[Aztlan] Maya exhibit and lecture

[Stephen L. Whittington]

I wanted to let you know about the Museum of Anthropology’s exciting 
fall exhibit and opening lecture.

Our latest exhibit, “Gifts of the Monkey Gods: Maya Crafts from 
Guatemala,” will be up from September 12 to December 15, 2006. Familiar 
to most people because of television specials and magazine articles 
about their Classic civilization and its mysterious tenth century 
collapse, the Maya people have not disappeared. Millions continue to 
live in twenty-first century Mexico and Central America. The Maya core 
area has always been Guatemala, where the people managed to preserve 
their culture in the face of the Spanish conquest, creation of an 
independent country, recent civil war, and the modern world. This 
exhibit presents intriguing wooden masks, spectacular hand-woven 
clothing, delightful wooden sculptures, and other crafts made in 
Guatemala during the last century. Inspiration from the Monkey Gods, 
supernatural patrons of artisans during the Classic period, permeates 
the Maya works on display.

On the first day of the exhibit, Tuesday, September 12, we will have an 
opening lecture at the Museum. Dr. George Stuart of the Center for Maya 
Research will present “New Discoveries in the Maya World” at 7:30pm. He 
will discuss ancient Maya cosmology and religion and their relationship 
with modern Maya beliefs. This lecture is free and open to the public.

-- 
Stephen L. Whittington, Ph.D.
Director
Museum of Anthropology
Wake Forest University
P.O. Box 7267
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
336-758-5827 (voice)
336-758-5116 (fax)