Maya's clothing, custumes, and graves

One can be overwhelmed by the color in Central America.  The color from flowers and birds, and the color from fabrics and clothes.  And the raised Graves where loved ones are buried.

The Scarlet Macon from Copan:

 

Common folks go about their daily lives  in the Solola market 30 some miles from Guatemala City, and near Atitlan Lake.

 

 

Perry and Kathleen were dressed up by the store owner at Santiago (a villiage by the Lake Atitlan) who wants to sells us items.  I have to say they are really good quality hand made products.

We visited a cemetery where all the colorful raised graves sitting high on the hill and overlooking a river.  over there I first learned about Maya's deity Meximon.

A "priest" will pray to Meximon for the family when a loved one was dead, as a comfort to the remain relatives alive.  Respect shown to Meximon is through feeding him wine, cigarette, money , ash burning, as well as praying.  When Spanish occupied the land, they apparently incorporated Meximon in the building of the church in order to appeal to the locals.

The one in the center is Meximon. A colorfully decorated "wooden" thing.

 

In the following carving found in a Roman Catholic church, Meximon is sitting in the center.

And there is always the colorful costumes for festivity and dancing (at a dinner in Antigua):

How little things (here is a fully sized doll in the lobby of the hotel at Lake Atitlan) make me happy: