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Lesson 1 - Maya Arts: What Are They?
Objectives
Help students gain an understanding of
- what arts and crafts are
- the importance of arts and crafts in Maya
society today and in the past
- how crafts skills play a role in the
daily life of the Maya (i.e. to enable them to weave their clothing, make
nets and bags for carrying crops from fields, carve grinding stones for grinding
corn,
make pottery for cooking food and to eat from, etc.)
Materials
A copy of the Maya Arts & Crafts of Guatemala Coloring Book,
or photocopies of a different page for each student.
Actual Maya craft items, if available.
Several baskets and small pieces of fabric. See Activity 6 for how to use
baskets in learning activities
for your class.
Vocabulary
Artist or Artisan: a person who has skills to perform the
tasks by hand from start to finish to make pottery, carve wood, weave cloth
or make other kinds
of useful and pleasing items. (Another word for artisan is craftsman or craftswoman.)
Arts and Crafts: Items made by hand by artisans with dexterity and
artistic skill. Such items may be useful to help in daily living or be made
for decoration
or have
religious meaning. Generally, they are made from natural materials and not
from plastic.
Culture: Learned and shared patterns of thought and behavior
characteristics of a given population, plus the
material objects produced and used by that population.
Cultural Symbol: an expression, such as clothing that helps recall
the meaning of the customs, way of life, etc. of a particular group
Learning Activities
- Ask students to list the names of the specific crafts seen
in the coloring book. These items are: hand woven wool blankets, backstrap
woven textiles, embroidered textiles, hand bags, maguey nets, palm hats, floor
mats, decorated gourds, pottery, tinware, hand carved furniture and small sculpture,
hand carved masks, glassware, candles, cut paper decorations, wrist bracelets,
and maguey decorations.
- Make a list with students of which crafts shown in the coloring book
could be made in the USA. Talk about why many of the items can or cannot be
made in the USA. Some suggested discussion
points are: (a.) No one knows how to make them and (b.) The materials to needed
make them do not grow in the USA.
- Pottery making, crochet and floor loom weaving are some crafts done
in the USA. The friendship bracelets seen being made by a Maya girl (page
29) can be made by children here in Canada and the USA. Ask if any
student ever done this? (see Further Exploration at the end
of this lesson).
- Lead students in a role playing activity: living like the ancient
Maya:
- make a list of basic things that are necessary
to live (clothing, food, etc.)
- ask them to pretend to "time
travel" to the age of the ancient Maya. Ask them about how they lived,
grew and prepared food, made their clothing, etc.
- discuss
what it means to be self sufficient — to have to grow and make
much of what you need to live.
- Try out carrying a basket as Maya women
do. The secret is very simple: a piece of cloth, such as a washcloth,
is folded into quarters and placed on her head under the basket or bundle.
If something is in the basket to weigh it down, that will also help make it more
stable. Almost magically, the basket will not slide off if the child's
head if he/she walks with a straight back.
Assessment
Students should be able to
- show good understanding of the uses of arts and
crafts shown in the coloring book
- give names of the arts and crafts and express why they have
been so important in the lives of the Maya
- talk about the meaning of self-sufficiency
Further Exploration
The book Technology in the Time of the Maya by Judith Crosher, contains
excellent material about Maya arts, crafts as well as agriculture, etc. and
includes several crafts project.
Friendship Bracelets by Laura Torres has excellent
detailed instructions about how to make macramé friendship bracelets.
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