In Alma 16:13, we read of the Nephites having “sanctuaries”; it is possible that the concept of a “sanctuary,” in a Mesoamerican setting, includes a sacred space in nature. As Freidel et al note:
The K'iche' lineage shrines reveal
something of the integration of sacred and natural spaces in the highland Maya
world. In fact, many are placed in low spots close to natural springs or other
water sources, while others are placed high on mountain tops. Here as elsewhere
among the Maya, the shrines represent points in a grand pattern of procession
and visitation, timely ritual action, and prayer. They are holy places along the
path of words.
The K'iche' shrines also serve as
important markers on our own journey into the Maya past. Their word for lineage
or cofradia shrine, where the dead souls are propitiated, is warabal
ja, literally "sleeping house." This concept has echoes in the
Maya Classic period. The logic of calling the shrine home of a dead soul a
"sleeping house" is given by one of Garret Cooke's informants in
Momostenango:
"This then is what I believe. It
is as we say when we dream of someone who has died. We have known him and we
have a dream. Then we say that the spirit comes down visibly to our spirits in
this way when we sleep, and so the two spirits converse, the living and the
dead." (Cook 1986: 146) (David Freidel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker, Maya
Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path [New York: William Morrow
and Company, 1993], 188)
