If life was a carnival, what mask would you wear next?

On Maya tricksters, sacred mischief, and the freedom to play new roles in life.

This week, I visited Santiago de Atitlán, a town across the lake from Lomas de Atitlán, where I’m currently in an artist residency. Santiago is known as a spiritual center for the Tz’utujil Maya and home to the syncretic figure Maximon—Saint Simon, or “the grandfather”—an ambiguous spirit blending Catholicism and Maya beliefs. His effigy is kept in priv…