At the Mayan archaeological site of Dzibilchaltun today, my wife Laurie and I arrived on the first of two or three fall mornings when the sun shines directly through the giant doorways of an ancient temple, an occurrence which will not happen again in such a brilliant and precise manner until next spring. It is as if a human construct many centuries old was “embracing” the sun, honoring the warmth and light it offers to us every day.
The Mexican/Mayan park ranger who arrived before seven that morning to behold this wonderful ethno-astronomical rite was sad that he had been given the task of keeping both local Mayans and tourists away from the Temple of the Seven Dolls during those hours because of lack of administrative capacity to open the park facilities that early. He felt like a ritual that people had participated in for thousands of years has been temporarily interrupted, but still had hope that public participation with this spectacle could begin again as early as next spring’s equinox.
And that my friends, is what biocultural restoration is all about—renewing our presence with and participation in the earth’s universal processes of cycling through its brilliant expressions, rather than being stuck in our armchairs, trying to appreciate such miraculously beautiful interactions between nature and culture only as abstractions. The renewal of our participation in embracing and healing the world’s wonders is one of the most important tasks we can dedicate ourselves to!
Brother Coyote, OEF
