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Read the summary of the books:
For:
Maya Compendia: English,
Español, Français, Italiano & Deutsch.
For Maya-Mexico: English, Español, Italiano. |
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 Maya Compendia
(extracts from my book)
Agriculture
The agricultural
system commonly used by the Maya was called slash and burn and it is
still used in the area today. The forest was cleared and the
vegetation burnt, the resultant ash enriched the soil and increased
its fertility. Once the crops had been harvested the land was left
fallow and another plot of land cleared. Other systems of
cultivation used by the Maya included terraces, raised fields on
riverbanks and ‘rejolladas’, which were depressions filled with more
fertile organic material.
The Maya grew various crops in the same area,
regardless of the system of agriculture used, to take advantage of
the land. Corn, beans and squash were the staple crops.
What makes this crop combination so important is
the relationship of the plants, for example, corn takes nitrogen
from the soil), beans grow up the corn stem and fix the nitrogen
from the air returning it to the ground (through symbiosis with
bacteria) and squash impede rapid soil erosion). Eagles and snakes
seek refuge in the trees surrounding the fields and feed on the
crows and rats that eat the corn, bean and marrow crops.
When people visit the Yucatan Peninsula they
wonder how this infertile land can produce crops . The research
carried out by archaeologist Sylvanus G Morley, indi cates
that one hectare in the northern Yucatan can produce 1,100kg of corn
per year, on average a family will cultivate four to five hectares.
A Maya farmer works 190 days in order to harvest double the amount
of corn consumed by his family; 3kg of corn, for five people, daily
.
In September 2001, I interviewed Jacinto, a
farmer from the Yucatan. After analysing what he said about his
farming activities (see the following table), a cycle of nearly 260
days of corn growing can be identified (the length of the cycle may
vary depending on the type of forest and corn). This cycle can be
linked to that of the 236-day cycle of Venus as a morning star or
the 250-day cycle when it is the evening star.
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Month |
Year |
Activity |
Total Elapsed Time |
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August |
2000 |
The undergrowth was cleared and then the trees were cut
down. |
3 months |
19 months |
|
September |
|
|
October |
|
|
November |
|
The vegetation was left to dry out. |
5 months |
|
December |
|
|
January |
2001 |
|
February |
|
|
March |
|
|
April |
|
The dry vegetation was then burned |
One month |
|
May |
|
Waited for the rains at the end of May |
One month |
|
June |
|
The crop was sown after the rains and harvested in January. |
9months
(approx. 260 days!) |
|
July |
|
|
August |
|
|
September |
|
|
October |
|
|
November |
|
|
December |
|
|
January |
|
|
February |
2002 |
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Note: this is a personal interpretation of the harvesting
and sowing seasons according to Jacinto, a modern-day Maya.
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The author was born in
Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico in 1968. He is actually working as a
tour guide and lives in Cancún. Among his many and different
activities: he owns a website for
hotel reservations in Cancun,
edits a cultural monthly
magazine and his own books.
ph: +52 (998) 112 1003 (Nextel) CD
62*15*66939 jahg1968@gmail.com
info@cancunideas.com
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