Maya Calendar Revealed

September 30, 2012

This once-in-a lifetime event for the most adventurous foodies explores the end of the Maya Calendar featuring Dr. Isabel Hawkins, an astronomer and Maya expert from the Exploratorium and Doña María Ávila Vera, a Maya elder from the Yucatán, Mexico. They will show video clips from “Living Maya Time,” a website sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, featuring contemporary Maya people speaking about the meaning of 2012. Then we will explore the rich abundance of fruits, meats and vegetables native to the Yucatán region of Mexico.  The multi-course dinner will feature indigenous foods of the Maya that date from before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the Americas. Your taste buds will delight as you delve into turkey with kol and recado, corn-based specialties, tropical fruits and vegetables, and other intriguing delicacies.  We will explore ancient Maya recipes and present each course with tantalizing beverages and surprising flavors.

Maya Calendar Revealed
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Tech Museum – New Venture Hall
2:00pm – 4:00pm

Register now! http://www.thetech.org/imax/special-presentations

Panel of Experts 

Tata José Soc Chivlán, Maya Spiritual Leader.

Tata José Soc Chivalán is a Maya spiritual leader in the Quiché tradition.  Initiated by elders into his sacred power, he has visions that enable him to recognize and heal physical, psychological, and spiritual illness.  A ceremonialist residing in Guatemala, Chivalán says it is his sacred contract to share ancient teachings with the four colors of mankind, and in the four cardinal directions. This production marks the first time he’s been photographed or recorded.

Dr. Jean Molesky-Poz, Professor/Author Maya Spirituality

Jean Molesky-Poz is married to Martin Poz Perez, a K’iche’-Maya from Guatemala. She is author of Contemporary Maya Spirituality: The Ancient Ways Are Not Lost, published by the University of Texas Press (2006). She has been a Lecturer in Ethnic Studies and Native American Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, specializing in Immigration and Refugee Issues, as well as Native American Studies.  She is currently a Lecturer in Religious Studies at Santa Clara University. Ms. Molesky-Poz holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA.  She received a Fulbright-Hayes for her ethnographic research with contemporary Maya Ajq’ijab’ (shaman-priests) in the Guatemalan highlands.  She is consultant for a project on the Maya Calendar for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. She lectures locally, nationally and internationally. She and Martin, live in Berkeley, California, and have two adult children.

Dr. Isabel Hawkins, Exploratorium Astronomer & Maya Expert

Isabel Hawkins is an astronomer and educator with a Ph.D. in astronomy from UCLA, and she spent 20 years as a researcher and science educator at the University of California, Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory. While at Berkeley, she consulted on several astronomy projects at the Exploratorium and was the bilingual (Spanish/English) host of the museum’s live webcast from Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, on Maya astronomy in 2005. She joined the Exploratorium staff in 2009, and became the project director for the Never Lost: Polynesian Navigation website. Isabel has published more than 100 articles on a variety of astronomy and education topics, and in 2009 she received the Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s Klumpke-Roberts award for her work in astronomy education and public outreach. She is a member of NASA’s Office of Space Science Education Council and a former member of NASA’s Space Science Advisory Committee. Her interests include salsa dancing, yoga, drawing Maya classic period glyphs, and the study of native languages.

Shannon Kring Buset, 2012: The Beginning wirter/director/producer

In 2008, Shannon Kring Buset left behind her career as the award-winning author of four books, executive producer and co-star of an Emmy-winning PBS reality-cooking series, and owner of acclaimed restaurants and culinary schools.  She moved to a remote Maya Ch’or’ti’ village on the Honduras-Guatemala border, bringing with her just one suitcase and three goals for inner achievement: to heal her heart, to reconnect with her spirituality, and to discover her higher purpose. She did just that. Today, Kring Buset is grateful for having lived and worked alongside indigenous elders, spiritual luminaries, world leaders, and other awe-inspiring individuals in places as diverse as Indonesia, Finland, and India. She is dedicated to inspiring others to embrace a more soulful existence, and to preserving dying, living, and emerging wisdom from all four corners of the world. Kring Buset is a frequent keynote speaker at events around the world, and has been featured on CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, FOX, Lifetime, NPR, and in more than 150 publications worldwide, including The Wall Street Journal, SmartMoney Magazine, and Redbook. She is currently completing her first novel, also about the ancient Maya.  This is her first documentary film.