- Maya farmers in Yucatán, Mexico, have rekindled a pre-Hispanic ceremony that calls for rain from the god Cháak as the state suffers its worst drought in 50 years.
- The extended dry season has prevented local farmers from generating sufficient harvests to provide enough food to sustain Indigenous people from remote regions.
- In early May, the Yucatán Peninsula experienced a record high temperature of 43.7°C (110.7°F) after an already year-long drought.
- Pollution from industrial pig farms and monocrop plantations is contaminating groundwater systems and cenotes, considered sacred by the Maya and relied upon to supply farms in rural communities.
As he carves through dense jungle foliage with a sharpened sickle, 65-year-old Eliezer Mendez Díaz scours for building materials. He plans to make a sacred altar for the Maya rain god, Cháak, in the hope that the lightning-wielding deity will nourish his crops and alleviate his village from extreme drought. He stops in his tracks momentarily to admire a turquoise-browed motmot bird (Eumomota superciliosa) swinging its double-tipped tail like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. Like all life on the Yucatán Peninsula, it’s also waiting for the rains, late by more than a month now.
Mendez Díaz is a village elder and farmer from Yaxcabá, a village of 3,000 people some 29 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá. He leads a group of five Indigenous men to prepare for the revered Ch’a Cháak ceremony, one of the last surviving pre-Hispanic Maya traditions in Mexico. The heat wave has dried out local farms, known as milpas, and compelled people to call on ancestral spirits to supply water for their harvests. Similar pleas to local authorities to aid their village during these difficult times have fallen on deaf ears.
“We have nowhere left to turn, so we must take matters into our own hands,” Mendez Díaz says.
The team from Yaxcabá works tirelessly in the scorching heat, climbing trees if necessary to collect special vines hanging from the thick canopy overhead. These will be fastened to four corners or cardinal points of the altar and connect with the jungle, in the belief that its guardians will hear their prayers.
“We ask permission from the forest spirits before taking what we need to build the altar,” Mendez Díaz says, adding he and his team must follow exactly the instructions of the H-men, the Maya shaman, or risk jeopardizing the entire ritual. He says he fears the extended dry season will severely impact local harvests, leaving him with little to no annual income and forcing him to move to the city for employment to sustain his family. A farmer his whole life, Mendez Díaz says he knows it won’t be easy finding a job in a city.
“The droughts are getting worse every seasonal cycle, so if we don’t perform the ritual properly, the rains may not arrive in time,” he says.
Unprecedented heat wave
Climate experts have warned that Yucatán state risks an unprecedented heat wave with conditions not witnessed for more than half a century. Heat-related illnesses are five times higher this year than in 2024 in the state. Mexico has so far recorded at least 125 heat-related deaths and 2,308 cases of heat stroke, along with power outages, wildfires, and mass die-offs of threatened howler monkeys. On May 9, the national meteorological service registered a record temperature of 43.7° Celsius (110.7° Fahrenheit).According to a study led by global environmental scientists from World Weather Attribution, human-induced climate change made the deadly heat hitting North and Central America 35 times more likely.
“The results of our study should be taken as another warning that our climate is heating to dangerous levels,” study co-author Izidine Pinto, from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, said in a statement.
Losing environmental balance
In Yucatán, the first rains of the year usually coincide with El Día de la Santa Cruz on May 3, yet the peninsula sweltered in sustained temperatures exceeding 37.7°C (100°F) for the entire month. From May 1 to June 7, it was almost completely dry. Consequently, farmers in remote regions struggled to plant their crops. For Idelfonso Yah Alcocer, 51, a H-men from Chacsinkín, Yucatán, and the people from his remote village, the bad omens can’t be ignored.
“We must respect the jungle and the deity Cháak as they will provide us with the water we so desperately need and protect our harvests,” he says, while condemning an increase in touristic versions of the ceremony conducted by “fake” shamans. “The erosion of our beliefs in front of our eyes is heartbreaking. If we fail to maintain our connection with the spirits who protect us, we will suffer the consequences. It is important to remember and acknowledge the authentic traditions of our ancestors.”
Rural communities in Yucatán predominantly rely on underground rivers and cenotes, the unique network of sinkholes found across the region, for agriculture. Some also depend on these sources for drinking water. But many of them have dried up due to drought for the first time in living memory. The geological makeup of the peninsula means that replenishment of natural water sources relies solely on rain. The ground consists of a thin layer of soil and limestone rock that formed following the prehistoric cataclysmic meteor that struck the Gulf of Mexico and led to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. These underground water channels, the largest interconnected system of this kind in the world, sustain all life in the Yucatán jungle and refill during the rainy season as water seeps through the limestone rock. Any delays in the cycle can have devastating effects on this fragile ecosystem.
Agricultural demise
The delayed arrival of the rain, in June rather than in April, can drastically affect local crops.
“These plants carry out photosynthesis in certain periods, and if it does not occur, they will not grow correctly, as they will not benefit from sufficient sunlight,” says agronomist and Maya culture investigator Bernardo Camaal Itza, 56. He adds that exchanges of ancient farming techniques in Ch’a Cháak ceremonies are diminishing, leading to recurrent seed use and single-use agriculture that harm soil fertility.
“Those who have migrated here do not appreciate this knowledge and look for a quick fix.”
Camaal Itza says visitors to the peninsula plant in a “gung-ho fashion,” causing long-term depredation to ancestral farmland once well-managed by locals. According to him, the widespread use of chemicals for decades has produced contaminated crops, contributing to serious health problems. He attributes this to an invasion of Maya cultural heritage and division within Indigenous society, resulting in little understanding or sympathy toward their cause.
“If someone invades my privacy, it is not nice, but if one asks permission to enter, it is acceptable. It is the same with the jungle,” he says, adding that authorities and large corporations purchasing Indigenous land are only concerned about money while segregating traditions like the Ch’a Cháak ceremony.
“They want to impose their power and control over everything.”
Cenote contamination
Apart from extreme temperatures, the increasing number of pig farms and monocrop plantations that have sprung up around rural communities in Yucatán consume much of the available water while polluting the underground system with industrial waste. In the past, it was standard practice to use water from cenotes, as they’re considered sacred by the Maya, but dwindling traditions mean this is no longer commonplace.
“Cenotes resemble pure water and fertility,” says Abelardo Tut Uicah, 59, the H-men running the ritual in Yaxcabá. “Rain collects in cenotes, bringing life, so we pray to Cháak, who lives inside them.”
He laments the low number of authentic Maya shamans today. “As generations pass, fewer youngsters train to become H-men as they have other interests. If this continues, our knowledge will be lost forever.”
Camaal Itza says waste from pig farms heavily contaminates ecosystems in jungle areas that rely on groundwater, creating numerous issues for local populations. There’s evidence of that pollution working its way through the network of cenotes has been detected as far as the coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. The impacts can ripple out, killing fish and devastating the environment. All this contamination to produce pork that, for the most part, is exported rather than consumed locally.
“Unfortunately, there remains a passive attitude among authorities and the political class,” Camaal Itza says
Close to Yaxcabá lies the famous ring of cenotes, where more than 3,000 interconnected submerged caves supply water to surrounding rural communities. Many people aren’t aware that these are all connected, such that pollution in one area affects all of them.
“If they understood the health problems caused by this, perhaps they would band together and protest,” Camaal Itza says. “For now, the political class decides what is best for the people when it should be the opposite. Indigenous populations only want to live in harmony with nature, but there are constant invaders to this ideal by those who want to make money by using up resources in areas where they do not live. Unfortunately, this occurs worldwide.”
Banner image: Idelfonso Yah Alcocer, 51 (right), a H-men (Maya shaman), is shrouded in smoke from incense as he chants incantations during a Ch’a Cháak ceremony in Sotuta, Yucatán. Image courtesy of Mark Viales.
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