After 27 years of existence, the Ecological Agriculture School U Yits Ka’an (Rocío del cielo), from Maní, reached an agreement with the Mérida City Hall to obtain a space in the Vista Alegre Norte neighborhood to offer the public various organic products and handcrafted items at affordable prices, for now, every Tuesday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Catholic priests Atilano Ceballos Loeza and Raúl Lugo Rodríguez lead this project which they called “K’íiwik Uyk”, which began with a Mayan ceremony of blessing of the earth by the traditional doctor Mario Euán Chan, 84 years old, 25 of which he has dedicated to transmitting his ancestral knowledge to more than 100 people.
In this context, awards were also presented to 13 new graduates from different communities in Yucatan.
The new traditional doctors are Olimpia Pacheco Uc (Mayapán), Geny Selene Catzin Catzin (Dzemucut), Rosa Elena Cime Catzin (Kaxaytuk), Emilio Torrez Pacheco (Maní), María de la Cruz Torrez (Maní), Herculano Pat Tun (Tixcacalcupul), María Consolación Puc Canul (Tixcacalcupul), Ana María Koh Tun (Tixcacalcupul), Severiana Pat Tun (Tekom), Francisca Moo Yah, (Valladolid), Ildefonso Moo Che (Valladolid), Eutimio Poot Poot (Pisté) and María Isabel Moo Yah (Yokdzonot, Yaxcabá).
Ceballos Loeza explained that by opening this commercial space they seek to put aside the middlemen, so that the products of the land and of the hands are within reach of everyone in a “fair trade” of vegetables, traditional plants, fruits, vegetables and articles such as embroidery, hammocks and honey derivatives, with the added value that they are clean, without agrochemicals, as a way of “moving towards healthy production“, rescuing the knowledge of the grandparents and taking care of the environment.
Ceballos Loeza and Lugo Rodriguez’s school has promoted over the years that people empower themselves with ancestral knowledge, that they produce and consume their own food, that they be agents of change in their communities and that the surplus can be marketed, as in this case in the capital of the entity, in this space located on 4th Street, between 3rd and 5th in Vista Alegre Norte, near Plaza Altabrisa.
During the morning activity, in addition to planting chicozapote, huaya and pepper fruit trees, they also offered workshops to children on caring for the land, healthy production and the correct consumption of cultivated products, and distributed leaflets on ecological restoration and soil care, as well as responsible food consumption.
The Maní School of Ecological Agriculture maintains links with the UADY Faculty of Agronomy, the Chapingo Center, the radio station XEPET “La voz de los mayas” and the Agroecological Fund of the Yucatán Peninsula.
The traditional doctor Mario Euán Chan led a ceremony of blessing of the earth, then they drank “Balché” (the sacred wine of the Maya) and Sac-Há, (pozol). There he explained that since he was 25 years old he learned from his parents and grandparents the medicinal use of plants and now, at 84 years old, he is still practicing and imparting his knowledge to the new generations.
He knows at least 250 plants of medicinal use, but generally, due to the type of current illnesses, only about 50 of them are applied to cure “bad air“, restore appetite, treat dry skin and stomach illnesses.
The traditional doctor has traveled the state imparting his knowledge, leaving botanical gardens of medicinal plants in the places he visits, and maintains a close relationship with the School of Ecological Agriculture of Loeza Ceballos and Lugo Rodriguez, who invite him to give workshops and lectures.
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