Life in a Guatemalan Indian Village
By Benjamin D. Paul
Benjamin Paul, who later became the head of Stanford University's cultural anthropology department, describes the customs of the Maya of San Pedro la Laguna. Although many things have changed since the article was written in 1950, it still provides a deep and very human understanding of the people of this Tz'utujil Maya town.
Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth: Aspects of Maya Spirituality
This is a collection of paintings by Tz'utujil and Kaq'chikel Maya artists about Maya Spirituality. The paintings come from the Helen Moran Collection (www.mayawomeninart.org) and the Arte Maya Tz'utujil collection. The texts were written by three Maya men
The Maya Bonesetter as sacred specialist
By Benjamin D. Paul
San Pedro la Laguna is famous throughout Guatemala for its curanderos de huesos, Maya bonesetters. This short article, written in 1976, describes the process of becoming a curandero.
Careers of Midwives in a Mayan Community
By Lois Paul
In 1978 anthropologist Lois Paul, Benjamin Paul's wife, published this article about midwives in San Pedro la Laguna. One of the midwives in this article, Juana, is the subject of Barbara Rogoff's award winning 2011 book Developing Destinies: A Mayan Midwife and Town.