ABSTRACT
To remain true to the Mayan cyclical nature of oral history, I finish this monograph where Chapter 1 began: with Germana Catú. Though books must end, oral histories continue to evolve and change. The posthumous palimpsest of Germana Catú's story demonstrates the organic nature of competing and mutually supporting historical narratives. Her fame spread beyond the Kaqchikel-speaking region in part because an ex-colonel in the Guatemala military and a journalist believe she revealed supernatural powers. In an almost unprecedented development for Guatemala's modern period, some Ladinos revere this Mayan woman and laud her long-lasting influence upon them. And in an equally unusual alteration, when recounting these events, the journalist and colonel appropriate a myth-history style of narration, which Ladinos normally associate with Maya to discount the accuracy and relevance of their historical perspectives.
