Yesterday I did not write, but read in my Maya reference ‘MesoAmerican Mythology’, which has a coherent explanation of the that subject. Such an exposition is lacking in the Maya book edited by Grube, because it is a collection of essays by specialists.

For example, it has a very summary description of the bal game, while Read and Gonzalez give a much more detailed description. This resulted in my recalling students playing hackey sack near my Photogrammetry lab K120 in the hallway at Sait.

Standing in a circle, they would kick a little sack using their ankles mainly, but also elbows, chest and head. The aim was to prevent the sack from falling on the floor. I never enquired closely about the rules, but now suspect that this may be an Indigenous People’s game. ‘Google it’ I say to my self, though I use Bing.

I never enquired closely about the rules [of hack-a-sack], but now suspect that this may be an Indigenous People’s game.

Yesterday I did some shopping for Juliet on my way to visit her. After a mistimed coffee with John I washed my car and then stopped by Juliet to do some more transcribing of her story. This was followed by her nicely cooked dinner and a salad made by myself.

My salad making started some time ago, with Juliet showing me how to do that, finishing one she had started. This inauspicious start has morphed into a regular contribution on my part! This is not without benefit to myself, as I never make a real salad, though I do eat raw veggies and fruit with every meal.

On coming home I noted a message from John with an apology for having mistimed our meet. No, harm done, because we’ll meet Saturday. Later on today, lunch with Herman and a DJ-market drive by for some potatoes and apples, just in case its open.

The Mayan mythology is becoming more clear to me, after having read bits and pieces at first. The aspect of continuity is emerging in that creation is an ongoing process, rather than one that has been completed.

The latter is the notion described in the Genesis version of the Babylonian creation story, which finishes with “… and it was good”. This has implied that humans were the ones who made it less than good a little later on, with the picking of the wrong fruit.

The Maya creation story is one of transformation and cycles that go on continuously in processes where one thing evolves from another. No phase is either good or bad, but is just the way things work. For example, even the excrement is given the status of acceptability by recognising that it in turn acts as food for the corn plant, which produces food for the human later.

This as a very mundane illustration of the transformation theme is found not only in the handed down the narratives, but also in the daily affairs that are guided by the calendric interpretations of the day-keepers or shaman.

For example, even the excrement is given the status of acceptability by recognising that it in turn acts as food for the corn plant, which produces food for the human later.

I’ll have to do some more reading and find illustrations of the transformation theme and show its significance as the basis for the extraordinary continuity that is typical of the Maya culture.

The latter observation is made in Grube’s introduction to the Maya. This expert view I can use as welcome support for focussing in my presentation on the relevance of the Maya handed down tradition for us today.

Combining a given tradition with continuity through transformation is a welcome formula for adaptation in the world of today, which is unbeknownst announced in the Maya Guidancetitle of my presentation! Little did I know explicitly, but I did intuitively!
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