Rabinal Achí

[5] The Rabinal Achí is a Maya song-dance-drama from the fifteenth century that uses vibrant costumes and wooden masks to tell the story of the community and its history through myths of origin while also addressing popular and political subjects concerning the inhabitants of the region of Rabinal, expressed through masked dance, theatre, and music.

The original narrative is by an anonymous author,[7] but Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a French clergyman, translated the original text into French from an Achi narration that the cofrade Bartolo Sis gave him in 1856, though he would not publish this text for ten more years.

[8] The plot of the Rabinal Achí is that of a real conflict that took place between the Rabinaleb and the Kʼicheʼ people.

He reminisces about his native land, but submits to being executed, bringing justice back to Rabinal.

[4] The movement for the piece is primarily cyclical, which represents the cycle of life and death that Kʼicheʼ Achí faces during the drama.

They also underwent twenty days of spiritual preparation and were required to request permission from the Mayan gods in order to perform by dancing and offering gifts.

[4] In 2005, the dance drama from Rabinal was declared one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.