Back in Time Today
Hidden deep in Mexico’s Chiapas rainforests lives one of humanity’s most remarkable cultural treasures – the Lacandon people. These direct descendants of the ancient Maya have maintained their traditions despite centuries of outside pressure.
Today, with fewer than 1,500 members remaining, they face their greatest challenge yet: preserving their identity while their jungle home disappears around them.
1. Descendants of the Ancient Maya
Walking among the Lacandon feels like stepping back in time to the height of Maya civilization. Their traditional white tunics, long black hair, and spiritual practices connect directly to ancestors who built magnificent temples at Palenque and Yaxchilán.
Unlike other Maya groups who adopted Spanish customs after conquest, the Lacandon retreated deeper into the forest, maintaining religious ceremonies and cultural practices with remarkable purity. Their isolation protected ancient knowledge that would have otherwise vanished centuries ago.
Even their appearance—with distinctive bowl-cut hairstyles for men—mirrors depictions found on ancient Maya pottery and stone carvings dating back over a thousand years.
2. Home in the Lacandon Jungle
Emerald canopies stretch as far as the eye can see in the Lacandon’s homeland—the last major tropical rainforest in North America. This biological treasure chest contains over 1,500 tree species, 33% of Mexico’s bird diversity, and countless medicinal plants known only to the Lacandon.
Their traditional palm-thatched homes nestle along rivers and clearings within this verdant maze. For centuries, this dense jungle provided natural protection from outsiders seeking to convert or conquer them.
The forest isn’t just their home—it’s their grocery store, pharmacy, hardware shop, and sacred temple all rolled into one vibrant ecosystem that sustains their unique way of life.
3. A Small Population
Families gather around evening fires in the three main Lacandon communities—Nahá, Metzabok, and Lacanjá Chansayab—where every birth is celebrated as a victory for cultural survival. With fewer than 1,500 people, the entire Lacandon population could fit inside a small high school auditorium.
Their numbers have actually grown from a historic low of just 300 in the 1940s, when disease and encroachment nearly wiped them out completely. Yet this slight recovery remains precarious.
Marriage traditions have evolved out of necessity. While older generations once practiced polygamy to increase their numbers, younger Lacandones now often marry outside their group, creating complex questions about cultural identity.
4. Traditional Religion and Rituals
Smoke rises from copal incense as an elder Lacandon priest makes offerings in a God House—a simple thatched structure housing sacred clay incense burners called god pots. Each uniquely decorated pot represents a different deity in their complex pantheon.
Hachakyum, the creator god, and Yuum K’ax, the forest lord, receive regular offerings of balché, a fermented honey drink, along with tamales and prayers. These ceremonies can last for days, especially during planting and harvest seasons.
Though Catholic missionaries have targeted them for centuries, many Lacandon maintain these ancient practices, seeing themselves as the last true keepers of Maya spiritual knowledge that was lost elsewhere after the Spanish conquest.
5. A Unique Language
Musical tones flow through the air when Lacandon elders speak their native tongue—a distinct variant of Maya that preserves ancient words lost in other dialects. Linguists consider it a living window into how the Maya language sounded centuries ago.
Children now learn Spanish in government schools, creating a generation gap in fluency. Many young Lacandon understand their ancestral language but respond in Spanish, a worrying sign for language preservation.
Written materials in Lacandon Maya remain extremely rare. A handful of dedicated scholars work with community elders to document the language before more knowledge disappears with each passing funeral.
6. Deep Connection to Nature
Barefoot children race through forest paths, identifying dozens of plant species by their Lacandon names and uses before they learn to read. This intimate knowledge begins in infancy, carried in mothers’ arms as they gather materials for daily life.
The forest provides everything—palm for roofing, mahogany for canoes, vines for binding, and over 400 medicinal plants for treating ailments. When a Lacandon feels fever coming on, they don’t reach for aspirin but for specific bark and leaves proven effective through generations.
This relationship goes beyond practical use. The Lacandon see themselves as guardians of the forest, with spiritual obligations to protect it from harm—a responsibility increasingly difficult to fulfill.
7. Slash-and-Burn Agriculture
Morning mist hangs over carefully selected forest patches where Lacandon farmers practice milpa agriculture—a sophisticated system developed by their ancestors thousands of years ago. Unlike modern farming, their method works with the jungle rather than against it.
Small plots are cleared and burned, enriching the soil with nutrient-rich ash. Farmers plant diverse crops together—corn, beans, squash, chili, and medicinal plants creating a mini-ecosystem that mimics natural forest diversity.
After two or three growing seasons, the plot is abandoned to regenerate for 15-20 years while new areas are cultivated. This rotation allowed the Lacandon to farm the same region sustainably for centuries without depleting the soil or permanently clearing the forest.
8. Threats from Deforestation
Chainsaw growls echo through valleys once filled only with bird calls and rushing water. The Lacandon Jungle has lost over 70% of its original coverage in just the last 50 years—a catastrophic change visible from space.
Illegal logging operations strip valuable hardwoods while cattle ranchers and palm oil plantations clear vast tracts for commercial use. Government road projects fragment remaining forest, opening new areas to exploitation.
For the Lacandon, this isn’t just environmental damage—it’s cultural apocalypse. As ancient trees fall, so do the spirits, medicines, and resources that have sustained their way of life for centuries, forcing many to adopt unfamiliar livelihoods or migrate to cities.
9. Pressures from Modernization
Satellite dishes now sprout alongside traditional palm-thatched roofs in many Lacandon communities. Young people scroll through smartphones while their grandparents weave palm fronds, creating a visual metaphor for the cultural crossroads they navigate daily.
Government schools teach Spanish and national curriculum with little focus on Lacandon heritage. Children return home questioning traditional beliefs after exposure to outside religions and values.
Modern medicine has improved health outcomes but reduced reliance on traditional healers. Store-bought clothes replace hand-woven garments. Each convenience comes with a cultural cost, creating painful choices between tradition and the undeniable benefits of modern life.
10. Cultural Preservation Efforts
Elder Chan K’in Viejo’s weathered face lights up as he records ancient stories for future generations. Once passed down through oral tradition alone, Lacandon knowledge now finds new homes in digital archives, books, and community museums.
Women teach girls traditional backstrap loom weaving techniques during weekend workshops. Men take boys on forest expeditions to identify plants and animals by their Lacandon names.
Several communities have established cultural centers where visitors can learn about Lacandon traditions while local youth serve as guides. These efforts create both cultural pride and economic incentives for younger generations to value their heritage rather than abandon it for mainstream Mexican culture.
11. Displacement and Land Rights
Boundary markers stand as silent witnesses to decades of land conflicts that have pushed many Lacandon families from ancestral territories. Despite living in the region for centuries, their traditional land use left few permanent structures that satisfy modern legal definitions of ownership.
The Mexican government granted some Lacandon communities land rights in the 1970s, but these decisions created tensions with other indigenous groups and settlers who had moved into the region. Complex legal battles continue today.
Some families maintain dual residences—official homes in recognized settlements and traditional homes deeper in the forest where they can practice their culture away from regulatory oversight and tourist gazes.
12. Ecotourism: A Double-Edged Sword
Visitors photograph a Lacandon guide as he expertly navigates jungle paths to Mayan ruins hidden within the forest. Tourism brings much-needed income to communities where traditional livelihoods have become increasingly difficult to maintain.
Lacandones now craft artisanal goods specifically for tourists—bows and arrows never used for actual hunting, decorative god pots, and woven bags. This cultural performance provides economic opportunity but sometimes reduces rich traditions to simplified demonstrations.
Some communities have built eco-lodges where guests experience aspects of traditional life. The income helps families stay in their homeland rather than migrating for work, but constant exposure to outside values accelerates cultural change in ways both positive and concerning.
13. Climate Change Impact
Elders shake their heads as they discuss how rainfall patterns have shifted dramatically in recent decades. Droughts now stretch longer, floods hit harder, and the predictable seasons that guided agricultural cycles for generations have become increasingly erratic.
Certain forest plants flower at wrong times, disrupting traditional harvesting schedules. Game animals change migration patterns or decline in numbers as their habitats respond to warming temperatures.
The Lacandon calendar once precisely predicted when to plant corn based on natural signals from the forest. Now these ancient indicators prove increasingly unreliable, forcing farmers to experiment with new planting times or switch to drought-resistant crop varieties that weren’t part of their traditional diet.
14. Partnerships with NGOs
Conservation biologists huddle with Lacandon experts, mapping forest areas containing rare medicinal plants that need protection. This scene plays out regularly as environmental organizations recognize that Lacandon knowledge offers solutions to preservation challenges.
Several communities have partnered with international NGOs to develop sustainable income sources like honey production, shade-grown coffee, and certified timber harvesting. These projects aim to provide economic alternatives to selling land or resources.
Cultural heritage organizations help record language, stories, and traditions while respecting community ownership of their intellectual property. The most successful partnerships acknowledge Lacandones as equal partners rather than subjects of study or charity, combining traditional wisdom with modern conservation techniques.
15. A Fight for Cultural Survival
Antonio, a young Lacandon man, stands at a crossroads—university education in his future, yet ancestral knowledge tattooed on his heart. His generation embodies the central struggle: how to walk in both worlds without losing their unique identity.
Community leaders advocate for indigenous rights at national forums while elders ensure ceremonies continue despite dwindling participation. Women establish cooperatives that blend traditional crafts with modern business practices.
What makes this struggle remarkable is not just what they fight against—deforestation, discrimination, poverty—but what they fight for: the right to remain Lacandon in a world that increasingly demands conformity. Their resistance represents humanity’s broader battle to preserve cultural diversity in an increasingly homogenized global culture.