The article is a brief reflection on the oral traditions of the Ixil Maya of the highlands of Guatemala, which concern in particular the supernatural beings that are believed to inhabit the pre-Columbian remains located in the sacred place of B’ayal I’ (‘Xacbal’ archaeological site) close to the contemporary indigenous community of Ilom in the municipality of Chajul. It aims to show how the inhabitants of Ilom imagine, verbalize and perform their bonds with the remains of the people they call the Grandfathers, what is left of the time they lived in the vicinity of where their descendants live right now, and what it means for them to co-habit their ancestral lands. The article is based on selected historical sources and materials from the fieldwork conducted in the Ixil Region between 2013–17.

This study sheds light on a sacred entity that is firmly rooted, and continues to be highly relevant, in the cosmology and culture of the present day Mayan Indians from the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico. Using ethnographic data collected in native communities from the state of Campeche, I will illustrate how these revered beings, the aluxo’ob, are the receptors of abundant offerings via the Mayan campesino’s annual ritual activity, as well as their role as protagonists in a diversity of mythological narratives that explain the genesis of the world and the successive creations and destructions of humanity. Finally, I will explore the links that connect the ritual Mayan specialists (jmeen) with the aluxo’ob, whom they seek for the esoteric knowledge necessary for mediating the relationship between their communities and the sacred realm.

Within the last couple of decades the religious world of Latin America has included a significant variety of non-institutional religiosities that have gained more and more power. Some of the examples are the cult of Santa Muerte that has spread to various parts of the planet, the cult of Jesús Malverde, the patron saint of the Sinaloa cartel who is also venerated in various regions of the U.S.A. and Central America, as well as the case of San Simón, interpreted by various social sectors that adjusted the cult to their own spiritual needs, at the peak of its expansion also resulting from social mobility and the institutional crisis of Christian religions. These religious movements implied a redesign in social studies that led us through reflections on theoretical, conceptual, and methodological dimensions. This study takes a social anthropology and situated ethnography perspective, it focuses on description of the worship of San Simón, a saint of Guatemalan origin who does not belong to the Catholic pantheon, and who is venerated by a group of Guatemalan prostitutes in a Chiapas municipality Macondo (a fictitious name), on the border with Guatemala. The research was conducted in a bar named El Kumbala, a place where a series of religious practices dedicated to San Simón occur, in a context permeated by violence, where this religious figure gains a symbolic charge related principally with protection. For the prostitutes from this region San Simón is a great ally who provides them with clients and protection. However, in addition, he lives the same rejection as his devotees, which means, that his relationship with them is of a horizontal nature, which permits a series of punishments if he does not fulfil his basic functions: to protect and to provide.

The pilgrimage of the road of the serpent takes place when a group of travellers decides to take a tour that they see as sacred and magical; also known as the ruta sagrada Olmeca or ruta original, the road of the serpent is associated with a compound of cosmogonic and symbolic beliefs that reveal themselves as this tradition develops, from the Santa Marta tour starting at Punta San Juan to the archeological zone of Tres Zapotes, to the rituals that take place during the trip.