Notable Quotables: Almost gone

"Healing…To wish that people is ill gets better soon. Only two people here in Na Ha and on the other side is Lacanja can practice…He is the last old man in this area that can do it. The tradition is getting a little bit lost because of the new culture."

---Director of Natural Reserves and Wildlife in Chiapas Maria Theresa Vasquez describes a spiritual ritual of the healer of one of Mexico’s three remaining Lacandon tribes.

As Voice of America reported, the Lancondians “are one of the most isolated and culturally conservative of Mexico's native peoples.” Unfortunately, these descendants of the Maya have seen their numbers dwindle to roughly 1100 as some have fled to other communities while their lands have been encroached by loggers and ranchers.

Image- history.ca (Image from Canadian filmmaker Collin Hanney’s 1960 documentary on the Lancandon peoples).
Online Sources- Voice of America