     There is very little written history to tell us of the many indigenous tribes who once occupied what are now the states of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and parts of Michoacan and Guerrero, and archaeological investigations have been relatively superficial. There is enough evidence, however, to show that these people differed significantly from those occupying the east coast and the central highlands.
     One of the most startling of those differences lies in the area of ceramic arts. In most of Central America ceramic figurines depicted gods, priests and rulers and they are usually engaged in some solemn religious rite. Here, ceramics depict ordinary people going about their daily lives and are far more informative in that they show us where they lived, how they dressed and what they did for entertainment.
     A number of otherwise well-informed people are under the impression that the Maya, as a people, are extinct. In fact some six to eight million Maya scattered across southern Mexico and Central America might truthfully paraphrase Mark Twain in saying, “The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated.”
     Their great cities may be in ruins and their ancient cultural achievements lost and forgotten, but the Mayan people are still very much alive.
     Perhaps one of their present-day heroines said it best. “We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.” (Rigoberta Menchu, a K’iche’ Maya and Nobel Peace Prize winner, 1992)
     These people are proud of their heritage. They wear the traditional clothing and follow the social, political and religious customs of their ancestors. Even though they long ago became Christians, many of them see no reason to neglect the ancient deities. On the contrary, they consider it a vitally important duty to appease the old and often vengeful gods lest they destroy the universe for the fifth time.
     The largest populations of contemporary Maya inhabit the southern Mexican States and the Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala and portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The governments of these areas have belatedly begun to recognize their existence by offering on-line classes for grammar and proper pronunciation of their languages.
     As it did in the distant past, the term “Maya” embraces many distinct populations, societies, and ethnic groups, each having its own particular traditions, culture, and historical identity. In Yucatan, they call themselves Yucateca, in Quintana Roo there are also Yucateca as well as Kekchi and Mopal. Tabasco is home to the Chontal Maya and Chiapas plays host to the Lacandon living in what has been since 1971 the 614,000 hectare Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, In the Chiapan highlands you will find the Tzelzales, Tojobales, Ch’ols and Totziles

All these peoples have managed to maintain substantial remnants of cultural and linguistic heritage. A few have adapted to modern ways but most cling to their individuality and ancestral traditions. They often speak one of the Mayan tongues as their primary language and defy anyone or anything to change them. Possibly the most militant in resistance to change are the Tzotzil Maya of the Chiapas Highlands, especially those living in or near the town of Chamula. The most traditional are the Lacandon, a small population of only 66 families, who live in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas and who had little contact with outsiders until the late 20th century. They originally came from the Campeche/Petén area and moved into the rainforest at the end of the 18th century, 1000 years after the ancient Maya had supposedly disappeared. Chiapas was for many years one of the regions least affected by the reforms of the 1910 Revolution. This state of affairs remained stable until the 1950s when other groups of Mayan subsistence farmers, encouraged by the government, moved in, increasing pressure on the already threatened rainforest,

     The Zapatistas of the ELZN, which launched a rebellion against the Mexican state in 1994, declared itself to be an indigenous movement and drew its strongest and earliest support from Chiapan Maya, including the Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolabales and Ch’ol.
     The largest group of modern Maya live on the Yucatan Peninsula, identifying themselves simply as “Maya” with no further ethnic subdivision and speak a language called simply “Yucatec Maya.” These people were some of the very first exposed to Europeans when a party of Spanish shipwreck survivors came ashore in 1511. One of the sailors, Gonzalo Guerrero, is credited with founding the Mestizo caste by marrying a cacique’s daughter and producing a family. Later Spanish expeditions to the region by Cordoba, Grijalva and Cortez, along with devastating epidemics of European diseases reduced the Yucatecan Maya population to less than 10,000 by 1850. Today there are 1,000 times that many people who speak Mayan and at least 3,000,000 more who are of Maya origin and bear ancient Maya surnames such as Pech, Camal, Xiu, Ucan, Canul, Cocom, and Tun.
     In 1847, after three centuries of persecution, the remaining Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula erupted into a revolt that blazed for several years and then simmered for another fifty. Known as the Caste War of Yucatan, it was fought by the indigenous peoples against the Spanish and their descendents. It was one of the most successful modern Native American revolts. For a short while the Maya were back in power and the ephemeral Maya state of Chan Santa Cruz was even recognized as an independent nation by the British Empire.
     It was not until 1976, however, that a full-blooded Maya gained any real power. Francisco Luna-Kan was elected governor of the state, serving from 1976 to 1982. As a Doctor of medicine, then a Professor of Medicine, his first political office was as overseer of the state’s rural medical system. Currently there are dozens of politicians from Deputies and Mayors to Senators from a full or mixed Maya heritage from the Yucatan Peninsula.
     Guatemala boasts the largest and most traditional Maya populations in the western highlands. Members of the country’s 17 or more tribes of indigenous Maya form the majority of the population and have political control in at least six of the state’s departments. Here the Spanish colonial pattern of keeping the natives legally separate and subservient continued well into the 20th century. This resulted their choosing to maintain traditional customs rather than enter Hispanic society at the very bottom. Considerable identification with local and linguistic affinities, often corresponding to pre-Columbian nation states, continues. Many people, especially the women, wear traditional clothing that displays their specific local identity.
     While the Yucatan Maya can point with pride to their political champions, the Guatemalans have gone them one better with a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a woman at that! Rigoberta Menchu has devoted her life to promoting indigenous rights for her people. She and other like minded people from all over the world have been so successful that someday the modern Maya may rise and reclaim their ancient Empire!
     Chan Kin, spiritual leader of the Lacandon Maya, who lived over a hundred years, predicted that when the last of his people dies, the world will come to an end. It would seem as if we had better pray they remain alive and well south of the border.