In Teopantli Kalpulli, Isac
participates in different Indigenous rituals and ceremonies around a large
ceiba tree, which is a sacred tree in the Mayan tradition. He shares his
prayers or intentions there, destined for the Great Spirit in a way that is typical
of the Lakota tradition, but it is also a place he regularly attends alone in
the afternoons to meditate. At its altar, known as ‘the aquarium’, Isac
performs medical circle rituals which consist of establishing visions of the
sacred wheel around the four directions, the four elements and their
corresponding totems: the buffalo of the north; the eagle of the east; the
coyote of the south and the bear of the west. Before he has made the peyote
pilgrimage to the sacred centre of Wirikuta, he has deposited his wrapped
jícara [bow] and his arrow at the aquarium, a chapel located at Teopantli
Kalpulli, (because its not an aquarium it is the name of GFU chapel). Isac
considers that the gods are there. Every week, on Saturday nights, he
participates in the Temazcal ritual to connect with the Great Spirit at
Teopantli Kalpulli as well.
. . .
Another element that also travels
with the women is the jefa tambor. It is a community percussion instrument
around which they gather to recover traditional songs in their native
languages. The drum also has different prayers, materialised in pieces of ribbons,
coloured fabrics, bird feathers, snails and so forth that are placed on the
altar in the ceremonies. The jefa tambor is loaded with many intentions. It is
a tradition taken from the Siux-Lakota rites and conveys the motives or
requests to the Great Spirit. (Angela Renée De la Torre Castellanos, "Neo-Mexican
Home Altars: Daily Reconnections with the Spirit of Nature," Journal
of Beliefs & Values [2024]: 8, 13-14)
