In naming this blog site, I was inspired by what is known as the white road,
the sacbe, plural sacbeob, found in Mayan lands in Central America.
Originally paved in limestone stucco, these paths are estimated to have been
created over time since 1800 BCE. The white roads were holy roads, peace roads, that pilgrims walked to visit sacred sites, walking sanctuaries where they were not subject to attack. The roads were also used for trade and other peaceful interchanges between communities.
It is claimed in the literature that a white road once extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, across North America.
There is established evidence that an extensive trade network existed historically across the Americas. The network included paths, together with extensive waterways and portages. It was discovered and used by colonists in the conquering and settling of North America. Major segments were eventually incorporated into what became contemporary highway systems. Historically, the paths were sometimes paved and often marked in particular ways. Directional markers often existed as petroglyphs, pictographs, carving on trees, and bent trees.
Clear evidence exists in some locations of a separate, collateral system of roads, the red roads. These were war roads, war paths, and when people walked them, it was a signal that they were declaring war. Being on the warpath. I have wondered if early Europeans walked the wrong roads and placed themselves in danger as they explored into the interior of this continent, not knowing the systems in place.
Contemporary usage has reversed and replaced the idea of white road. The phrase red road now is widely accepted as a Native American spiritual path or lifeway; it is often known as the good red road. The path of the warrior has been deemed in many lifeways to be good, but the historic racial distinctions between "red" people and "white" people may have precipitated this change.
White roads and red roads. Some people are peaceful, and others seem to be warriors. A warrior gene has now been identified by geneticists. What if somewhere in our DNA there is also a peacemaker gene? Appreciating the sacred is said to be a result of chemistry, and it also has been said that we inherit the spiritual beliefs of our mothers, not out fathers. At least some of our attitudes seem to be rooted in our genes.
To know a people's and a family's lifeways and the evolution of those lifeways over time is important to be able to understand why we are the way we are, why others are the way they are, what we have in common, and what we do not seem to share. This is the nature of cultural histories.
So why look at our ancestry? Ultimately, it can illuminate who our ancestors were and what they left us as an inheritance, who we became, or who we could become. It is valuable information about an individual and about their family of origin. In researching my family history, I am on a path that's both familiar and mysterious, exploring who we were, who we are.
It is good to know what road we're on.
