On our way to Lake Atitlan, we stopped to explore the Mayan Ruins of Ixim'ché in Tecpan.
The ruins were absolutely stunning (click on the picture for a more detailed view). As I stood there, admiring the architecture, thinking about the amount of work and effort involved in creating something so substantial, and reflecting on the people that had laboured so long ago, I was also saddened.
-All of that work and effort... a waste, a monument to the extremes that people will go to in order to connect with a false sense of security, to follow their ancestors traditions...traditions that ultimately lead them away from the one true living God.
-The day that we were there, there was a family performing a ritual on one of the altars. Rituals to false gods are still taking place today, that reality pains me.
-The tall ruin in the center of the picture is where the king or lord of the tribe would sit. Each year, a young female virgin would be sacrificed on a small circular altar to the front left of the temple. In a rite of passage into manhood, a young man would rip her heart out, and race up the steep stairs in order to present the still beating heart to the king.
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