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The theme of the 9th Maya Weekend was "Pomp, Pageantry, and Performance: Ancient Maya Music, Dance, and Processions"

by Helle Girey

9th Maya Weekend

The last eight Maya Weekends at UCLA have delved into topics such as the divine rulers, ancient Maya ritual, death and the underworld, Maya ballgame, and survival of the Maya. The information for these topics was gleaned from hieroglyphic texts, architecture, and burial goods. The theme of the 9th UCLA Maya Weekend, held on October 5 and 6, was "Pomp, Pageantry, and Performance: Ancient Maya Music, Dance, and Processions." As the Maya left no musical scores, no dance choreographies, and no plans for ritual processions, the data had to be extracted from mural and ceramic paintings, cave art, and ritual space and ethnographic studies in the Guatemalan highlands. The clues to ancient performance are often understood intuitively, as singing, rhythm, and body movement are part of the human experience. Maya dance movement was analyzed by computer simulation; performing with snakes was reconstructed with live constrictors, and the sounds of ancient and modern Maya musical instruments were demonstrated. Mixtec codices were consulted for epic sagas, recorded symbolism of the Aztecs was compared to the Maya iconography, causeways (sacbeob) were compared to modern day ritual processions, and the rituals surrounding the ballgame were analyzed. At the Saturday banquet, David Freidel offered his insights into birth and sacrifice in ancient Maya performance.

Other Recent Lectures

In his October 24 lecture on "The Art and the Arts of Human Sacrifice at Huaca de la Luna: A Moche Temple on the Peruvian North Coast," Professor Steve Bourget, University of Texas at Austin, discussed how human sacrificial practices represent perhaps the most extreme form of ritual and religious performances in human societies. It is suggested that the high degree of ritual organization and the fine-tuning processes visible at the site indicate some of the complex interactions that may have existed between the Moche and the Supernatural.On November 7, Dr. John Johnson, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, spoke on "Very Old News from the Channel Islands: Earliest Evidence for Paleoindians at Arlington Springs," which concerned the findings of an interdisciplinary team that revisited the Arlington Springs Site on Santa Rosa Island. This lecture was generously co-sponsored by Mr. Harold Thom Jr.

For information on future lectures, visit our website www.ioa.ucla.edu or call 310 825 8064.

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