Mayan Fire Ceremony: Honoring the Sacred Count of Days
Here on the shores of Lake Atitlán, a Maya spiritual guide can lead your group in a traditional day count fire ceremony. It is an interactive ceremony, and everyone is invited to take part.
What happens at a fire ceremony
The guide builds the fire in the age-old Mayan way, with copal (tree resin), myrrh, herbs, chocolate, cinnamon, and candles.
As the ceremony moves through the 20 nawales, the Mayan day signs, you will be invited to make offerings to each one. The guide provides everything you need, including copal incense, herbs, candles, tobacco, and seeds, and explains how each offering connects with its energy.
You can also bring small objects, such as jewelry, to be energetically charged. Place them around the fire circle before the ceremony begins.
The sacred count of days
The Maya view time as both linear and cyclical. Intricate mathematics and sacred geometry are woven into their calendar systems, which stretch into infinity. Time is at once now and eternal.
The Cholq’ij, the sacred Mayan calendar, is a 260-day cycle created by the ancient Maya. Elders, spiritual guides, and daykeepers in Guatemala and Mexico still use it today. Connecting with the Cholq’ij helps us align with the unique energy of each day, celebrate milestones, and live in harmony with the cycles of life.
Your Mayan birthday
Every day in the Gregorian calendar corresponds to a Mayan day sign and number. The sign and number of the day you were born define your nawal, a guardian energy that guides you throughout your life. The word comes from Nahuatl, where nawal (also spelled nahual or nagual) means a protective being embodied in an animal, element, or spiritual force.
Your Mayan birthday, or awach q’ij (“face of the sun”), pairs a number from 1 to 13 with one of the 20 nawales. Together they create a unique energy that shapes your personality, gifts, strengths, and challenges.
The calendar also mirrors the human body. The 20 nawales represent our 10 fingers and 10 toes, and the 13 numbers correspond to our major joints. It is a beautiful reminder of how our physical and spiritual lives are woven together. We recommend looking up your Mayan sign or having a personal reading before attending the fire ceremony.
Living with the Mayan calendar
Each of us is born with gifts to cultivate through both heart and intelligence. Understanding our energies helps us grow as individuals and as members of our communities. Living with the Cholq’ij attunes us to the rhythms of nature and encourages presence, intuition, and self-awareness. Over time, patterns emerge, and the calendar becomes a guide for self-realization and soul growth.
Simple ways to align with the energy of each day:
Morning meditation on your nawal
Setting a daily intention
Taking part in a fire ceremony
Candle rituals
Affirmations
Journaling
The more you practice and observe, the more clearly the energies of the Cholq’ij reveal themselves.
Personal Mayan astrology readings
With advance notice, the spiritual guide can offer personal readings after the ceremony. Readings are $20 per person for 15 minutes. We set up a sign-up sheet to collect birth dates for anyone who would like one. Please let us know ahead of time if your group is interested, so the guide can plan his schedule.
Timing and what to know
The fire ceremony begins at 8:15 a.m., and breakfast is served at 7:30 that day. Mayan ceremonies are traditionally held early in the morning to harness the energy of the rising sun, and the ceremony space is cool and shaded at that hour. During the dry season from November to April, we can also schedule the ceremony at 3 p.m.
We include a Spanish-to-English interpreter for every ceremony. Even if you speak Spanish, having an interpreter lets you stay fully immersed in the experience.
We recommend confirming your fire ceremony 2 to 3 months before your retreat to secure the spiritual guide’s availability.
Invocation
To the spirit of the air, spirit of the fire, spirit of the water, and spirit of the Earth. To the Heart of Mother Earth and the Heart of the Sky. To the Great Creator Ajaw.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for our lives, for our existence. Maltiox, maltiox, maltiox.
To include a Mayan fire ceremony in your retreat, write to us at reservations@villasumaya.com.