The Ixil Community is a name given to three neighbouring towns in the Quiché department

Quiché (department)

El Quiché is a department of Guatemala.El Quiché department is in the heartland of the Quiché people, to the north-west of Guatemala City. The capital is Santa Cruz del Quiché.-Population:...

 in the western highlands of Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

. These towns are Santa Maria Nebaj

Santa Maria Nebaj

Santa Maria Nebaj is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. Santa Maria Nebaj is part of the Ixil Community, along with San Juan Cotzal and San Gaspar Chajul. Native residents speak the Mayan Ixil language.There is a nearby pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Maya...

, San Juan Cotzal

San Juan Cotzal

San Juan Cotzal is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. San Juan Cotzal is part of the Ixil Community, along with Santa Maria Nebaj and San Gaspar Chajul....

, and San Gaspar Chajul

Chajul

Chajul is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of El Quiché. Chajul is part of the Ixil Community, along with San Juan Cotzal and Santa Maria Nebaj. The Ixil region is isolated by beautiful mountains and has maintained its rich Ixil Mayan traditions and language...

. The area's population is predominantly of Ixil

Ixil people

Ixil is the name of a Mayan people in Guatemala. The Ixil live in three municipalities in the Cuchumatanes mountains in the northern part of the department El Quiché...

 descent. When viewed on a map, the three Ixil towns appear to form a triangle, because of this, is also named "Ixil Triangle".

Culture

Due to its location in the Cuchumatanes mountains

Sierra de los Cuchumatanes

The Sierra de los Cuchumatanes is the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. Its elevations range from 500 m to over 3,800 m, and it covers a total area of ±16,350 km². With an area of 1,500 km² situated above 3,000 m, it is also the most extensive highland region in Central...

, the Ixil Community has remained mostly isolated from the rest of the world. Its people have therefore maintained their traditional culture free from influences of the outside world. Most of the men are farmers, and most of the women are weavers.

The people of the Ixil Community primarily speak the Ixil language

Ixil

Ixil is a Mayan language. It is the primary language of the Ixil Community -- the three villages of San Juan Cotzal, Santa Maria Nebaj, and San Gaspar Chajul -- in the highlands of Guatemala. Possibly it is three different languages.-Grammar:...

. Some villagers speak Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 as a secondary language.

Turmoil During Civil War

During the Guatemalan Civil War

Guatemalan Civil War

The Guatemalan Civil War ran from 1960-1996. The thirty-six-year civil war began as a grassroots, popular response to the rightist and military usurpation of civil government , and the President's disrespect for the human and civil rights of the majority of the population...

, the Guerrilla Army of the Poor

Guerrilla Army of the Poor

The Guerrilla Army Of The Poor was Guatemalan guerrilla movement, one of the four organizations comprising the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity that negotiated and signed the Peace accords in Guatemala with the Government and the Army of Guatemala.Initially, the guerrilla...

 (EGP) used the surrounding mountains as a base of operations. The Guatemalan Army pursued a scorched-earth policy to destroy villages. The villagers of the Ixil Community were caught in the crossfire, and thousands of civilians were killed, torture

Torture

Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

d, or disappeared

Forced disappearance

In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...

.

The army's campaign against civilians in this region may have been motivated partially by a desire "to weaken and eventually eradicate Maya culture." Villagers learned not to wear their traditional Maya clothing, because its distinct appearance made them easy targets.

The game

Ixil Triangle is also the name of a marble game played by the children of La Laguna, a small village about forty minutes from Nebaj. It may be a game widely played throughout the region or simply a game that was made up by a handful of kids. Three marbles are placed in the shape of an equilateral triangle, drawn in the dirt about 7 to ten inches from each other. A line is drawn in the dirt about 2 meters from the triangle. Marbles are shot from that line to try to knock the other marbles off the points of the triangle. This is not exact but it is how it was observed by someone who could not communicate with the young boys playing the game. More rules may apply, based on location.