We had known at birth which one of the Mayan girls would be sacrificed. The high priest showed all the giant stone tablet with all the per-recorded dates and times that a specific young woman from the tribe with give her life up to appease the Gods. From the time of the chosen girls’ birth she was prepared to learn everything about the ways of her people, so that she would be able to tell the Gods upon her arrival.
There was no sadness involved with this ritual. The young girls were all aware of the out come of their 12th or 13th birthdays. On this day the chosen one would be cleansed and dressed in her finest garments that had been being prepared for her during the past 12 years.
Each bracelet had been intricately hand carved by one of the high priests throughout the years, while necklaces were made from the purest gold accented with tiny crystals. These necklaces were not only to be worn around her neck, but around her ankles and some placed atop her dark hair. They would be braided and woven into her hair continuously as she grew to the designated time. Each sparkling crystal was significant of a different star in the sky.
It was if the elders were pre-programming the young women to reach a selected place in the heavens. During the dressing for the ceremony, other maidens would be walking near the young princess and when they reached her face they would open up a small bowel in which thick white smoke erupted once opened. The Princess was instructed to inhale deeply and hold her breath for awhile. This part of the ritual was done all through the morning preparations.
At high noon, when the angry yellow sun informed them that the ceremony would be soon, the women sat around a square table. These women were the other princesses that were not chosen, but they were there to manifest this holy and sacred ceremony.
Different drinks were poured into small clay cups, and as the chosen princess sat at the head of the table the other 16 young women offered her their drink. Each drink had a relaxant stirred in blood; the princess was to drink all of them. When this ritual was done, the elders came and assisted the princess to the living well. As they waked her towards the well, other young princesses walked along them and frequently opened their bowls of white smoke.
Reaching the Living Well, the princess would stand before the high priest to receive her last worldly blessing, two more cups of liquid were given to the princess by elder woman...one may have been her mother. Without hesitation these drinks were taken slowly. After the last one was taken she would walk to the sacrificial plank and walk out towards the green well. With out a scream, a shed of tear or even a last smile to others her body just gracefully floated in to the well. It was as if a green mouth had opened up to engulf the holy entity. The service was over; all went back to their living quarters to prepare for the next princess which would be in nine months.
