पॉप वुह ऎंड थे बाइबल/तोराह...

The Christiano-Judeo world share the first half of the Bible and one interesting perspective about their surroundings. The Mayans that inhabited the majority of Central America share the foundations of the Pop Vuh, which is by rough comparison the Mayan Bible/Torah. These ancient scripts both lay out a sacred relationship of people and the land that has helped me to understand a little more about the current state of affairs in parts of the world where these foundations guide policy decisions.

The beginning of the Bible/Torah repeatedly describes the land as a possession of man, which God has given to them in one form or another. God is also depicted as creating man before the rest of his creatures, which are made for man's sake. (by my interpretation)

Abraham "On that day, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates. The land of the Kenites, Kenizites, Kadmonites; the Chitties, Perizites, Refaim; the Emorites, Canaanites, Gigashites and Yevusites." (Genesis 15:18-21)

Isaac "To you and your descendants I give this land." (Genesis 26:3)

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. (Genesis 2:18-20)
Jacob "The ground upon which you are lying I give to you and your descendants." (Genesis 28:13)

Moses "I made a pact with them to give them the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 6:4)


The Pop Vuh is constructed in two parts - the written word and the living word (people), and it is not complete without both. The writing compliments what I have learned during my time here; the Mayans that follow the Pop Vuh teach and believe that humans are but another element of the Earth. That amongst the most sacred elements are the seed, water, insect, and sun. That it is not possible to own the land. And that our interactions with it must be treated the same as if we were interacting with a family member or another part of life we could not live without.