2007-02. The People of Primavera

February 3, 2007October 14, 2011

Primavera del Ixcan Community. Quiche, Guatemala.
January 30th – February 2nd, 2007
Issue: Society

A resident prepares rice with milk, a traditional mid-morning snack, which will be served to the townspeople attending the annual meeting.

An adolescent helps with the meal preparation.

Girls pose in front of the general store ran by the Co-Op La Resistencia (The Resistance).

A Maya Ixil family.

Mayan indigenous peoples from the Mam and Q’anjo’bal ethnic groups, originating from the nearby department of Huehuetenango, mostly populated the five communities that comprised the Ixcan Grande Co-Op in the 1970’s. Today, however, the community can surely be considered one of the most diverse settlements in Guatemala. Families from other Mayan ethnic groups such as Ixil, K’iche, Kaqckikel, Chuj, Achi, and even Ladino families (of mixed indigenous and European bloodlines), can also be found intertwined within the social network. In a unique case, the image displays on the left a Mayan Tzetzal woman, from an indigenous group found in Chiapas, Mexico, who has married into an Ixil family. With such idiomatic diversity within the community, Spanish serves inevitably as a common language.

Children inside the community’s dining hall.

Two women, one Maya K’iche (left) and the other Maya Ixil (right), dance to the rhythm of the marimba during an event.

Kids attempt to reach the 100 Quetzales bill [roughly $13 US] attached to the top of a greased pole – a traditional activity during the Resistance Fair.

Detail of boys as they attempt to reach the 100 Quetzales bill.

A girl sells peeled oranges during the fair.

Winner of the greased piglet chase holds his prize.

An Ixil woman from the Chajul region proudly displays her huipil (bordered blouse) that she managed to keep over the years despite years of hiding in the jungle and several attacks from the army.