To many Indigenous Guatemalans, the desecration of their ancestral land and water feels like one more blow in a history of abuse, violence and exploitation. For Indigenous Mayan Peoples, Mother Earth is not just a concept — she is as real they are, and must be cared, protected and honored. So if we desire to bring balance and nourishment back to Mother Earth, we must not only pray for her. The ceremony, he says, is their way to “communicate with the wind, with the mountains, the rivers, and with Mother Earth herself. The heaviness of the day breaks, a reminder that at Qana’ch’och’ is devoted not only to Indigenous justice — but to Indigenous joy.