Through a series of lectures, workshops, and a roundtable discussion, specialists at next year’s symposium will discuss our current understanding of the intricacies of Maya calendars and the relevance of the completion in December of 2012 of the final baktun of the current era of the Long Count within the worldview of the ancient and contemporary Maya.  Divinatory almanacs and references to Maya creation mythology in the texts and iconography of pre-Columbian codices and the Colonial Books of Chilam Balam are among the topics that will be considered, with discussions centered on the role of creation stories and foundation events in Classic, Postclassic, and contemporary Maya rituals. 

Featuring guest speakers from the fields of archaeology, art history, epigraphy, ethnohistory, linguistics, and archaeoastronomy, the 2009 symposium promises to be a memorable weekend spent exploring and discussing Maya creation mythology, divination and prophecy, and calendar systems.  We hope you will join us in New Orleans next February for the Sixth Annual Maya Symposium and Workshop.

DEADLINE FOR EARLY REGISTRATION EXTENDED TO JANUARY 21, 2009
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Click here to view Maya 2009 Postcard

Download campus map here

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE PROGRAM

EXHIBIT IN THE LATIN AMERICAN LIBRARY
Maya Time Reckoning and the Language of Creation: Views from the Merle Green Robertson Collection
4th floor of Howard-Tilton Library
FEBRUARY 4 - MARCH 20, 2009

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2009
7:00 pm
102 Jones Hall
Film Screening of ERÉNDIRA IKIKUNARI
Discussion with filmmaker Juan Mora Catlett to follow.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7
Book and poster exhibit, Room 201 (across from Freeman Auditorium), Woldenberg Art Center.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2009

8:30-9:30 am
Registration
100 Jones Hall

9:30 am -12:00 pm

- Introductory workshop on the Maya calendar with John Justeson
Howard Tilton Library, 3rd Floor

- Teacher Workshop: Counting Time the Maya Way, Markus Eberl
Jones Hall 100A, Greenleaf Conference Room

1:00 pm - 3:30 pm

- Introductory workshop with Judith Maxwell, Sacred Space and Time:  Modern and Colonial Conceptions of the 260-Day-Count Auguries, Spatial Display, and Ritual Practice
Jones Hall 100A, Greenleaf Conference Room

- Intermediate workshop with John Justeson
Howard Tilton Library, 3rd Floor

3:30-6:00 pm  
Workshop with Marc Zender, Classic Maya Mythologies
Freeman Auditorium, Woldenberg Art Center

7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Keynote lecture by Anthony F. Aveni, Ends of Time:  The Maya Mystery of Creation 2012
Freeman Auditorium

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2009
All lectures will be in Freeman Auditorium

9:00-9:15 AM Gabrielle Vail, Opening remarks

9:15-10:00  The Role of New Fire Ceremonies at Teotihuacan in Foundation Narratives at Copan and Other Classic Maya Kingdoms, William Fash, Alexandre Tokovinine, and Barbara Fash

10:00-10:45 The Lord of the Deer: Reconstructing a Lost Maya Myth, Marc Zender

10:45-11:00 REFRESHMENT BREAK

11:00-11:45 The Sacred Cycle of Time in the Paris Codex, Victoria R. Bricker and Harvey M. Bricker

11:45-12:30 PM The Genres of Classical Yucatecan Creation Myths, Timothy Knowlton

12:30-2:00 LUNCH

2:00-2:45 “Straightaway their Vision Came to Them:” Ancestral Vision and Calendric Divination Ceremonies, Allen J. Christenson

2:45-3:30 Cosmology and Creation in Ch'orti' and Ancient Maya Ritual, Matthew Looper

3:30-3:45 REFRESHMENT BREAK

3:45-4:30 The Multiple Threads of Mayan Time, Barbara Tedlock and Dennis Tedlock

4:30-5:00 DISCUSSION

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2009

9:30 - 12:00 pm Roundtable Discussion
Jones Hall 100A, Greenleaf Conference Room

Click here to view the abstracts and bios of the presenters.