Mountain of Death

It seemed sadly ironic that as we drove to the "Mountain of Death," we passed the body of a motorcyclist who had just been killed and was still lying on the road. Knowing that he had been breathing only minutes earlier reminded us of the fragile fleeting nature of earth life. We were still thinking of the accident when we arrived at Kaminaljuyu (Mountain of Death). Situated in the heart of busy Guatemala City, Kaminaljuyu is a quiet wooded place where Mayans practice rituals to honor deceased loved ones and communicate with the Lord of Creation.

Kamilaljuyu is also the location of a 500 square kilometer archaeological park.While many structures of earlier civilizations are buried under the buildings of modern Guatemala City, this park and other occasional grassy mounds have been preserved. Ruins beneath these grounds coincide perfectly with Book of Mormon dates. For this and other reasons, many scholars believe these unearthed structures were once part of the City of Nephi.

Dating back to 600 years before Christ, Lehi and Nephi may have once walked these stairs

Ancient buildings on this site were constructed with clay and volcanic stone from nearby volcanoes.

As we walked the paths through Kamilaljuyu, we saw many flowers placed carefully at the base of trees. One family covered flower petals with honey, then poured a liter of Pepsi over the flowers as a special offering.

Not everyone worshiped in the same manner. Two people rolled up their pant legs and crawled on bare knees over sharp rocks. Another man allowed his companion to repeatedly hit him over the head with what looked like a thick heavy Bible. People sang sad-sounding songs, smoked brown leaves in large homemade cigars or knelt before stone altars.

In all cases, however, ceremonies took place under trees. In the Mayan culture, trees represent life. The sturdy ceiba tree is the most sacred of all. Its roots represent the levels of the underworld. The trunk and ground surface are symbols for earth life. Branches reaching toward heaven stand for the levels in the next life.

As we stood under the tall ceiba, we could not help but think of another symbolic tree. In the Book of Mormon, Lehi saw in vision a beautiful white tree. Precious fruit clung to the branches of this Tree of Life. The fruit was "desirable to make one happy" and "most joyous to the soul." In his dream, Lehi wanted to eat of the fruit. After he had tasted it, his greatest wish was for his children to also eat it. Like Lehi, we want to partake of that fruit; the Love of God; and more than anything else, we want every member of our family to partake of the fruit of the Gospel and Atonement of Jesus Christ. We want to live together for longer than this fleeting earth life. We want to be together for eternity.