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AMERICAS: Tribal Priests and Elders Fulfill Ancient Prophecy of Hopi Indians

By Fabiana Frayssinet
MIXCO VIEJO, Guatemala, Dec 3 (IPS) - The ancient prophecy of the Hopi Indians
from North America has been fulfilled: elders and priests from the entire
continent, the keepers of ancestral wisdom, met for the first time in Central
America, the ''centre'' alluded to in the prophecy.

''Those of the centre will bring together the eagle from the north and the
condor from the south. We will meet with our brothers and sisters because we
are one, like the fingers of a hand,'' says the prophecy, which came true this
week in the ''Reunion of Elders and Priests of Amerika''.

Garbed in ceremonial dress and following the rhythm of their sacred
instruments, the representatives of numerous tribes came from the Andes of
Patagonia at the southern tip of the continent, the Amazon jungle, the hills of
Peru, the mesetas of Central America and the North American plains, to pool
their sacred knowledge to save the earth.

Many had never left their isolated communities, and some had never even seen a
car, let alone an airplane such as the ones that carried them, flying ''like
birds'' to make the prophecy come alive.

Called together by Mayan elder ''Tata'' (Grandfather) Cirilo Perez, known as
the ''Ancient of Amerika'', the elders and priests have seen a dream come true
- one that was predicted by their brothers and sisters in the north, but which
was also written in their books, and inscribed on their stones and sacred
altars.

''The aim of this reunion is to meet 503 years later to recall how our
forefathers and ancestors managed the continent with the world view they had of
the north and the south,'' Marceliano Guerra, an elder of the Utoto tribe from
the Colombian Amazon, told IPS.

The knowledge they possess, which has been trampled by ''men from Europe and
the north,'' goes beyond the supposed advances of science that will end up
destroying humanity itself, they say.

''Years ago, I was already warning that no more bombs should be invented, that
coal was influencing the overheating of the earth, that the ozone layer was
broken. But they didn't understand that until they sent up their space
apparatus - satellites,'' said Tata Cirilo.

Mixco Viejo - located in Chimaltenango, some 150 kilometres from the capital of
Guatemala - is only one sacred or ''magnetic'' Maya centre that the elders
honoured during their stay in Guatemala.

Although their bones were tired, they became agile youngsters as they climbed
the ancient pyramids, to worship their Gods and share their philosophies.

''For us, there is no end because everything is infinite. Everything is up,
down, to the sides, towards all the cardinal points,'' said Valentin Mejillos
Acarapi, an Aymara priest from Bolivia.

''For us there is no end, because death does not exist. All movement is
cyclical. For that reason, all is one and one is all,'' added the wise man, who
asked to sit by a waterfall to hold the interview.

''After so many years of being crushed, our sacred places are telling us it is
time to re-establish our philosophical knowledge, and to teach our brothers,
sisters, children and grandchildren, so that one day they can follow that route
towards liberation,'' he said.

Mayan prophecies also have something to say about this meeting, inscribed on
the altars as the ''return of the wise men'' and expressed in dances from
diverse groups.

''May they rise up, may they rise up, may not even one or two groups remain
behind; may the dawn come, may the dawn arrive, may the people have peace and
be happy,'' says a famous phrase from the ''Popul Vuh'', the sacred book of the
Mayas, cited by Tata Cirilo.

The diversity of the elders' colourful ceremonial dress, of their stones,
necklaces and instruments at the top of the pyramids as they raise their arms
to the heavens seemed to embody the ancient prophecies in a powerful image.

According to the Mayas, the era of darkness or ''path of tears'' ended on Aug.
16-17, 1987 of the Western calendar and ''13 ajau'' of their own calendar,
which signalled the beginning of the time of wisdom and light.

''My message for the world here in this beautiful place, but above all for the
great scientists of Europe and the north, is that they stop polluting our
mountain, that they stop destroying our world, that they learn to live as our
ancestors lived,'' said Tata Cirilo.

The time for survival has arrived. And to face that challenge, the elders
consider the question of the environment - in Western terms - as one of the
mainstays of their knowledge.

''One is all and all is one. Everything is the four basic elements: air, earth,
fire and water,'' added Mejillos Acarapi, the Aymara priest.

The sun slowly sank behind the pyramids. And holding hands in a giant circle
that symbolised the coming together of knowledge, the elders said farewell to
another day with their eyes shut, saying their silent prayers.
(end/ips/trd-so/ff/dg/sw/95) ------ MORE -- IPS RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS BULLETIN