and the Office of the President of the Municipio of Ocosingo, as well as the Dictionaries and Languages Project of the Department of Indigenous Education.
WHAT YOU GET - PERKS
We don't expect you to donate because of the value of the perks. We hope you
will donate because you "get it," just how deeply important this
movement of Maya epigraphy really is for
the Maya. The perks are just tokens of our gratitude and ways for you to
remember this historic event.
$10 - Recognition on MAM web
site and shout out on Facebook.![]()
(above) MAM Facebook Page$25 – The above perk plus pdfs
of our blog that comes out every 20 days, sent to you personally before it
becomes public on our web site.
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(above) MAM blog page$50 – The above perks plus MAM
T-shirt (quality cotton) with exclusive Linda Schele drawing from Temple
of the Cross, Palenque, with Linda Schele signature. Copyrighted design.
At this time exclusive for donors only (remainders may go on sale to the
public after the Congress). Has MAM logo on reverse side.
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$125 – The above perks plus book by Anthropologist and MAM president
Bruce Love, “Maya Shamanism Today: Connecting with the Cosmos in
Yucatan.” Book will be signed by the author with a personal dedication to
the donor in the Maya language.
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$250 – All the above perks plus the
donor’s birthday (or any other date of your choosing) drawn in glyphs in
the Maya calendar and signed by a Maya artist, printed in full color on
quality paper, suitable for framing.
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(above) Sample of contemporary Maya art and hieroglyphs by artist Walter Amilcar Paz Joj, Maya Tsutujiil. He or another Maya artist/scribe will create your name in glyphs and your birthday in the Maya calendar, suitable for framing.$500 – All the above plus your
name printed on the program, recognized as special donor, souvenir quality
program unused, mailed to you for your keeping.
$1000 - All the above plus your
name on the program, recognized as a "sponsor." Souvenir
quality program, unused, mailed to you for your keeping.
WHAT IF . . .
What if we don’t make our
goal? Every cent that we raise will go toward the Congress. The Congress is
planned and set and the invitations have gone out. We WILL pay for it somehow!
What if we collect more than our goal? Any money collected beyond our goal (God willing) will go toward grants for
Maya teachers and organizations giving their own workshops (like we did in 2013) and the purchase of more digital projectors to be used by local grass-roots organizations.
What if we go way beyond our goal? If by some miracle of the Maya gods we raise a lot more than our goal, the money will go toward our 2016 Congress, the Third International Congress of Maya Epigraphers, that will take place in Guatemala (site to be determined).
THE IMPACT
What does this Congress mean for the
participants? Here is what a young Maya professor and researcher at University
of Campeche wrote when she received her invitation to attend:
“Thank
you for this opportunity. For me it is a dream I have pursued for years. I have
always thought that we, as heirs of the Maya, ought to have access to the
knowledge and wisdom or our ancestors. Sharing it with our own people will
strengthen our culture from the inside.” Cessia Chuc Uc,
University of Campeche.
One of the first Mayas to learn the glyphs, who began studying epigraphy in the 1980s,
writes:
“
‘A people without history is like a tree without roots,’ goes the famous
saying. This is precisely what epigraphy signifies for the Maya people.”
Antonio Cuxil, Maya Kaqchikel, Guatemala, MAM colleague.
Sebastián Si' Pop, Maya Q'eqchi', Guatemala, says "[Epigraphy] allows us to know our history, reconstruct our present, and see our future."
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The next generation of Maya leaders. At the 2012 workshop in Valladolid, these two boys were absolutely enamored by a demonstration of Maya mathematics by Crisanto Kumul's team of Maya epigraphers.
_________________
Special note: The success of this campaign depends on you sharing it forward. Even if you do not donate, if you share this forward it will make a tremendous difference. Back at the top of this page, under the video screen there is a box called "Share this Campaign." It gives the link there. You can "like" it, "tweet" it, or if you're old fashioned like me, you can email it. If you click on the link, you can cut and paste it into your emails. I am making a personal request that you help us by sharing this campaign with others. Please be sure to include the link in your emails.
I thank you, but more importantly, our Maya colleagues thank you. It is their future you are helping to build.
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Bruce Love, Ph.D.
President, MAM (Mayas for Ancient Mayan)