MEXICAN CULTURAL SURVIVALS - RITUAL USE OF CAVES

The term "secret" is something hidden from knowledge or view; or people operating in a hidden or confidential manner. If not so, then it's no longer a secret. Broda (1989) shows an awareness of "cultural survivals" or hermetic rites by writing that "the cave cult... played a role in the native assertion of ethnic identity." As if speaking for the role of hidden caves in "Mexico Central," Coe (1992) states, "Today, throughout the lowlands, Maya shamans use the caverns for their most secret rites and divinations."

The ritual use of caves is associated with astronomy, particularly the sun and religious calendar dates. Cave ceremony includes factors like a petition for rains, agricultural fertility, curing practices, and ethnic identity. Again, Broda has taken the pulse of rural Mexico. She writes, "If there exists a striking continuity of certain elements of Indian cosmovision throughout Colonial times up to the present day, this is due to the fact that this cosmovision continues to correspond to the material conditions of existence of Mesoamerican Indian peasant communities. Observation of nature with respect to geography, climate, astronomy, agricultural cycles and curing practices continues to have validity today."