“Tojo papi, tojo amor,” Juana playfully beckoned her young grandson from across the kitchen. The child glanced over at her, but instead toddled towards the plancha, the ceramic stove, aiming directly for the fire. Once there he proceeded to play with the ash emerging from the front of the plancha. The family, however, looked on unconcerned and continued their conversation about how many cows to buy in the market the next day. Suddenly Miguel, the grandfather, lunged forward shouting “no, no, no!” as he confiscated a flaming stick from his young grandchild. “Ai hombre!” the child’s exasperated mother exclaimed as she stood and took the mischievous toddler from his grandfather.
My research took me to the small K’iche’ Maya town of Antigua Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan (ASCI) in Guatemala where most families live in family compounds where the normal dinner conversation consists of interactions like this between three generations of family members. Families are constantly together, speaking to one another and building relationships in day-to-day activities. I first arrived in Guatemala expecting to study the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. However, as I studied I realized that the bond between grandparent and grandchild is a cornerstone for the eldercare system. In my research I established the importance of grandparent/grandchild relations among the K’iche’ by examining children as a remembrance of their grandparents and grandparents as parents. Next, I looked at the significance of showing respect in Maya ideology and then examined the factors contributing to loss of respect. I show that the eldercare system among the K’iche’ relies on a strong bond in grandparent/grandchild relations as exhibited by respect towards grandparents. Without this bond the eldercare system, based on kinship care giving, can no longer function effectively
My research was conducted using semi-structured interviews with informants of all ages with the help of a Spanish/K’iche’ translator, as well as participant observation of everyday life in ASCI. Some of my most valuable participant observation actually happened during interviews where I witnessed, for example, family fights and grandmothers breastfeeding grandchildren. The cultural information I learned from observing the family may actually in these instances have been more significant than the information from the actual interview. I also completed a survey of forty households in ASCI in collaboration with all the students in our group conducting research in surrounding villages.
Grandparents are key figures in the lives of their grandchildren because grandparents traditionally act as backup parents for grandchildren when grandchildren are young. This nurturing relationship not only extends from grandparents to their grandchildren, however. After both grandparent and grandchildren have grown and grandparents can no longer take care of themselves then grandchildren have a responsibility to care for their grandparents, just as the grandparents had once cared for their grandchildren.
Grandparents are also distinctively important in K’iche’ culture because respect for ancestors is so prominent in Mayan ideology. Respect towards grandparents may act as an extension of this idea since grandparents can be seen as living ancestors. One of the most visible sign of this in ASCI is the k’ex bond between grandparents and grandchildren, which literally means “substitute” (Mondloch 1980:10). K’iche’ naming practices name children after their grandparents. Consequently, children named after their grandparents become grandparents’ k’ex, their replacement. This continuous cycling of a name ensures that the ancestor is never forgotten. Aspects of k’ex can be found in regions around the Maya world, such as Momostenango, San Andres Semetebaj, and even into Chiapas, Mexico (Mondloch 1980, Carlsen and Pretchel 1991), though few studies have examined k’ex in any detail.
These two concepts in Mayan ideology, respect for ancestors and k’ex, reinforce the pattern of nurturing between grandparents and grandchildren. These create a system where all members of the society are taken care of. The cultural system is dynamic, however, and culture change from Ladino (non-indigenous Guatemalans) and Western influences has put the eldercare system in danger of breaking apart. Instead of remaining in the community to take care of the elderly, many young people leave the communities.
Televisions, once a rarity in ASCI, have been bought recently by many people in the village. This has chiefly allowed K’iche’ youth to see beyond their borders and yearn for things they see on these televisions. Furthermore, K’iche’ youth have become familiar with Ladino pop culture and music and often times become overly preoccupied with them. They no longer value Mayan ideals such as respect towards the elderly. Two ways to get the material things are by becoming more educated or by migrating. Both of these require that the youth leave the village. Furthermore, if the youth do stay in the community, many of them are unconcerned with making sure their grandparents are taken care of.
One of the many problems these create is that the system to care for the elderly is left with many holes. Grandchildren would rather spend their time trying to make money or catching up with the latest fashion than taking care of their grandparents. In Guatemala there is no state system in place to take care of the elderly if their family fails them. The spread of western ideals and western products around the globe should also come with an understanding and preservation of native cultures and social systems. Without this, cultures that have methods for things like health care and discipline that have been successfully used for centuries will face major social problems if they cannot adapt quickly enough. Further research should be done into the health care system for the Maya elderly before more elderly are inadvertently abandoned by their kin without other support systems.
