[Aztlan] Maya and Hopi

[sharon orlet]

Maya folk,
I took some of the Maya symbols found in Palenque to one of the Hopi potters, Rachel Samie, who is the granddaughter of  the famous Nampeyo potter who started the whole movement of taking designs found in the ancient pot shards found in the ruins and putting them on the "modern" undecorated pots.
   She was taken aback by the symbols-- they seemed to stir something deep inside.  Her favorite was the "cross" of four directions-- which i do not have to show you. She has been making her pot designs more angular, and these seemed to be proof of her new way.


The hopi have in the thier kivas  four posts, to represent the four worlds that have come, and a lattice criss-cross of cedar to remind them of the time "when they lived on the water."   This look like the cross-hatching on many Maya designs.

I wished i had the swastika-- -- anyone have a photo of that? that i might send to her. 

thanks
sharon mcmullen orlet
st louis
ojuliana at sbcglobal.net
when we dream alone it is only a dream;
when we dream together it is the beginning of reality
                      brazilian proverb