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The Magnificent Maya: Part II
Lecture
The Magnificent Maya: Part II
Wed, Aug 8, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
The Magnificent Maya: Part II is the follow-up lecture to Part I given last week by Professor Guillermo Méndez. The focus of Part II is Maya religion, politics and sex
The Maya were the most advanced of all the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. They inhabited southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and the western boundary of Honduras and El Salvador. They built cities and paved roadways, although they used no wheeled vehicles of any kind. Their astronomers plotted the movements of the visible planets and stars using a mathematics that included zero, a rare accomplishment in world history. They were the only people of the New World to develop a complete written language that could express in writing, anything spoken.
.Religion permeated every aspect of ancient Maya life. Everything in nature was sacred and possessed spiritual energy. Maya cosmology was complex but intimately connected to daily life. Maya politics in the Classic Period (AD 250-900) centered on semi-divine kings who ruled and expanded their influence through warfare, marital unions (they could have “secondary” wives) and diplomacy. The beautiful (sexy) Maya, male or female, would have had an intentionally deformed skull, filed and inlaid teeth, decorative facial scars and if lucky, slightly crossed eyes.
''Wacky Names and Weird Numbers: Finding Your Way Around San Miguel''
Lecture
''Wacky Names and Weird Numbers: Finding Your Way Around San Miguel''
By Robert de Gast
Tues, Aug 7, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
50 pesos
“Seek and ye shall find.” So writes Matthew in the New Testament. Well, maybe. In San Miguel it can be a tough call.
Streets that change names every block. Arrows pointing in different directions. A nearby village with four different names. Three different streets with the same name just a few blocks apart. House numbers in mind-boggling sequences. Misspellings galore. Ring a bell? And be at the wrong house? Welcome to San Miguel and the pleasures and pitfalls of finding your way around our fair city.
On Tuesday, August 7, at 5pm, San Miguel-based writer and photographer Robert de Gast will present a slide show and talk at the Teatro Santa Ana in the Biblioteca. He calls his presentation “Wacky Names and Weird Numbers: Finding Your Way Around San Miguel” and warns that it will be a tongue-in-cheek examination of the way culture and language affect map-makers and city planners (and drive visitors crazy).
You will find out where the names “Umarán” and “Diez de Sollano” come from. You will discover what it’s like to try to find a particular house number on a street named after the birthday of the first person to build a house on it and experience the frustration of obtaining reliable directions. You will find out that San Miguel has two “Kissing Alleys.”
Robert de Gast, the author of nine books, including, most recently, Behind the Doors of San Miguel is also the creator of The Best Map of San Miguel, his venture into map-making. “Still,” he says, “unfortunately maps only approximate the real world.”
The Netherlands-born speaker, whose photojournalistic work over the last four decades has been published world-wide, will also talk about his personal experiences in finding his way around the city and surrounding countryside, on foot, by car, canoe and burro, and occasionally with his hot air balloon.
Admission to the event is 50 pesos and benefits the Biblioteca’s many programs.
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