wooden gifts

A Maya woman sits with legs crossed as she works on a backstrap loom. Rocking back and forth she controls the tension as she creates an expanse of cloth. "This movement represented the human heartbeat, thus weaving was a sacred act for the ancient Maya, and weavers were considered the 'mothers of creation,'" Nicolas Chavez Sojuel explains. He works in fragrant cedar wood to depict his subject as realistically as did the pre-Hispanic ceramists of Jaina Island more than a thousand years ago in their "Female Figure with Loom." Deftly carving intricate details with superb realism, the Guatemalan artisan dresses the woman in a necklace of pinewood beads.

Wearing the skin of a jaguar, a young man dances to the sound of an unseen drum as he imitates the movements of the lithe jungle cat. Ruben and Gilda Perez depicts an image from a vase discovered at Altar de Sacrificios, an ancient Maya site locate upriver from Yaxchilan. An offering in Burial 96, the original polychrome vase is crafted of terracotta and on display at Guatemala's Museum of Anthropology and History.

The Guatemalan artisans etch the intricate motifs into natural jade and display the plaque on a black pinewood base.

The Inca god Wiracocha stands proud in the firmament to crown a handsome jewelry chest. The original divinity of the people of Tiahuanaco, this god emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca. He created the heavens, the earth, and the first generation of giants who inhabited the land in total darkness. Wiracocha is honored in the Inti Raymi, meaning "Festival of the Sun," in Cuzco, symbolizing the eternal consecration between the sun and his children — human beings.

Julio Sanchez crafts the box by hand to imitate a chest with six drawers and an upper compartment with a mirror. It closes with a lock and key. Each side features images of the tumi, a ceremonial blade used in ancient Peru for spiritual sacrifices, crowned with the effigy of a warrior.