Today’s Maya people—professionals, businesspeople, craftsmen, technicians and artisans; as well as guardians of tradition such as shamans, herbal healers, traditional masseurs and medicine men—evince their heritage by maintaining ancient traditions and the Maya language, widely spoken on the peninsula.

In small, spread out Yucatán communities—some quite distant from cities and seemingly stopped in time—the Maya work the land devotedly, and worship it just as their ancestors did, at the same time they preserve numerous other ancient traditions.