Home Is Where the Rajawala' Are

Living in Time and Space the Highland Maya Way

Judith M. Maxwell, Ajpub’ García Ixmata’

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781978770133
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

The Mayan peoples of highland Guatemala live within an animate world, where the physical environment, ancestors, and surrounding people, plants, and animals are infused with spirit and presence.
At the heart of this daily engagement are the ajq'ija', Mayan spiritual guides who serve as mediators between human communities and the rajawala'-the vital, living energies of the world. This book offers insight into the foundational knowledge ajq'ija' use to communicate with the rajawala', revealing how the sacred becomes visible through time and space, shaping and protecting the landscapes where Maya communities live. Each community is surrounded by its own constellation of guardian energies and sacred altars. The authors also confront the modern threats facing these sacred spaces: restricted access by private landowners, the loss of traditional roles, vandalism, religious opposition, environmental degradation, and violence against spiritual practitioners. Structured like a ritual itself, the book embodies the ongoing creation of sacred space and the deep dialogue with spiritual forces that sustain it. Through this work, the authors aim to share Mayan perspectives and practices for living within a sacred, interconnected world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Contents
• Foreword
• 1 Rajawala’ in an Animate Universe
• 2 Mayan Time
• 3 Space
• 4 The Spatial Distribution of the Avatars of Time
• 5 Town Guardian Altars
• 6 The Responsibilities of the Caretakers of the Sacred Spaces
• 7 Threats to Public Altars
• 8 Founding New Towns and Seating Their Altars
• 9 Home Altars
• 10 Regional and International Altars
• 11 Regulation
• 12 Health and Spiritual Practice
• 13 Creating and Re-creating Safe, Protected, and Protective Mayan Spaces
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors
• Copyright