22/11/2019
: blue extracted from plants and stones after years of in
The color blue was used by the ancient Maya to paint their palaces or and was extracted from the same
After a little more than a year of tests and investigations, Mayan natives achieved a fact that they themselves described as historical, which consisted of the extraction of the Mayan blue color of plants and stones, just as their ancestors did.
This was announced by the sculptor, Luis Manuel May Ku, through his Facebook account where he posted the following: “We have managed to extract the blue from the ch’oj !!! (Indigo, Indigófera suffruticosa Mill) ”.
He explained that this achievement was thanks to the help of a group of residents of the ancient Mayan city of Cobá, established today in the municipality of Tulum, where they carried out the tests and after several attempts they managed to obtain the Mayan blue color, a very characteristic color of the Mexican Caribbean.
The Mayan native explained that the investigations before achieving these results began in the month of October last year where the first thing they did was to locate the plant that gives life to this Mayan blue color and after several weeks they managed to get the first seeds in the month of December.
It was then, that from January to April 2019 they first saw the plantations of this herb in a village located in the village known as Xunan Cab, also located in the ancient Mayan city of Cobá.
Finally, after having grown enough plants, the experiments began and last Monday, after mixing herbs, stones, powders and with much patience, for the first time in a long time, the extraction of the blue color used by the ancient Maya was achieved to paint their palaces or murals.
“The inhabitants of Coba who participated in this feat are Justin May (guardian of the plant) Nathanael Vela, Lorenzo Vela, Raúl May, Noé Chimal; the owners of Mayan Village Xunáan Kab, Leopoldo Chimal, Hilaria Chooc and their children Arturo and Carlos and my friend Alma Valencia Arana have managed to extract the precious blue, the main ingredient for the famous Mayan blue ”, concluded the sculptor.