The dance of the deer and the pial of San Antonio Sacatepéquez; small relationship in time

Abstract

The deer is a being that has accompanied the history of the Mayan Civilization, and now, of the Mayan culture, from its epistemology. The Pop Wuj mentions the deer as the first animal created and narrates the historical myth, where Junajpu and Ixbalamke, trying to apprehend the deer, caught its tail and it broke, that is why deer have a small tail. More transcendental becomes the deer, taking into account that Mayan spirituality recognized the wind, the sun, the hills and various animals as deities. This study provides a bibliographic compilation of what several authors indicate that the deer dance means or represents at the Mesoamerican level. Likewise, it offers an analysis, ancient inscriptions and Pop Wuj stories that show the importance of the deer dance as a deity and ecological balance for the Mayan civilization since before the Western invasion in the 16th century. Finally, the details and some conceptions of the local people about the deer dance, specifically from the municipality of San Antonio Sacatepéquez in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, are disclosed, and based on the bibliographical references collected, it is considered that this information is interpolated to the entire Mayan Mam territory of Tojch'um. Practically, the deer dance represents the aesthetics of the resistance of a culture.