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Maya Pilgrimage, Migration, and Community Connectivity at Ritual Landscapes at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 June 2023
Abstract
Anthropologists have demonstrated that having information about new settlements is crucial for drawing migrants. Pilgrimage to ritual landscapes and their shrines allows people, including Maya societies, to explore places where they can settle. They then establish or augment settlements around the landscape shrines, which explains the locations and growth of some centers. Migrants continue to make pilgrimages to shrines, such as sacred mountains, near their receiving settlements to enhance community cohesion through ritual contact with spiritual forces. In this article, I show that pilgrimage is an important element in the establishment of select migrant settlements and their community identity. I focus on Maya and Mesoamerican cultures, particularly at Mensabak in Chiapas, Mexico, and on supporting archaeological, historical, and ethnographic information. I conclude that Maya perceptions of movement, connectivity, and transformation in their world are linked to pilgrimage, migration, and community formation. Importantly, pilgrimage provides a religious variable, in addition to better-known economic, political, or demographic factors, to consider in migration.
Resumen
Estudios antropológicos han mostrado que la información sobre asentamientos nuevos son importantes para los migrantes. Las personas, especialmente en el área maya, migran a santuarios en el paisaje ritual, como montañas sagradas. Ellos pueden establecer asentamientos cerca de los santuarios, lo cual explica las localizaciones y el crecimiento de algunos centros. Los migrantes continúan peregrinando a los santuarios cerca de sus nuevos asentamientos para establecer solidaridad comunitaria a través de contactos rituales con los dioses y ancestros. Este artículo muestra que el peregrinar es un elemento importante para establecer asentamientos de migrantes y una identidad comunitaria. Considero las cultura mayas y mesoamericanas, específicamente en Mensabak, Chiapas, México, por medio de la arqueología, etnohistoria, y etnografía. Propongo que las percepciones de los mayas acerca del movimiento, conectividad y transformación en su mundo están ligados a peregrinar, emigrar y formar una comunidad. La peregrinación presenta un elemento religioso para enfocar la migración humana, y no solamente en los factores económicos, políticos o demográficos.
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- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology
References
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