Shamans, Witches and Maya Priests: Native Religion and Ritual in Highland Guatemala

Abstract

Pp. 334, dedication, photographs, illustrations, preface, introduction, appendices, notes, glossary, bibliography, index. $49.50 paper.) For over thirty years, Krystyna Deuss traveled to Guatemala to study textiles, gathering an extensive collection and producing a large encyclopedic volume on the subject: Primarily ethnographic with little to no concern for theoretical analysis, Shamans, Witches, and Maya Priests is so detail-rich that a close reading would best serve a serious researcher concerned with Guatemala or indigenous religious practices.

Shamans, Witches and Maya Priests: Native Religion and Ritual in Highland Guatemala. By Krystyna Deuss. (London: The Guatemalan Maya Centre, 2007. Pp. 334, dedication, photographs, illustrations, preface, introduction, appendices, notes, glossary, bibliography, index. $49.50 paper.)

For over thirty years, Krystyna Deuss traveled to Guatemala to study textiles, gathering an extensive collection and producing a large encyclopedic volume on the subject: Indian Costumes from Guatemala. The contents and presentation of Shamans, Witches and Maya Priests follow that same pattern of collection and exhibition of material. During her field trips to Guatemala, Deuss regularly interacted with traditional religious leaders in the Huehuetenango, a region in the Northwest comer of the Guatemalan highlands. Her book documents the dances, ceremonies, festivals, and rituals she observed and participated in, as well as the religious information she learned from these interactions, such as local Maya calendar day names and prayers.

Deuss's overall purpose is to document the traditional religious practices of the indigenous people near Huehuetenango. Her extensive career in documentation and museum work shows in the presentation of her material. Primarily ethnographic with little to no concern for theoretical analysis, Shamans, Witches, and Maya Priests is so detail-rich that a close reading would best serve a serious researcher concerned with Guatemala or indigenous religious practices. This meticulous work will be useful to scholars seasoned in the field. At the same time, Deuss's writing style is academic yet informal, accessible for those new to Guatemalan studies. Her lively descriptions capture the feel of the towns in which she resided and will appeal to a broader audience interested in understanding the complexities of the religious and socioeconomic system in the Guatemalan highlands. She also includes one hundred photographs and nearly fifty illustrations of her own which give further detailed information about the workings of each ritual and ceremony she witnessed. These figures again demonstrate her attention to documentation and presentation.

In the introduction, where she provides an overview of the Huehuetenango area, Deuss accurately captures the economics, religion (including religious syncretism), immigration issues, and class system common in the entire highland region, which helps those unfamiliar with Guatemala or this specific region. The remainder of the book is divided into sections about each community she studied: Santa Eulalia, Chimbán, Soloma, San Juan Ixcoy, San Sebastián Coatán, and San Mateo Ixtatán. These sections read like field notes as Deuss guides the reader through her experiences. After more than thirty years of fieldwork in multiple communities, Deuss is able to compare practices over time and space, generalizing her experience where appropriate. She also draws on the work of Oliver La Farge and Douglas Byers who documented religious practices and other customs in the 1930s, using their data as additional context for present practices and noting specific practices that have vanished and the reasons for their loss.

Deuss's descriptions are additionally laced with reflections on her own methods as well as her feelings and reactions to being in the field. Her affection for the people she worked with and passion for her research are obvious. Overall, her narrative exudes honesty, acknowledging the discomforts and dangers of fieldwork, as well as her own human failings as a fieldworker, which could leave her open to criticism for her methods. Through her narrative, she broaches a few of the common difficulties of fieldwork, including gaining rapport and getting involved in the community, dealing with gender issues as a female researcher in a male-dominated society, and facing language barriers. Although a potential weakness, this openness about her experience will inspire students new to the struggles of fieldwork, as a reminder that they aren't alone in being discouraged or making mistakes, and as an exemplar for how to build relationships and conduct thorough research.

One running theme in the book is the conflict between traditionalists and advocates for the Mayan revivalist movement in Guatemala. Although she never explicitly says it, Deuss's disapproval of the interference by revivalists with the way local traditionalists practice is clear. She documents the way their influences have changed local practices, homogenizing Mayan culture and transforming local religious leaders' activities into a form not in keeping with the traditions of this area. She raises the question of who has the right to determine what is traditional and how it will be passed on, but chooses not to explore it at length in this volume. There are a multitude of such ideas ripe for further research and exploration contained in the many pages of her book.

Shamans, Witches, and Maya Priests is a thorough investigation of this small area of Guatemala. Deuss's book is one of the only extensive studies that has been written on religious practices in this region since the 1930s, and will be an important work for future researchers. Detail-laden yet engagingly written, this book is a great tool for scholars and students of Guatemala and traditional religious practices.