Water worship and the construction of a good life among the Tojolabal Maya

Abstract

This article reflects on the worship of water and the construction of the concept of good life (jlekilaltik) among the Tojolabal people of Chiapas. A symbolic analysis is developed of the ritual practices linked to the triad of water, territory, and subjects, as key elements in the construction of Tojolabal jlekilaltik. The methodology focused on periods of ethnographic fieldwork in the Tojolabal Comiteca Plateau. It was identified that one of the central elements in the construction of good living or good life is the sacredness inherent in the ritual processes currently practiced by the Tojolabal, and the construction of ethnic intersubjectivity with other Mayan peoples of Mexico and Guatemala: the Tseltal, Tsotsil, and Chuj.