Marimbas provided some of the
music at the Q’eqchi’ Bible dedication
[photo: BS Guatemala WR413/16
GUA07DJ-3]
GUATEMALA – Dignitaries drank chocolate from special bowls at the dedication of a new translation of the Bible in Guatemala. The setting for the dedication was the city of Cobán, which lies in a cool, misty valley in the province of Alta Verapaz about 200 km (125 miles) north of Guatemala City, and the new translation was Li Santil Hu, the Holy Bible in Q’eqchi’.
Among those who took part in the ceremony were the Rev Cornelio Midence, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society of Guatemala, Mgr Rodolfo Valenzuela, the Bishop of Verapaz, and Julio Vian, the Bishop of Petén. The population of Cobán is almost completely indigenous and about 3,000 members of the Q’eqchi’ community also attended. The capacity of the building used for the ceremony is theoretically 2,000.
Less than a million
Mr Midence told the gathering that the dedication marked “a historic and transcendental moment for the life of the church in Guatemala, especially for the life of the Q’eqchi’ community.” The exact number of speakers of Q’eqchi’, one of the Mayan languages, is not known. The language is also spoken in part of neighbouring Belize, but the number is generally reckoned to be less than a million altogether. The translation was done by Oliverio Cho Pec and Alejandro Butz Caal, with Padre Ennio Bossú as the project coordinator and Dr Bob Bascom as United Bible Societies Translation Consultant. Dr Bascom pointed out that although the translation was done by two men, women revised it.
Natural
“These three women were the ones who put the ‘natural’ into the translation,” he said. “Men often go out of the local culture more than women in order to work, and they begin to sprinkle their native language with Spanish. So the women pulled the translation back into the way it is spoken by most people living in Alta Verapaz.” He added that the dedication service, held last ‘Impressive’ ceremony launches new translation November, was impressive, with excellent local music. “It really needs a video to do it justice!” he said. Chocolate, traditionally held to be the drink of the Mayan gods, was served to the dignitaries by Q’eqchi’ young people in an atmosphere smelling strongly of incense and to the accompaniment of the shawm (a wind instrument which preceded the oboe), the marimba, the harp and other instruments. Bishop Valenzuela raised the subject of translating the Bible into Q’eqchi’ with the Bible Society of Guatemala in 2001 and the project began early in February 2002. It is the sixth translation of the Bible into a Mayan language that the Society has carried out. The other translations are Q’anjob’al, Mam (Huehuetenango), K’iche’, Chuj (San Sebastián Coatán) and Kaqchikel.
(WR 413/16 - 07.07) [5 photos]