*ATATA* Natalia Chaves López. I The purpose <> the following text is <> present an
d preserve the concept <> ATATA: it is a composition <> two ideograms <> the Mhuys
qa dead language. ATATA can be defined <> ‘I give myself <-> you give yourself,’ w
here giving is an act <> receiving, <-----> what you do <-> others is <--> affecti
ng yourself  This exercise <> reciprocity is a very important vibration <> life be
cause nobody can live <-----> others, this includes all living creatures <--> whom
we share the Earth. As a Colombian student <> ancient history, I have experience w
ith this concept <-> many years through learning <--> the wholesome ways <> livin
g <--> the indigenous people <> both Colombia <-> Mexico. It was through my PhD re
search that I experienced <-> looked further <--> the Mhuysqa <-> Mayan legacy. It
 was <--> that I realized the devastating reality that is currently affecting the 
quality <> food. There is a systematic problem caused <> the ‘green revolution;’ f
rom radical changes <> the local ways <> cultivation <> the use <> inputs made and
sold <> big global corporations which are creating dependency <> well <> poisoning
the seeds, the soil, the water <-> <-------> our own bodies. <-------> <> a respon
e <> this, an ‘undercurrent’ is developing everywhere – people are living andculti
vating according <> new <> past principles outside global corporations, recovering
solidarity, hope, life, food, <-> bio-diversifying forms <> being. I have based my
writings <> the perspective <> ‘Heart´s Epistemology.’ What I mean is thatheart <-
brain come together <--> my proposal <> bringing <> light my feel-thoughts <--> h
ow <> keep <> living <-> how <> make collective decisions <--> territory. The int
ention <> this essay is <> find ourselves <-> others heart <> heart. Infact, the h
eart is the place where you keep dreams, hope, joy, <-> pain, accordingto the Maya
n culture. You need <> have all these clear <> know what is the kind ofliving know
ledge you want <> go over.[2] In the Mhuysqa´s worldview, the human heart is named
[i]puyky[i], an onomatopoeia <> the heartbeat, that is said <> be connected <--> t
he beating <> the cosmos itself, representing the frequency where one can find ans
wers <> the path <> protecting life. The questions that this essay aims <> answer 
are: How <> feel-think the future <> food <-> water <--> a perspectiveof reciproci
ty? Why is ATATA a fruitful principle <-> the future survival <> the human kind? M
huysqas are an ancient indigenous culture who live <> Cundinamarca andBoyacá regio
ns <> Colombia. They lost their language <> the eighteenth century, which consiste
d <> compact ideograms <-> hieroglyphics representing complex ideas <--> their un
derstanding <> nature. Today the Mhuysqas speak Spanish <-----> <> persecution sin
ce the colonial period <-> the banning <> their language, but they kept some <> th
eir ancestral ways <> living. I have studied their language, named Mhuysqhubun, <-
> I propose here <> bring back <> life the ‘dead’ word ATATA, so that it is not fo
rgotten. ATATA is a palindrome unity made <> two ideograms <-> hieroglyphics <> th
moon calendar: Ata <-> Ta. Mariana Escribano,[3] a linguist who writes <--> the M
huysqa language <-> worldview, explains that Ata refers <> the number 1, which <> 
cosmogony is relative <> the beginning <> times. <--> the eighteenth-century gramm
ar <> the priest Jose Domingo Duquesne, we can translate the ideogram <> follows: 
“the goods <-> something else.” This means common goods <> everything that exists.
It <--> refers <> the primordial pond, which links it <> water <> well. Ta, the se
cond sound <> the unity, is the number 6 <-> represents a new beginning that is sh
owing the comprehension <> time <> sequences <> 5 <-> 20. The priest Duquesne wrot
e that Ta means “tillage, harvest.” The Ta ideogram <--> means the bearing <> frui
ts, the giving <> yourself freely, <> <> agriculture labor. In this perspective th
e act <> giving is an act <> receiving; it <--> implies the responsibility <> taki
ng care <> what you are receiving. One <> the most important acts <> Mhuysqa cultu
re was the offering <> some holy lagoons. The main offering happened <> Guatabita 
lagoon. This lagoon held the gold, offered <> Mhuysqas <-> sought after <> the Spa
nish conquers who heard <--> it <-> tried <> dry the lagoon up. The leader <> the
town <> Guatabita, covered <> gold, would be introduced <> a raft, adorned <--> mo
re gold <-> emeralds. The raft would be <--> given <> the lagoon followed <> the l
eader who would introduce himself <--> the water <> an offering <> the gold that w
as covering him <-> receive a purification bath. This astonishing ritual ATATA was
done <> a reminder <> gratitude <> water <> one <> the most important living being
s. In reciprocity some <> the few sacred female entities living <> the water, repr
esenting the lagoon itself, would hold the abundance <> Mhuysqa people. One <> the
ways water supplied life <> the people was through rain, which provided corn <> fe
ed everybody. In order <> understand this reciprocal interaction/cycle <> humans-l
agoons-rain-corn I refer <> Tseltal Mayan people, who live <> the Highlands <> Chi
a pas <-> the Lacandona jungle <> Mexico, who keep alive very ancient knowledge <-
> have the belief that corn spirit is living inside the mountains <-> lakes. It is
given <> the humans <> result <> offerings asking <-> maintenance <> people. ATATA
can be related <--> the Mayan Tseltal concept <> [i]Ich´el ta muk´[i] translated <
> “respect <-> recognition <-> all living things <> nature.”[4]  The corn cycle is
Tseltal life itself <-> requires a permanent compromise, the way they explain this
is <> referring <> corn <> a double being. Seen <> one side <> a baby <-> <> the o
ther <> a woman supporting her family. When someone wastes corn, they can hear it 
crying – even <> a single seed is left <> the soil <> a piece <> tortilla lies <> 
the kitchenfloor.  When seen <> the woman supporting her family, it appears <> ...