PEDRO UC BE
Translated from Spanish by Melissa D. Birkhofer, PhD and Paul M. Worley
Pedro was born in 1963 in the municipality of Buctzotz, Yucatán. He is a Maya Indigenous person, the child of monolingual Maya farmers. He is a founding member of the Assembly of Defends of Maya Land, Múuch Xíimbal. He writes in Maya, his mother tongue, for which he has won awards on a number of occasions for his work that straddles the boundaries between story and poetry. He has a degree in Educational Media from the Department of Social Sciences at the Normal Superior in Campeche. At present he is a professor of Creative Writing in Maya Language at the State Center for Beaux Artes in Mérida, Yucatán.
Tikintak
(Maya, hover mouse for english)
Tikin u bóoxel in chi’ aajik bejla’e’
ka’aj jo’op’ u téetek kaxtik u ch’uulil a ti’ali’
ba’ale’ ts’o’okili’ u tijil xane’.
Ma’ yo’olal ma’ ts’u’uts’a’ani’,
mix yo’olal ma’ susulkilil a wíinklili’.
Leti’e’ Yuum Cháak áalkabeensa’ab
tumen le j náajal kalank’áaxo’,
u bo’olil ma’ u beeta’al kool,
u ya’ax taak’inil u nu’ukbesa’al ba’al,
leti’e’ táakpajal ichil le j ka’p’éel icho’obo’
.
Tu tikinkuunto’ob le kili’ich ts’ono’oto’,
tu suto’ob coca colail in chúuj,
tu jo’oso’ob u xo’ochel u pool a wiim,
tu tselo’ob u piixan u luuchil in wo’och k’eyem,
u ts’ooke’ tu jaik’iinto’ob beey tikin kay u bóoxel a chi’e’.
Ts’o’ok u tijil u bóoxel in chi’,
ts’o’ok u tijil u bóoxel a chi’
ts’o’ok u yokolta’al k o’och ja’,
chéen k yaakunaj p’aatalto’on,
ba’ale’, bix ken k máans u yuuk’aajil túun.
Leeyli’ mayáene’
(Maya, hover for english)
Tene’ maya wíiniken xan,
le ka’aj síijene’,
ts’o’okili’ u laj p’áatal tu k’ab
le j k’aak’as máak le lu’umo’,
ts’o’okili’ u laj k’askunta’al
u ja’il le ts’ono’oto’,
ts’o’okili’ u laj la’absa’al
le x kiichpam ixi’imo’,
ts’o’okili’ u laj búukinta’al
u lu’um in taata
tumen le péeka’an k’abo’.
Bejla’e’ u meyjul pe’et lool ti’ noj kaaj kin beetik,
ba’ale leyli mayáene’.
Suyuat’aan
(Maya, hover for english)
Tu’ux ka’anil wa lu’umil siijilech:
Tu k’ab u che’il chakte’
ta túumbenkintaj u k’aay xsakchiik.
Tu káakab lu’umil noj k’áax
ta k’a’amkuntaj u yáakam chakmo’ol.
Tu jáal u ts’ono’otil xmúul aajo’ob
ta paxaj u chíim k’aykuuts.
Tu bo’oy xnuk ya’axche’
ta táabsaj u jéebkal kéej.
Tu k’ab chakaaj ku yichaankil
ta tsikbataj u tsikbal ku’uk.
Tu pool u chuunch’eil che’kool
ta wok’taj u yaj óol sak mukuy.
Tu xiik’ k’an péepen ku bin ch’a’acháak
ta xmukult a’alaj bix u beeta’al nook.
Tu bóoxel u chi’ ch’och’liim
ta k’eyaj u chowakil le yáaxk’ino’.
Tu múuyalil u cháakilo’ob nojol
wáak’ u ts’íikil a k’eeyaj.
Tu lelekaankil u tse’ek muuch
ta ka’ansaj to’on payalchi’.
Author’s statement
The Yucatán Peninsula is Maya territory, where for millennia people have lived via agriculture. The milpa is a poli-cultivated area in which people originally planted more than sixty kinds of seeds, predominantly corn, the plant from which Maya People are derived according to what our ancestral book the Popol vuj tells us. This land that was originally called Yukalpeten is nurtured by cenotes, which are like large gourds for freshwater protected by caverns. There are also many cenotes that are at ground level. These are all interconnected underground among themselves and for us are spiritual spaces where we perform our ancestral rites in honor of the mothers who created us and the fathers who created us, such as Yuum Cháak (Yuum of the Rain), Yuum iik’ (Yuum of the Wind), y Yuum K’áax (Yuum of the forest).
[1] Traditional Maya corn garden.
[2] A cenote is a sinkhole filled with water, or as the author describes them: they are “large gourds for freshwater protected by caverns.”
[3] Pozole is a traditional Mexican stew made with hominy.
Author’s statement
The Yucatán Peninsula is Maya territory, where for millennia people have lived via agriculture. The milpa is a poli-cultivated area in which people originally planted more than sixty kinds of seeds, predominantly corn, the plant from which Maya People are derived according to what our ancestral book the Popol vuj tells us. This land that was originally called Yukalpeten is nurtured by cenotes, which are like large gourds for freshwater protected by caverns. There are also many cenotes that are at ground level. These are all interconnected underground among themselves and for us are spiritual spaces where we perform our ancestral rites in honor of the mothers who created us and the fathers who created us, such as Yuum Cháak (Yuum of the Rain), Yuum iik’ (Yuum of the Wind), y Yuum K’áax (Yuum of the forest).
[1] Traditional Maya corn garden.
[2] A cenote is a sinkhole filled with water, or as the author describes them: they are “large gourds for freshwater protected by caverns.”
[3] Pozole is a traditional Mexican stew made with hominy.
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