Catarina Matzar Ordoñez and her granddaughter Marcelina Nimacachí Tax live in Santa Catarina Palopo on Lake Atitlán. In this photograph Catarina Sajvin glances despairingly at the floor of her house while sitting with her granddaughter. When this photograph was taken Catarina was losing her vision and could not afford to go to the doctor. Luckily two years have passed since then and now Catarina's condition has improved. Catarina's granddaughter Marcelina has the same first name as her sister. This is relatively common in Mayan families.
In Mayan cosmovision there is a sacred bond between grandparents and grandchildren. This bond has been represented in Mayan thought for thousands of years. It was important to the ancient Maya and continues to be important today. This bond is represented by the Mayan number ZERO and can be found in ancient glyphs. It is symbolized by the seed, shell,nd flower. It is embedded in the root words and semiotics of Mayan language and it is present in ancient, as well as modern day religion. This bond can be thought of as a form of reincarnation represented cyclically. Just as the Mayan calendar denotes time, life starts at the number ZERO, passes through various stages of its life-cycle, matures, and dies at which point it begins again at zero. The grandchild is the human embodiment of the Mayan number zero. It is the fruit of its grandmother's tree. It is a flower, it is a seed. Like the dying corn plant, the grandparent-grandchild combination is an example of a process. In the moment of the corn plant's death it leaves it's seeds which sprout to spawn a new generation. In death, life is given and the cycle is completed.