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Mayan priests purify ruin after Bush visit

IXIMCHE: Mayan priests spiritually “cleansed” a Guatemalan religious site with incense and candles on Thursday after a visit earlier this week by US President George W Bush. Two priests lit coloured candles on the four corners of the ruins to represent natural elements, burning incense and beating a ceremonial drum on top of a pyramid visited by Bush and Guatemalan President Oscar Berger on Monday. The priests said they wanted to purify the site before a visit by Bolivia’s indigenous President Evo Morales later this month. “During President Bush’s visit here snipers occupied this entire area,” said Mayan youth leader Jorge Morales Toj. “It’s a violent way of showing how disrespectful the US empire is toward indigenous people.” At Thursday’s ceremony, two spiritual guides said prayers in Spanish and the Kaqchikel Mayan language, handing corn that had been used as decoration during Bush’s visit to kneeling women. Corn is sacred in Mayan culture and is the origin of man in the Mayan holy book the Popul Vuh. The ceremony was meant to clear out residual “bad energy” at the ruins, the capital of the Kaqchikel Mayan people before the 1524 Spanish conquest, in preparation for the arrival of Morales, who will attend an international convention of native leaders here at the end of the month. reuters

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