This weekend was the second and final equinox event of the year! The equinox is a day where the hours of sunlight are exactly equal to the hours of night. The first equinox happens in spring on March 20-21st and the second is September 22-23rd, and besides the 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, these days serve a lot of significant roles for different groups and communities. For the Yucatec Mayan people who live in the Yucatán Peninsula (the part of México where I am living right now), these days represent the start and end of the planting and growing season. This weekend I was able to see the Mayan ritual of the equinoccio (equinox) where the sun casts a shadow, representing the Mayan deity, Kukulcán, coming to earth and symbolizing the end of the growing season and the start of the harvest.
It’s manatee month! I am here in México at a university called The University of Quintana Roo, and the students are focusing this month on celebrating the manatees. Chetumal is a city located right on the water, and the warm temperature of the bay serves as a perfect bathtub habitat for this marine mammal. In Mayan, the word for manatee is teek paal kó.
