At a school in Guatemala’s western highlands, children clapped and sang along Thursday as singer-songwriter Sara Curruchich performed in Kaqchikel, one of 22 Mayan languages spoken in the country. Ninety-seven percent of the school’s more than 250 students in San Jose Poaquil speak the language. The event in advance of International Mother Language Day on Saturday featured a Kaqchikel translation of a children’s book aimed at promoting language preservation.
About one-third of Guatemala’s population speaks a Mayan language, according to a 2018 census, but four languages are in particular danger of disappearing entirely.
Singing in the mother tongue
Children clapped and sang along Thursday as singer-songwriter Sara Curruchich performed in Kaqchikel, one of 22 Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala. At a school in San Jose Poaquil in the country’s western highlands, where ninety-seven percent of the more than 250 students speak Kaqchikel natively, the performance was part of a celebration ahead of International Mother Language Day on Saturday.
A Kaqchikel translation of “What Makes Us Human” was also featured at the event. Victor Santos’s children’s book, which explores valuing the mother tongue and its connection to earlier generations, was published through collaboration between UNESCO, the publishing house Cholsamaj, and the Mayan Language Preservation Project.
Language as identity and belonging
“When we come to the communities and people in their language, there is an instantaneous connection, we recognize ourselves in the word,” Curruchich said, reflecting on her own experience. She recalled that as a child she did not listen to songs sung in Kaqchikel.
Gerber Mux, executive director of Cholsamaj, said the organization is prioritizing translations into the 22 Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala, with particular focus on four that are most threatened: Itza’, Uspantek, Mopan, and Chorti’.
“What we want is that the language does not disappear, because with it would disappear a cosmovision, wisdom, all of the connection with our ancestors,” Mux said.
Curruchich expressed hope that younger generations would adopt the languages “not out of obligation, but with a lot of love,” ensuring they become custodians of their heritage.
“That’s how they become the guardians of our languages, ensuring that what our grandmothers and grandfathers cherished as our identity and roots prevails,” she said.
A living legacy
According to the Academy of Mayan Languages, a 2018 census found that a little more than 6.4 million Guatemalans — about one-third of the population — spoke a Mayan language, Xinca, or Garifuna. The languages represent millennia of knowledge and cultural continuity.
Cristina Puerta, chief of UNESCO Publications, said the organization chose to promote the book because “it conveys the simple yet powerful idea that language is the very essence of what defines us as human beings.” She said the project aims to raise awareness among younger generations of Mayan language speakers about “the linguistic richness they inherit and the need to mobilize others to preserve it.”