In the south of the Mexican state of Chiapas, the Lacandon tribe lives, which are the direct descendants of the ancient Mayan Indian people.
How do the current Maya live? The German ethnologist Christian Retsch from Hamburg decided to see and describe this. Arriving in Mexico at his own peril and risk, having walked 50 kilometers on foot, he reached a deep forest, where the Lacandon settlements were located. Retsch knew a few Mayan phrases, had a beard, and simply wore a white shirt, so the first tribal member he met took him for his neighbor from another village.
European scientists studying the life and customs of African or South American tribes usually do not show a desire to get close to the aborigines - they are only an ethnographic object for them.
Retsch broke the academic distance between researcher and subjects. His principle was "to enter the thick of the life of the Indians, to merge with them", which he later drew criticism from his scientific colleagues. But he continued to argue that you can understand someone else's culture only by living in it completely. He did so, becoming a member of the Lacandon tribe for three years.
About his life in the Mexican jungle, the "German Lacandon" wrote a book: "The Researcher Who Decided to Study Magic", which was published earlier this year by the publishing house "Cosmos" in Stuttgart. The book was based on a diary that Retsch kept regularly all this time. It turned out to be an interesting scientific study, and a fascinating story about an unusual journey into the patrimonial system.
The information Retsch collected revealed many secrets of the mystical descendants of the Maya. The small tribe of the Lacandons remained the last bastion of the untouched culture of their famous predecessors. Its members have opposed all attempts by missionaries to convert them to Christianity over the years.
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They preserve the ancient myths about giant beetles that eat people, about jaguars and snakes that are pets of gods, about flying monkeys. Despite the terrible legends, the Lacandones are very peaceful people, aggression is alien to them. They have no concepts of ill will and envy, they do not complain about poverty and always retain their cheerful disposition.
The villagers provided the guest with a hut and put on a ration consisting of tacos and black beans. But according to the old tradition of the tribe, only those who participate in the common work could receive food. So Retsch went out with the others to the maize field every day. True, as he noticed, the work was not hard, everyone worked as much as they wanted. During such a collective outing in the field, they joked and laughed a lot. In his diary, Retsch wrote: "Life with these amazing people in the blooming jungle is filled with calm and peace."
The romance of life in the Retshu jungle was marred by infectious diseases. One day he developed acute dysentery, from which he no longer hoped to escape and wrote a farewell letter to his parents. Mysterious spells, with the help of which the members of the tribe were healed, did not work on him. Help came from the woman, the former head of the settlement, who brought him a banana.
After eating it, Retsch felt he was recovering. He could only guess what power the banana gained in the hands of this woman. "Much remained unsolved in this world, ruled by legend and magic," Retsch wrote in his diary.
An atmosphere of eroticism reigned in the life of the Lacandons. Favorite topics of conversation were sex, women and marriage. A young German scientist addicted to chewing coca leaves was haunted by sexual hallucinations at night: a jaguar woman came to his bed and caressed him with her soft paws. Then she was replaced in visions by the beautiful Kayuma, the wife of a friend of Lacandon.
"My nocturnal sexuality," Retsch admitted to his diary, "was the only way to extinguish the seething of my hormones."
One night, Nook, the wife of another inhabitant of the village, came to his hut. “I really want to try you,” she said to the crazed Retsch. She lay down on the mat and lifted her skirt. When asked where her husband was, Retsch heard that he was drunk and asleep. As Rietzsch later learned, the Lacandon women had the sole responsibility of initiating sexual adventures. After meeting with Nook, nightmares ceased to torment him.
In his book, Christian Retsch notes that modern civilization unceremoniously invades the patriarchal life of the Mayan descendants. Their area of residence was turned into a reservation by the state authorities, the limits of their hunting grounds are limited.
The new generation is not told about the legends and spells of the ancient people. Little Lacandones go to school and must know the Constitution of Mexico by heart. And now TV tells them fairy tales.
Boris YURIEV