A Visit with Aureliano: Preserving Nature and Maya Culture

The entry to Pool´s workshop reads: Take care of Ecology, It´s part of your Life

Face of the Cultural Preservation Campaign

Past the train tracks, on the border of Izamal's downtown, a thatched roof and bamboo walls (in the style of a traditional Maya hut) are the entry to the Workshop of Aureliano Pool, an advocate for preservation and an artesian.  If Aureliano looks familiar, you may have seen him, as he was the face of the  ¡WEY YANO’ ONE’! posters, part of Yucatan's Cultural and Indigenous Language Preservation Campaign.

Aureliano has welcomed visitors from around the world, including China and Hungary.  He's hosted reporters from National Geographic.  And today, Aureliano is sitting in his kitchen having lunch when I enter his patio, which display various arts and crafts depicting Maya traditions and animals of the region. Sr. Pool has transformed his backyard into a lush jungle trail.  Along the trail, he has placed dozens of sculptures - heads, animals, wash basins.  Aureliano is careful to point out which ones are original and which are reproductions, as well as the story behind each one.

                                     We pass the Apiario Maya, a model of a Maya beehive constructed out of a hollowed-out log.  The bees enter a small hole in the front of the log.  After about 3 months, Aureliano tells me, the log will be filled with honey, which can be accessed by opening the end of the log and sliding out the trays inside.  "Xunan cab"  he says, asking me to repeat, until I've said it perfectly.  This means pretty woman honey, as the bee Abeja Mellipona Bechar, looks like it has beautiful eyes, and does not sting... a beekeeper's dream!

Further down the trail, we pass a Maya altar of stone heads and a Piñuela (maya: Chü), a large bromelid growing in the trunk of a tree.  We head inside to view the artwork of Aureliano´s nephew, Jose, an art professor and visual artist, whose animal prints utilize a technique called xilography.

Altar of Skulls

After the tour, we take a seat on small benches in the workshop to chat.  He interchanges spanish with maya, and then waits, while I practice the word, and perfect it, which usually doesn´t happen.  B’a’alche’means animal.    Wey Yano´ One, signifies ¨We are Here.¨ Aureliano shows me pictures of his family, his Maya artifacts, and pictures of him and his wife at their craft booth near Izamal´s main convent.  In  several photos, he´s in a protest against GMO seeds, which he has seen destroying the diversity of plant varieties in the region.  In this space, culture is defined by language, plants, and art, and it´s clear that Aureliano´s mission is conservation of all three.  As a souvenir for my classroom, I chose a toy lizard from a nature display in the living room.  Dios bo´tik Aureliano!