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Celebrated annually in the first week of August since 1972, the Guatemalan National Folk Festival evokes these same ancient artistic and religious values through their modern expression in dance and weaving, in flower-decked processions, and in the respect and reverence of those who re-enact this priceless ancestral legacy. Each masked dance-drama in the rich Maya repertoire is a unique fusion of precolumbian and Spanish colonial choreography and theatre. In the creative hands of Maya women, the same fertile process of cultural interweaving has produced the spectacular textile tradition for which Guatemala is justly famous. The National Folk Festival is a showcase for these and other indigenous arts - painting, pottery, silverwork, and the music of marimba, flute and drum, among them. Musicians, dancers, groups performing estampas - dramatized vignettes of indigenous life and history - arrive from all parts of Guatemala, accompanying aspirants to the sceptre and tiara of the Rabín Ahau, the National Festival Queen. Central to the Festival's activities, the election of the Rabín Ahau offers a glorious spectacle of colour, music and movement - and, crucially, a forum for the Maya ethical and spiritual values that underlie them.
Guatemala is emerging from a tragic and destructive civil war. The Peace Accords of 1996 that put an end to more than three decades of armed confrontation called for a renovation of national institutions in order that they guarantee liberty, security and peace, work to overcome the original causes of the conflict, and seek to optimize the benefits of economic growth for all Guatemalans. At the same time, the new democratic order that the Peace Accords call for must reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of the nation, and respect not only the political and economic rights of all citizens, but also their cultural and spiritual aspirations. As an event that has promoted the cause of peace and harmony even during the most violent years of the civil war, the National Folk Festival is uniquely placed to serve as a model for realization of this ideal of 'integral development' in the painful process of postwar reconstruction. But global processes that promote democracy, stability, and prosperity can also threaten the cultural expressions that nurture the Festival. At the level of the local community, the economic and organizational burden falls on ever fewer shoulders, and Maya aesthetic and spiritual traditions are endangered.
For all national institutions the message of the Peace Accords is one of democracy and participation in the cause of multiculturalism and national reconciliation. As the expression of a priceless contribution to the world's cultural heritage, and as a vehicle of harmony and mutual understanding, the National Folk Festival can show the way in the construction of a new culture of peace. In this, the Festival and the cultural expressions upon which it depends merit the full support of the international community. The Project investigators will seek and publicize participants' and regional and national authorities' vision of the future of the National Folk Festival, and their views of how it might best serve their aspirations. Within the terms of the Peace Accords, we will recommend solutions to problems identified, and establish mechanisms to implement these solutions, including direct financial assistance from the international community where necessary.
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