Artisan Travels: A Mayan Ceremony at Iximché
Each time I visit Guatemala, I try to learn something new about the culture of the place I fell in love with so many years ago. It is a constant education, and nothing is quite so humbling as attending a Mayan ceremony. We were fortunate to participate in one within the forest next to the Iximché ruins, an experience that can remind us all how young our understanding of the world really is.
Iximché, A Place Full of Energy
Iximché sits in the highlands of Guatemala, the former capital of the Kaqchikel Maya kingdom and one of the most important pre-Columbian sites in Central America. Today it remains an active ceremonial site, where Mayan spiritual leaders, called Ajq'ijab', or daykeepers, conduct ceremonies tied to the Mayan calendar, marking days of intention, gratitude, healing, and remembrance. The forest around the ruins holds the ceremonies with a particular kind of quiet that feels intentional, as if the trees themselves are participants.
The Fire Ceremony
We were invited to witness a fire ceremony, a prayerful, structured ritual in which offerings are arranged with great care and intention before being offered to the flame. Pine needles blanketed the ground beneath us. Candles in colors that each carry meaning, red for life, yellow for the sun, white for clarity, black for protection, were arranged in patterns that spoke a symbolic language far older than any written word. Copal incense moved through the air. The Ajq'ij, Paula López Domingo, spoke in Kaqchikel, her words rhythmic and unhurried.
Craft and Intention
What struck me most was how familiar it felt in spirit, if not in form. The same devotion to intention, to making, to the meaning behind every gesture, that we see in the weaving traditions of Guatemala was present here too. Nothing was careless. Everything meant something.
For a brand built on the belief that craft and intention are inseparable, this ceremony felt like a confirmation of everything we are trying to do.
This month's mood board begins with a bed of pine needles, an element used not only in Mayan ceremonies here in Guatemala, but for all kinds of special occasions: birthdays, weddings, and community celebrations. Scattered across them are fresh flowers, another common and beautiful presence in ceremonial spaces.
We also included a cup of cacao. Cacao has been part of Mayan ceremony for centuries, consumed as a sacred offering within ritual, not as a standalone event. We want to be clear about that distinction, because the popular "cacao ceremony" widely marketed today has little connection to actual Mayan tradition. We include it here to honor what cacao genuinely represents in this culture, a meaningful element of a much deeper and older ceremonial practice.
The candles in our mood board are locally made from beeswax and we feature our Culebra Throw Pillow, chosen for its vibrant, layered colors that celebrate the visual richness of a Mayan ceremony. We also chose it for the Iconography of overlapping diamonds which represent the planets, a direct and meaningful reference to the ceremony we were honored to attend.
