TRIBUTE TO A MERIDA TRADITION—ALBERTO'S CONTINTENTAL PATIO RESTAURANT

                                    

Plaque on Alberto's wall (Yucatán Times)

Since the holidays are upon us, what better time to reminisce about food and places we just couldn't get enough of. My pleasure with Alberto's Continental Patio restaurant in Merida went so far that I even wrote it into the story of Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival.

"Clay and Layla stopped in front of Alberto's Continental Cuisine, a white-washed mansion turned restaurant a few blocks from the main plaza. After a quick nod of acceptance from Layla, the couple entered. Inside they discovered an oasis filled with antiques and art.

The back wall displayed Madonna art, all in wood and brass next to an ethereal painting of a floating Guadalupe along with a twelve foot cross displayed amid Maya idols. They walked up polished marble stairs to where an older gentleman in a tired business suit stood next to a mostradore." 

Alberto Salum (by Joe Stines)

For the record, Merida is a city obsessed with food, from street vendors selling peso-tasty tacos and salbutes to high-end establishments sporting white tablecloths, silver candelabra, and old school wait staffs trained to anticipate your every need. Alberto's fell into the latter category.

ALBERTO SALUM

Though Alberto's Continental Patio has been closed since 2013, then reincarnated as Patio 57 until 2018, I'm sharing a memory of both the iconic restaurant and it's equally charming and loquacious owner, Alberto Salum. It is with great sadness I report Alberto died October 1, 2021, in Merida. He was in his eighties.

Outdoor patio, during Patio 57 reincarnation. (TripAdvisor)

His great-grandfather had migrated to Mexico from Syria in 1894, and Alberto and his brother José were Mexican born and bred, perfect delegates for the glories and grandeur of the country, city and peninsula they called home. Alberto's Continental Patio was an ode to not only their chosen city, Merida, but to foods native to Merida, the Yucatán Peninsula, and Syria, their family's homeland, though the restaurant's Lebanese dishes were borrowed from their great-grandfather's recipes. 

MENU POTPOURRI

What? you say. How does one combine shish kebab, baba ghanoush, and hummus with chicken pibil, gulf seafood, and margaritas? With innovation and grace, found in copious amounts at Alberto's. It's why, as stated in Alberto's obituary in the Yucatán Times, "the strikingly handsome dining spot was full of character, with an eclectic collection of antiques, paintings, and sculptures."

And oh, what an assortment of art! I stumbled onto the restaurant on an early trip to Merida in the late 1980s. Wanting to not be too near the main plaza, we began to make wider concentric loops around the tourist district and hit pay dirt when we fell upon Alberto's at Calle 64 and Calle 57. 

Foyer of Alberto's Continental but during Patio 57 years

We entered and climbed the marble stairs that stretched onto a long, welcoming foyer. Before us on the left we viewed a wall chock full of grand paintings. Directly in front of us was a massive credenza. Standing next to it was a tall older gentleman in a tired business suit. He smiled and made a slight bow. Could it be Alberto? Indeed it was!

"Dinner?" he asked, waving menus with a flourish. We nodded.

"Dining room?" He pointed to a well-lit room on his right filled with a long center table and a number of four-tops placed around it. Crisp white table cloths and silver candelabra lit by gorgeous glass chandeliers gave the room a patina of pageantry and decorum. "Or," and he paused theatrically as he pointed to his left, "The courtyard garden?" 

CHOICES

A difficult choice. I couldn't take my eyes off the lavish dining room with its sublime lighting, the pomp and circumstance.

He must have seen the pickle I was in. Glamorous dining room or jungly courtyard that bore a tumble of palms, orchids, bromeliads and dead center, the largest banyan I'd yet to see. White linen-draped tables surrounded the massive tree and an ornamental bar to one side boasted more art—but this time with crucifixes in every conceivable material. They cluttered the wall above a liquor-laden mahogany counter, a dueling oxymoron of sin.

Wall behind bar in a more recent iteration (Yucatan Times)

But that first night, I was drawn to the spacious dining room with its sublime lighting and decorum. An obliging smile crossed his lips. "First would you like a cocktail in the courtyard? A margarita? Then we'll move to the dining room."

We followed him as though he was the Pied Piper. He moved towards the Holy Bar to mix up a couple concoctions after seating us with another flourish at the perfect table. We were the only customers to be had. We fell on the drinks as though we'd spent a waterless month in the Sahara. A not wholly unexpected second round was to follow.

As we entered the dining room. Alberto found us another perfect spot. Only one other table was occupied at the far corner of the room and the couple appeared ready to depart. He brought menus, we ordered, and after we finished a delectable meal, he walked over to check if everything had been up to par.

AND SO IT BEGINS

Here is where the true story begins. Or as Alberto would often say, "And that's how my story began in the land of Yucatán."

"Would you like to see my private collection in the back?" he asked without fanfare.

Indeed we would. He took us down a hall crowded to near overflow with antiques and paintings into a small crowded room. The walls were crammed with oil paintings. Pre-Columbian style artwork sat on the floor—statues, plaques, artifacts. He had numerous stories about it all and we were rapt listeners as this highly unusual raconteur talked on. He told us the building itself dated back to 1727 and was adorned with some of the original stones from the Maya temple it replaced. The mosaic floors were from Cuba. I'm sure much more was said but one can only take in so much. (Damn those margaritas).

Mosaic floors in Patio 57 phase (TripAdvisor)

Perhaps this occasion of seeing his back rooms and hearing unbelievable stories of Merida, the art world, the Yucatán and his early life in nearby pueblo Sisal as a cloth salesman before opening the restaurant, a short stint in Palo Alto, CA, as a dentist, and archeological tales about pyramid sites—not to mention the great food—were what bequeathed him early on a successful business that was lauded by numerous and well-known reviewers. His secret: he treated the place as if it was his own living room.

THE HEYDAY

According to obit writer Lee Steele, Merida had already changed quite a bit from its 1960s, '70s and 80's heyday, back when it was listed in guide books and travels stories. In 1985, The New York Times food writer R.W. Apple Jr. included Alberto's "lime soup" and excellent Arab dishes in a nationwide list of recommended dining spots. And ten years later, Susan Spano, also of the Times, called Alberto's a "culinary institution."

"At my courtyard table there, I could see the stars between the branches of an ancient rubber tree snuggled against the wall. Candles glowed. A guitarist played. The menu featured Mexican, Yucatan, and Lebanese dishes—which make surprisingly happy plate mates," she wrote. Even Diana Kennedy, famous expat Mexican author, in her Essential Cuisines of Mexico cookbook clocked in when she described being in his kitchen and charbroiling a chicken for the recipe Pollo en Escabeche.

Outdoor patio (Yucatan Magazine)

Alberto's was a romantic restaurant of the old school. The curved Moorish arches, the mosaic floor. And, as stated by Yucatán Times, it's antiquity was underscored by the countless antiques and oils, archeological relics in this softly lit over-the-top charming hacienda.

What star was I born under that I could experience Alberto and his cuisine over and over again? Every chance I had I dragged our family and guests that three-hour drive from Puerto Morelos to Merida. We'd spend the night in the Gran Hotel in the historic district, play all day in Merida's many markets and shops and walk its narrow streets. Around seven we'd head over to Alberto's. It's still a fond memory for them all, I am delighted to say; you simply cannot forget Alberto. 

"No one met Alberto and left without a story, a memory, or artifact," said Joe Stines, a close friend.

Gran Hotel in Merida

If you enjoyed this post, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales of expat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Also, check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are available on Amazon where my overview of the 2012 Maya calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed—Demystifying the Prophecy, can also be found. 

 

 

ANCIENT MAYA QUEEN LADY SIX SKY CONQUERS THE YUCATÁN PENINSULA

Stela found at Naranjo of Lady Six Sky (or K'awiil Ajaw)

PART 4 

Warrior queens were not uncommon in the waning days of the Late Classic Period of the Maya, roughly 600 to 900 AD, though their domains tended to be concentrated in southern Mexico and Guatemala.

              

Map showing Dos Pilas, Naranjo, Calakmul and Tikal by Todd Decker

LADY SIX SKY

The warrior queen Lady Six Sky, also known as Lady Ik Wak Chan Ajaw or K'awiil Ajaw, entered the world in the seventh century, 667 AD to be exact, in Dos Pilas in the Peten, Guatemala, but during the course of her life, traveled far from there. And what a winding road she took while serving as de facto ruler of the city Naranjo, once if not twice, as she waged war against numerous competitors.

Drawing of Lady Six Sky from Stela 24 by artist/scholar Linda Schele

Born into a centuries-old ruling dynasty of Dos Pilas, at a young age she was selected over her older brother to be sent to the failing capital of Naranjo. At that time, first born sons stayed in the kingdom while second sons would normally be dispatched to handle tricky political or military business, so this situation was unique. Instead, the king used her as a political pawn as part of an arranged marriage between the Maya cities of Dos Pilas, where she was from, and Naranjo, to bring it into the Calakmul-Dos Pilas alliance and to help regenerate its obliterated dynasty.

Rendering of Dos Pilas from Alcheron, the Free Encyclopedia

Her father authorized the young princess to clean up the city which was in a shambles as indicated by hieroglyphics and stela dated at that period. (Stela are large limestone slabs placed in front of pyramids to commemorate births, deaths, victories). Stelas Number 24 and 29 from Naranjo depict Lady Six Sky trampling captives in a manner well-known to warrior kings, evidence that she'd taken her father's marching orders seriously.

A child of Lady B'ulu' and Calakmul ruler B'alaj Chan K'awill, her courageous deeds helped assure that her dynasty retained power. Though she was always loyal to her home, she became known as one of Naranjo's rulers during the Late Classic Period. Monuments note she was also a spiritual leader. Even though she performed many rituals she was never given the title Holy Lady Six Sky. She was also a day keeper of the Maya calendar, counting moon phases and one such ceremony commemorating the Long Count calendar was memorialized on Stela 29 at Naranjo. In it, the caption indicates she is impersonating a goddess, and is dressed in spiritually charged regalia. In the portrait she underscored both her strategic prowess and divine right to rule.

Stela 29 text, drawing Linda Schele

Archeologist Kathryn Reese-Taylor (University of Calgary) found the epigraph or inscription from the work of renowned Maya scholar Linda Schele which revealed that at the height of the rainy season in 683, a Maya princess from Dos Pilas (now in what is west Central Guatemala) arrived in shattered Naranjo, just west of the Belize-Guatemalan border.

Enemy kings had long fought over the region's lucrative river trade, which had prompted her father to dispatch his daughter to marry the king, indicating a declaration of peace. When the ruler died shortly after they married, he left Lady Six Sky in charge.

She didn't blink, stepping deftly into the role of leader. Over five years, she launched eight military campaigns, torching the cities of her enemies.

Her successful battlefield record helped archeologist Reese-Taylor understand the trajectory of women warriors through Maya history. And as evidenced by Parts 1-3 of Maya Musings' warrior queen posts, Lady Six Sky wasn't the only Maya princess who scooped up the reigns of power.

Rendering of Maya Warrior Queen from Discover magazine

Beginning in 2004, another Maya archeologist and author of Ancient Maya Women, Traci Ardren (University of Miami), also sifted through evidence from royal tombs and inscriptions searching for traces of female rulers. Two dozen tombs of women queens have been discovered so far.

Ardren has "brought together studies from throughout the ancient Maya world to show that women were not sidebars in Maya society but significant actors in their own right," stated Reese-Taylor in a Discover magazine article detailing her recent Maya excavations.

Reese-Taylor is now building on Ardren's work and continues to search for clues about powerful queens who were also fierce warriors. (Women Warriors, Part 1, October 1).

 

Sacred White Road near Cobá, from News.Miami.edu

In her quest to conquer more Maya cities to better her clan, Lady Six Sky may have been affiliated with the Maya sac-be, a 62-mile sacred white road, that stretched from Cobá to Yaxuná, two cities in southern Mexico she sparred with during her conquering phase, according to Journal of Archeological Science.

"There's still no concrete evidence pointing to who built the elevated 26-foot wide road or how long it took to construct it," archeologist Travis Stanton (University of Riverside) told Live Science.

                                                                                                                                                                    

LiDAR scan of Sacred White Road, by Traci Ardren

But some scholars believe, as does Ardren, Lady Six Sky may have either constructed the road or used it—already built—for moving troops from Cobá to Yaxuná as she continued her warring phase. In 2021, an archeological team plans to complete a dig at the site of a settlement identified by new LiDAR (light detection and ranging technology) imaging scans. Scholars believe the white road that derived its name from sascab, a Maya limestone plaster, would have been visible even at night. The mixture for the road would eventually prove to be a recipe similar to that of Roman concrete.

Whatever the material, this road connected thousands of people and hundreds of villages across what was once harsh, jungly terrain. Whoever controlled it took ownership of the central Yucatán Peninsula.

Previous researchers found evidence that a queen of Cobá set out on

numerous wars of territorial expansion. If it was Lady Six Sky, whose 

Badly eroded stela at Cobá, photo Richard Crim 

image appears on a monument at Cobá, and she was said queen, she held that power. If eventually the stela is verified as Lady Six Sky, this sign of dominance and respect will secure her place as a ruler of great renown in the Maya world.

Lady Six Sky was first recognized in the 1960s by the famous Russian archeologist, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, pioneer of Maya inscriptions, who dubbed her Lady of Tikal. At the time, however, three Maya cities used the same emblem glyph, so it's not a sure sign she actually had affiliations with Tikal. And first and foremost, Lady Six Sky's loyalty was to Dos Pilas, where her death was recorded in 741 AD.

There are so many Maya mysteries yet to be uncovered, but thanks to ongoing excavations, one recurrent theme is dominant: Women, too, ruled the Maya world.

If you enjoyed this post, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales of expat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Also, check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are available on Amazon where my overview of the 2012 Maya calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed—Demystifying the Prophecy, can also be found. 

MAYA QUEEN'S DISCOVERY UNEARTHS GAME OF THRONES' STYLE PALACE INTRIGUE

 

Glyph of Lady Ikoom from Stela at El Perú-Waka

PART 3

Did palace intrigue exist a thousand years ago in the kingdoms of Maya kings and queens? Apparently so. As in the adage, "Revenge is a dish best served cold," some vindications were even cross-generational. A Calakmul king in Yucatán's southern lowlands retrieved an important stela (large limestone slab placed in front of pyramid sites) that had been discarded for nearly a hundred years. It was to be included in a burial chamber for his beloved queen and wife, Lady K'abel, and re-established the family connection of his wife and another famous woman ruler, Lady Ikoom, also from powerful Calakmul, famously known as the Snake kingdom, but generations earlier.

The discovery of Stela 44 at the Guatemalan El Perú-Waka' archeological site in 2013 unleashed a discussion about the ruling Maya kingdoms of Tikal, Calakmul, and El Perú-Waka' from the seventh century. Prior to the discovery of this large limestone slab, very little was known about the titans of these ruling factions at that time.

Maya World Map by Keith Eppich

INTRODUCING LADY IKOOM

Lady Ikoom, also known as White Spirit, was predecessor to one of the greatest queens of Maya civilization, seventh century Holy Snake Lord Lady K'abel, who was also the Kaloomté, or military commander, of El Perú-Waka'. (See Lady K'abel Supreme War Lord post, October 15, https://jeaninekitchel.blogspot.com).

Archeologists wager around 700 AD, Stela 44 was brought to the main city temple by command of Lady K'abel's husband, King K'inich Bahlam II, to be buried as an offering in the funeral rituals for his queen.

The right side of Stela 44 (Francisco Casteñada)

POLICITCAL PAWNS

Princesses first, both Lady Ikoom and Lady K'abel were used as political pawns in marriages to powerful rulers of the Snake Dynasty of Calakmul. Though Lady K'abel's name has been bandied about for fifteen years, until discovery of Stela 44, Lady Ikoom was unknown, as was her husband, Waka' King Chak Took Ich'aak.

Dr. David Freidel in El Perú-Waka' (Sci-News.com)

According to Dr. David Freidel, professor of anthropology in Arts and Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis, co-director at the El Perú-Waka' site in Guatemala with Lic. Juan Carlos Pérez, the discovery of this stela offers a wealth of new information about a "dark period" in Maya history sometimes known as The Hiatus. Stela 44 introduced the names of two previously unknown Maya rulers and the political issues that shaped their legacies.

NEW CHAPTER FOR EL PERÚ-WAKA'

Freidel's epigrapher, Stanley Guenter, who deciphered the hieroglyphic text, believes Stela 44 was originally dedicated roughly 1450 years ago, around 564 AD, by the Waka' dynasty king, Wa'oom Uch'ab Tzi-kin, or He Who Stands Up the Offering of the Eagle.

Scholars believe the stela was left out in the elements when political ideologies shifted and Ikoom and her husband's clan fell out of favor. But it's likely, said Freidel, that the king prized this stela because as scion of the Snake Dynasty, Lady Ikoom would have had a familial connection both to him and his wife. Fragments of another stela, Stela 43, found in the temple walls in 2013, also mention Lady Ikoom. In this stela, Ikoom is given pride of place on the front of that monument celebrating an event in 574 AD.

WAR AND POLITICAL INTRIGUE

The stela tells a riveting story of war and political intrigue. The front shows a king cradling a sacred bundle in his arms. Two other stela at this site share this same pose and were probably raised by King Chak Took Ich'aak, whose name was used earlier by two Tikal kings. It's likely that this king of Waka' was named after them and that his dynasty was as a Tikal vassal at the time he came to the throne, said Freidel.

Tikal, Guatemala (Shutterstock)

WHITE SPIRIT

The text describes the accession of Chak Took Ich'aak's son which was witnessed by Lady Ikoom, who was most likely his mother. Her title, White Spirit, suggests she was a holy person and was linked to the powerful Snake Kingdom monarchy of El Perú-Waka', a vassal state of Calakmul, making it likely that Lady Ikoom was a Snake princess, according to Freidel's epigrapher Guenter. 

Stanley Guenter cleans Maya glyphs at a Maya site

The inscription reveals the death of Chak Took Ich'aak's father, which ushered in a period of political turmoil as different groups grasped for supremacy. Chak Took Ich'aak's son ultimately took the throne.

Years later, by the king retrieving Stela 44 and bringing it to his wife's burial site, this action put things back in order to re-establish the leadership and imperial dynasty of his clan.

CHANGING ALLIANCES

Scholars, including Freidel, assume, "At some time in his reign, King Chak Took Ich'aak changed sides and became a Snake dynasty vassal."

But when he died and his son became heir to the throne, he did so under a foreign king, which Freidel's epigrapher, Guenter, argued— after deciphering the hieroglyphics—was the king of Tikal, not Waka. In other words, King Chak Took Ich'aak's son came under the power of Tikal. Somehow Queen Ikoom survived this existential change of political favor.

The Maya political landscape underwent a huge turnabout beginning 556 AD with the Snake Dynasty on the rise and Tikal in decline. "A dramatic tide shift occurred," continues Freidel, "when that same Tikal king, Wak Chan K'awii, was defeated and sacrificed by the Snake King in 562 AD."

Calakmul, home to Snake Dynasty

Two years after that major reversal, the new king and his mother raised Stela 44 at the pyramid site, giving the story outlined here. Game of Thrones indeed. Only difference, this one happened in the land of the Maya, not Westeros of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones' fame.

Stay tuned for Part 4 of Maya Warrior Queens. If you enjoyed this blog, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales about ex-pat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Subscribe to my bi-monthly blog posts above, or check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival,  and Tulum Takedown are available also on Amazon.

MAYA WOMEN OF POWER — HOLY SNAKE LORD LADY K'ABEL, SUPREME WARLORD, PART 2

 

Rendition of Stela 44 Honoring Lady K'abel at Her Burial Site

Until fifteen years ago, Maya warrior queens were not the stuff of conversation much less legend in archeological circles. The idea was too far-fetched. The Maya hieroglyphic code had only been broken a few decades earlier in the 1970s at the famous Palenque Round Table talks in southern Mexico. Dozens of the world's finest archeologists and scholars gathered at the great site to put their heads together and try to break the problematic code. Besides that, hundreds of Maya sites had yet to be excavated. And no one had a clue as to how many sites were still undiscovered.

But in 2004, everything changed. Archelogist Kathryn Reese-Taylor, University of Calgary, headed a dig at a relatively unknown site, Naachtun. Sitting between powerful Tikal and Calakmul in the Yucatán lowlands of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala, Reese-Taylor and her team spent three months excavating the area. Their search proved fruitful and uncovered Lady Yohl Ik'nal, the Maya's first recorded female ruler, in 623 AD. (See Maya Warrior Queens Part 1, October 1 blog).

Maya queens rose to power after a seismic geo-political shift occurred in the mid seventh century. Power was moving into the area of the central lowlands and its vast forests in the middle of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Stela 34, Lady K'abel found in El Perú-Waka' 

ENTER LADY K'ABEL

In 2012 archeologists discovered the royal tomb of Lady K'abel, queen of the abandoned city El Perú-Waka', located in northern Guatemala between powerhouses Calakmul and Tikal. Known as the Centipede Kingdom, it played second fiddle to Calakmul, Snake Kingdom, that sat to the northeast. In a political power play, Lady K'abel, daughter of the ruler of Calakmul, was married to Tikal's ruler Kinich Balam II to serve as governor of El Perú-Waka' on her father's behalf. Archeologist Olivia Farr-Navarro (College of Wooster), a leader on the team, said they excavated the royal burial site located beneath a stairway platform located at the foot of the main Maya pyramid temple on site.

Archeologist Olivia Farr-Navarro at El Perú-Waka'site during excavation

STELA SHEDS LIGHT ON LADY K'ABEL

Until this discovery, scholars had known Lady K'abel as the Kaloomte', a Maya high king or queen who is military leader, the highest power in the kingdom. But Lady K'abel was hardly anonymous to those who studied the Maya. She had previously been identified by a stela (large limestone slab placed in front of a pyramid with hieroglyphic writing) that is on display at the Cleveland Art Museum, known as Stela 34 of El Perú. In it she is shown as a queen in warrior dress.

Investigation of this platform started before 2006 when Farr-Navrro studied under archeologist and author David Freidel, Washington University in St. Louis, and co-director of the site with Guatemala's Juan Carlos Pérez. El Perú-Waka' was being excavated by Freidel's team and planned to not simply uncover tombs but to focus on studying "ritually-charged" features such as shrines, altars, and dedicatory offerings.

CENTER OF RITUALS AND SACRIFICES

The city had long been a center of ritualistic activity and sacrifice, and signs implied it retained that significant presence long into the post-collapse era of the Maya after 900 AD when kings no longer ruled.

"The platform is the central focus point of the plaza in front of the largest temple at the site," said Farr-Navarro about El Perú-Waka'.  It was in a position of power.

Carved conch with woman's face emerging

As they dug at the foot of the staircase, long overshadowed by the platform, they found the entombed bones of a woman, surrounded by jade, fine pottery, and other signs of royalty. Most remarkable was a small alabaster jar carved to resemble a conch with a woman's face emerging from the shell as a stopper. The hieroglyphs for Lady K'abel's name were on the bottom.

WHITE SOUL FLOWER JAR DISCOVERED

The vessel, says Farr-Navarro, was most likely the "white soul flower" jar of Lady K'abel. Painted with red cinnabar, in ancient Maya mythology the flower jar essentially contained the soul of Lady K'abel. Though items can be moved around as a sign of veneration in burials, the white soul flower jar is an inalienable item that "could not be removed from her person," Farr-Navarro claims.

Clocking in to agree with Farr-Navarro's premise is archeologist Traci Ardren, from University of Miami, FL, and author of Ancient Maya Women. Though not part of the excavation, Ardren stated, "I'm completely convinced this was her tomb. The alabaster jar is really strong evidence."

The tomb site had been under study for almost a decade. Freidel and colleagues found artifacts suggesting a high-ranking female personage had been buried there, and Lady K'abel was the number one candidate. But it took the alabaster jar, small enough to fit in a queen's hand, to clinch the case. Carved to look like a shell, with head and arm of an aged woman emerging from the opening, four Maya hieroglyphs carved into the jar referred to the owner: Lady Snake Lord and Lady Waterlily Hand, two titles associated with Lady K'abel. Other artifacts found in the tomb suggest the person buried there was held in great reverence—red cinnabar pigment was used by the Maya in royal burial chambers and again, the white soul flower vessel, thought to hold one's soul, is specified in several Maya religious texts.

THE MAYA REVERED POWERFUL WOMEN

This find underscored the powerful role women played in the Maya world. At least eight women attained the Kaloomte' title held by Lady K'abel, Ardren said. Queens ruled at various times across the Maya world with standardized symbols for their titles. Though they may have been uncommon, they were not rare. And veneration of a powerful woman's tomb centuries after her death would not be so unusual. 

Alabaster jar on site with inscriptions of Lady K'abel

"She was married off for the greater good of the alliance between two cities. She left everyone and everything she'd known to travel to another city at a time of warfare."

A plate found on the left side of Lady K'abel's skeleton resembles a shield that would befit a warrior queen, Farr-Navarro explained. "Although it wasn't likely she'd fought in the rain forest battles that marked her reign, she was certainly not a shrinking violet."

Professor Freidel summed up the prime positioning of Lady Ka'bel's tomb: "In retrospect, it makes sense that the people of Waka' buried her in this particularly prominent place in their city. Archeologists now understand the likely reason why the temple wa so revered: K'abel was buried there."

LADY K'ABEL CONSIDERED GREATEST RULER OF LATE CLASSIC PERIOD

"Lady K'abel was considered the greatest ruler of the Late Classic period, and ruled with her husband, King K'inich Bahlam II for at least 20 years, from 672-692 AD," said Freidel. "She was the military governor of the Waka' kingdom for her family, the imperial house of the Snake King, and she carried the title Kaloomte' which translated to Supreme Warrior, higher even in authority than her husband, the king.

Figurine at El Perú site thought to be Lady K'abel

"She was not only a queen, but a supreme warlord, the most powerful person in the kingdom during her lifetime. That would put her in the same class as other ruling women of the ancient world, ranging from the biblical Queen of Sheba to Cleopatra."

After Lady K'abel's reign, Tikal's ruler continued their war against Waka' and Calakmul. By the middle of the eighth century, Tikal bested their rivals in the Maya superpower struggle. But by the middle of the ninth century, the Classic Maya civilization was on the way to its mysterious collapse.

In spite of that, even long afterwards, the lady's tomb remained a place of ritual, reverence, and pilgrimage for the Maya, apparently serving as a monument to a take-charge woman warrior who had gained her people's love and respect.

Part 3 in Maya Warrior Queens will include two more women rulers. If you enjoyed this blog, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales about ex-pat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Subscribe to my bi-monthly blog posts above, or check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival,  and Tulum Takedown are available also on Amazon.

MAYA WARRIOR QUEENS OF THE YUCATÁN

Rendering of Queen Lady K'abel in ceremonial headdress on 9-foot Stela 34, Cleveland Museum of Art

PART 1

    

Maya warrior queens. Yes, they existed.

Maya queens rose to power, according to a Discovery article, after a seismic geopolitical shift occurred in the Maya world around 623 AD when power repositioned into the vast forests of the Yucatán's central lowlands.

How did the archeological world first discover that Maya women rulers also played a part in deciding their city-state's future? For three months in 2004, archeologist Kathryn Reese-Taylor (Associate Professor of Archeology, University of Calgary), along with an international research team, studied Naachtun in Northern Guatemala, one of the most remote sites of the Maya world. At the height of the Maya civilization, this city sat between the Maya's two superpowers—Tikal and Calakmul.

Reese-Taylor's team mapped Naachtun's architecture and recorded ancient texts inscribed on altars and stela (large limestone blocks positioned prominently in front of pyramids). Stela 18 depicts a fierce Naachtun queen with a battle shield strapped to her arm, standing on the back of an enemy captive, a lord of Calakmul.

This was the aha moment, thanks to Reese-Taylor's digging, for the archeological conversation that would now include women warriors, a concept that a decade earlier would have been dismissed. Until then, Maya royal women were pawns in marriage and/or consorts, mothers of kings. Nada mas. But her team's discovery changed all that, anchoring a position in archeology that accepted both women and men as powerful rulers in the Maya world.

Maya artists usually portrayed their kings trampling over cowering prisoners, but from Reese-Taylor's finds in Naachtun, the stela in question depicts both king and queen as conquerors. She continued to search for more documentation as proof, combing through hundreds of published inscriptions and royal portraits in university libraries in both the US and Canadian archives.

Lady K'Abel, first female supreme warrior, on stela in El Peru-Waka, Guatemala, 692 AD

BY THE CLOTHES THEY WEAR

Through collaboration with archeologist Peter Mathews (University of Calgary), whose research specialized in the site at Naachtun and decoded subtleties of ancient Maya costumes, Reese-Taylor learned women warriors wore full loose calf-length skirts and men's clothing was tighter, more form fitting. She used that as a benchmark, uncovering clothing differences in images of queens from several Maya cities beyond Naachtun. Her discoveries gave way to fact: the lowland Maya had many warrior queens, specifically in four Maya city-states: Coba, Naranjo, Calakmul and Naachtun.

With Reese-Taylor's on-site excavations sifting through more and more hieroglyphs, she determined that the northern Maya dynasties prized their female ancestors. A northern royal family known as the Kaan, or Snake Dynasty, moved into mid-Peninsula Yucatán rain forests in the early 600s, claiming the throne from mighty Calakmul and rising to great power and influence. After 623 AD, Kaan princesses married into many local ruling houses in the lowlands, carrying these new ideas with them.

There was a "real expansion of the role women played in politics," said Reese-Taylor. "As I began researching, I noticed the existing literature suggested there were only a few isolated examples of these warrior queens in Maya society."

Kathryn Reese-Taylor at Naachtun, from Discovery

"I started to realize that was bogus," Reese-Taylor continued. "There were, in fact, many examples of noble warrior women. Woman's role was not in the background. It was up front and center." 

MANY WARRIOR QUEENS

This series will dive into the positions of four major Maya warrior queens. The first royal queen to hold a title was Lady Yohl Ik'nal, first woman recorded as ruler in the Maya kingdom and one of the few women who held this office. Her role was unusual because she held power for 21 years, from December 583 AD to November 604 AD and was known as a queen regnant, or official ruler of the city-state Baak/Baakal where Palenque was located as a city within it. This much is known because she had the title Divine Lord of Palenque and its first woman ruler. Along with this distinction she was known to have supervised an "accession" for Lord K'an Tok. Historians believe this took place between 587 AD and 604 AD, her year of death.

Archeologist Merle Green Roberston thought her tomb was at Palenque in Temple XX. It's believed the queen was memorably known and referred to because of Pakal's famous sarcophagus, discovered by archeologist Alberto Ruz in the 1950s, untouched. Maya artists depict prominent family members on tombs, and Lady Yohl Ik'nal was drawn twice, on the west side and east side, standing reborn by a zapote tree and also coming out of an avocado tree, reborn.

Merle Green Roberton's reconstruction painting of Pakal crypt in Temple of Inscriptions

PALENQUE'S ROLE IN MAYA WOMEN RULERS

She was related to K'uk' Balam who began his rule at Palenque in 431 AD and came to found a line of rulers, even though his reign lasted only until his death in 435 AD, a mere four years.

Lady Yohl Ik'nal's name from the sarcophagus of Pakal'

In Maya culture, women normally held temporary power through sons if they were too young to rule. The fact that Lady Yohl Ik'nal held power for more than two decades is impressive. She remained in power longer than her contemporaries in the region, withstanding two major attacks early on in her reign, the first in 599 AD from powerful Calakmul. In spite of this defeat and another invasion at an unknown later date from Bonampak, she retained her position and was treated with veneration throughout her reign.

Her name translates to Lady Heart of the Wind Place. Because her exact birth date is unknown, scholars believe she was either the daughter or sister of Palenque's Janaab Pakal, the previous ruler. As Maya rule usually descends through male lineage, historians have no doubt Palenque was going through a troubled time. There may have been unrecorded warfare that eliminated male candidates; this may have been the reason Lady Yohl Ik'nal ascended to the throne becoming queen. 

Pakal, greatest ruler of Palenque

PAKAL AND HIS LEGACY

Though much remains unclarified, it's believed that her descendant K'inich Janaab Pakal—either grandson or great-grandson—became the greatest and most venerated of all Maya rulers, ruling for 68 years. Pakal's tomb was discovered in 1952 in the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque.

Temple of Inscriptions where Pakal's tomb was found

Though Lady Yohl Ik'nal was the first to be discovered of Maya warrior queens, she was not the last.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Lady K'Abel or Holy Snake Lady, from El Peru-Waka in Northern Guatemala.

If you enjoyed this blog, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales about ex-pat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Subscribe to my bi-monthly blog posts above, or check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival,  and Tulum Takedown are available also on Amazon.

THE MAYA TEMAZCAL—A SWEAT LODGE OR A SPIRITUAL RITUAL

 

Image from Matadorenetwork.com

Years ago I attended a temazcal ceremony in the pueblo Centro Vallarta off a jungle road not far from Puerto Morelos. The woman who would lead the ceremony was a respected guide and had been actively helping the Maya locals and specifically Maya women in numerous ways for years. When she asked if I’d like to attend, I was happy to accept.

One of many temezcal styles (photo Bajainsider.com)

ANCIENT STRUCTURES

Sweat lodges and saunas have been around for thousands of years and modern versions of these ancient structures vary with their place of origin. The temazcal comes from the native cultures of northern Mexico. The event I'd attend was to be an all women ceremony with ten in attendance. It took place next to a cenote—seemed like good Feng Shui—on one of her friend’s properties in Vallarta. A Maya local, he’d built the structure from long slender tree branches that he curved into an arch that became a dome, then covered with tightly woven palm fronds. The entrance was small, just below hip height, and the circular structure measured roughly 15 feet in width. Shapes and make-up of temazcals vary widely, ranging from natural structures like this one to stucco or cement block, even tile surfaces. 

On arrival that afternoon we swam in the cold waters of the sparkling cenote. It was a spring day and in southern Mexico that brings humidity and heat, especially inland. The water was refreshing and after our swim we sat on the side of the clear pool as we waited for the temazcal to begin.

Cenote (photo Natalie Obradovich)

When local women got together from our pueblo, it was usually a time of laughter, joking and fun, but we all sensed that our attendance here, at the temazcal, was a somber moment. We were undertaking an ancient ritual. For many of us it was our first experience attending a temazcal ceremony and the overall tone was thoughtful and reflective.

Goddess Ixchel (photo AlmaLDStours) 

Sandra's friend, Don Jose, had started the fire near the structure before we arrived, to heat the lava rocks for the temazcal. The entrance to the temazcal is traditionally low. That forces those participating to crawl in and out—a gesture of reverence as the ceremony represents rebirth in the womb of Mother Earth. A temazcal is considered a spiritual renewal, connected to the goddess Ixchel. Inside, at the dome's center, would be a ring of rocks inside which the heated lava rocks were placed. Don Jose kept the cloth flap over the entrance closed until we were ready to go inside. We’d each brought a towel or blanket to sit or lie on. Once inside, the hot, steamy atmosphere made me sweat. Temazcal in Nahuatal translates to house of heat. That was definitely accurate

PREPARING THE SPACE

Sandra had placed copal, or pom, a Maya incense, on the lava rocks before we went inside. Then she’d returned back to the group, asking us to gather in a circle around her. With arms wide, she beckoned to the four directions and four elements just outside the domed temazcal. She blew into a conch shell, one long continuous blast, before we all crawled into the temezcal’s dark interior where the smoky fragrance of copal filled the dome. Once inside we were asked to say silent prayers for guidance and divine blessings, a process to cleanse and fortify.

Lava rocks (Mexexperience.com)

She put volcanic rocks heated until glowing in the center of the ring. "These rocks are considered the grandmothers or abuelas," she explained, "so that our ancestors share the experience with us."

Fresh water in a bucket with fragrant herbs was brought to a boil, and then splashed on the rocks. The space filled with a musty perfumed odor. Everyone sat in silent contemplation and the process went on for a long while. It was stifling inside, a true sauna. 

We were in complete darkness, all sweating profusely, in silent repose. I leaned back on my blanket, wondering what came next. There was only silence for a good long while—us and our thoughts. Finally Sandra spoke.

SILENCE

“After your silent contemplation, we now begin our journey of rebirth. We’re in the womb here of Mother Earth. She asks our reasons for coming. While we sweat, it’s our job to look within for spiritual cleanliness while the sweat removes our physical toxins. We'll remain in silence."

For what seemed like forever, the dome was silent, with the only interruption being the hissing of the volcanic rocks when Sandra dripped water onto them. At long last she spoke. 

“Now we can go around the circle and speak out loud to our ancestors and our sisters here.”

Ancient temazcal at Parque Yaxah Nakum Naranjo (photo Wikipedia)

The next part of the temezcal was charged and emotional. The ceremony, the silence, the profuse sweating out of toxins, the intensity evident in our soul-bearing to each other, had transformed us.  After the last of us spoke, Sandra led a prayer and  benediction—a display of gratitude to Ixchel, our ancestors, the four elements and spirits. I felt bonded to not only Sandra but all the other women there along with renewed respect for Ixchel, the Maya mother goddess who had guided us to this satisfying finale.

I hear every temezcal is unique, though a certain amount of propriety remains intact. The ceremony I attended was a hybrid, conducted not by a Maya local but a woman from the community who had studied and trained in the ways of Maya shamanic life. I felt reborn as I crawled out of the dark dome, eyes downward, after my jolt of spiritual awareness. One by one we made our way to the edge of that clear cenote, feeling the welcome fresh air and slipping into the cool water, submerging our entire bodies as we embraced our newborn selves. From darkness, we were now swimming in the light.

Temazcal in San Luis Potosi (photo Trip Advisor)

If you enjoyed this blog, check out my memoir Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. it's available on Amazon with many more tales about ex-pat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites fo years, owning a bookstore in Mexico, Maya culture and Mexico travel. Subscribe to my bi-monthly blog posts above, or check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are also on Amazon. My journalistic overview of the Maya 2012 calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed: Demystifying the Prophecy, is also on Amazon.