Sarteneja#1

According to a number of elders and fluent Maya speakers the phrase "Tzaten-A-Ha" means "Give me water".  The phrase “Tza-ten-a-ha” was used by the Maya people who came to these shores when the village was first established in 1846. The area had new settlers but it was still visited by the ancient Maya of the peninsula. These visitors were native to Belize and probably to the ancient city that is now Sarteneja. ‘Tza-ten‐a‐ha’ was the phrase used by the Maya when they asked for water. The phrase ‘Tza-ten‐a‐ha’ means ‘give me water’ and not ‘water between the rocks’ as we are told by the internet. The Maya people stopped, rested and refilled their containers with fresh drinking water from the numerous wells created by their ancestors. The Maya visited these shores so often that the phrase became a common phrase for the new settlers. As the years went by, the people of this newly built community began calling their home: ‘Tza-ten‐a‐ha’ which was then contorted and tran