℗ and © 2010 Frank DiGiacomo and 2014 Sing DiGiacomo.
Evocative and other-worldly, this highly personal piece has the shimmering feeling of a dream, very appropriate to its subject.
Although the Composer did not leave any commentary on this composiiton, the Maya practices of finding divinations in a reflective bowl of water, and the wearing of mirrors as protective talismans, does provide a frame of reference for this sound landscape.
Mirror of the Maya
Description by Artist Oscar Manjarres of his painting
Mr. Manjarres can be reached at oscarmh10@gmail.com.
The artwork was conceived as a way to depict some of the places and scenes brought to mind by Frank DiGiacomo’s Mirror of the Maya. The civilization of the Maya existed from about A.D. 250 to 900, when it mysteriously disappeared. The Maya saw death and resurrection, time and the heavens in terms of cycles. This is different from our modern concept of time in a linear fashion.
The artwork is divided into five elements:
The first and top element depicts the Orion Nebula, representing our origins, the head and the intellect, coming from original darkness. It is the beginning, when all was stillness, silence and water. In the beginning was the darkness…as the Bible relates in Genesis...Nefilim and giants roamed the earth. To the Maya, the Nebula was the flame, called K’ak, in the center of the Three Stones of the Hearth, the stars Rigel, Saiph and Alnitak, forming an equilateral triangle, like the hearth stones of the classic Maya home fires. Orion, known by the Babylonians as MUL.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA, the Loyal Shepherd of Heaven, was also known as Osiris by the Egyptians.
The second element, a Carved Mirror, is a depiction of an actual archeological artifact, of greenish slate with red cinnabar, representing the spirit, soul, or our silver cord of spirit and energy, that links humans and the universe. In Classic Mayan culture of the Guatemalan Lowlands, shamans, rulers and scribes used obsidian as a Dark mirror and pyrite as a Bright mirror. They used mirrors for divination, and as healing instruments, associated with the sun, moon, water and fire. They were also used as part of burial paraphernalia with the function of opening a supernatural portal between worlds, connecting earth’s gods and mortals, with universal spirits, including the spirits of animals.
The third element, depicts the Copán Ruler, representing the physical human presence and essence on earth. Copán, of western Honduras, was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from AD 500 to 900. The statue depicts Mayan ruler Uaxaklajuun Ub’aah K’awiil. The name means “Eighteen Images of Mayan Divinity K’awiil”. K’awiil is associated with lightning, serpents, fertility and maize. Because of his place in the dynastic sequence of Copán, Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil is sometimes referred to simply as Ruler 13 or Thirteen Rabbit.
The fourth element is the Temple of the Inscriptions representing physical humans on earth, and or, the universal duality that makes possible balance, harmony and evolution. Located in the modern-day state of Chiapas, Mexico, the Temple of the Inscriptions ranks among the most famous monuments of the Mayan world and is the largest Mesoamerican stepped pyramid structure. Its ancient name was Lakamha, Big Water. I depicted a portion of the Big Water pyramid paired, suggestive of a mirror, to also represent the Hero Twins of the Maya, who challenged the Lords of the Xibalba (Underworld, Dead) to a Ball-game. The Lords had killed the father of the Twins, who was also a twin, in a previous Ball-game. The Hero Twin’s victory of revenge prepared the fourth creation of the Maya, when the Twins became the Sun and the Moon.
The fifth and bottom element represents The Underground World. This obscure environment of vegetation, the maize, sacred ceiba trees, the earth, the water and the very clay itself, which the Maya believed, as described by the Popul Vuh, included the physical human body and senses, our pillars or patterns of conduct, our DNA, if you will, directing our destiny and connecting us with the universe. Recently discovered caves in the Yucatan Peninsula have shrines and sacred structures inside, which can only be accessed by swimming underwater, adding further mystery to this World.