Mayan Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit
Nicolas Lucas, a Guatemalan Mayan priest. From the UN Works website: Nicolas is free to believe
I just think this is a funny, yet a very clear example of America's bad politics and diplomacy under the Bush administration.
Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit
Guatemalan Priests Plan to Purify Sacred Site, Eliminate 'Bad Spirits' After Bush Visit
By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
GUATEMALA CITY Mar 9, 2007 (AP)— Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.
"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.
Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.
Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.
Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.
The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."
Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.
A Guatemalan Indian priest is seen during a Mayan ceremony in Iximche, 60 km west of Guatemala City, October 12, 2003. (AP file photo)
More links:
Reuters: Maya to 'cleanse' sacred site after Bush visit
News 24.com: 'Cleanse Bush's bad spirits'
The Spoof: Guatemala priests poised to unhex sacred site after Bush visit (satire British style)
SFGate.com: Can George W. Bush Be Purged? Mayan priests purified their sacred land after Shrub scurried off. Can we do the same? Sphere: Related Content
Good article, EPJ!
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, we gave you a mention over on the LA Times Pressmen's blog.
I wish we could purify the USA of all of the neoconservative, the right wing evanglical Christian Fundamentalism, and also Bush's politics once he leaves office.
Hey thanks for the mention. BTW, how do you get links to show up on Blogger comments? I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I thought the article was hilarious. I can see why they seriously view this as an issue. What's funnier is there is a forum that I've been part of for a long time, but it tends to be very conservative. I posted the article and no one has replied to the post. THAT'S funny to me too because on a more liberal board that I'm on, of course, the jokes are flying left and right over this bit of news.
Bush supporters just don't eat crow graciously.
However, you do know those buzz words you used are going to show up in Google searches now, and I'm probably going to get all these fringe politicos from both sides harassing me ;-)