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Symbolic Weddings - The Mayan Ritual
Before we talked about symbolic weddings and we provided the Mayan Ritual as an example. Seeing as this ceremony has created a lot of interest among many of you, we have decided to give it some more attention.
The Mayan wedding ceremony is symbolic in character and has no legal validity, like all other symbolic weddings, and recaptures one of the most sacred traditions of this ancient civilization.
The Mayan people believed in a religious concept of the universe in which the sacred energies converged and affected the cosmos, manifesting themselves in a variety of manners. In this sense, the marriage rite in Mayan spirituality is considered as a step from the profane to the sacred in which man is introduced to the sacred environment or K'aam Nikte'.
The Mayan ceremony lasts around 30 minutes and is officiated by a Shaman in the original Mayan language and its objective is to spiritually unite the bride and groom before the creator of the universe and under the blessing of the gods.
The ceremony begins by presenting the couple to the seven directions: the Cosmic Energy above, Mother Earth below, the four winds - north, east, south and west - and the inside of their hearts, the temples of love of the Superior Being. The four cardinal points are represented on the alter with flowers, candles or bowls, pumpkin recipients that contain the balche, a sacred drink that the couple drink as a sign of their union. There are also offerings, (rice, kidney beans, corn and fruit) that the couple will exchange as if they were vows.
This is how the sacred space, or K'aam Nikte', is created, and in it the energies converge and it is where the gods are invoked by the canticles, conch shell music, rattles, and drums to witness and bless the marriage.
After the presentation of the couple, the guests to the ceremony gather around them and the Shaman in a circle and throw flower petals over them and offer them songs and prayers to bless their union.
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