San Juan Chamula

see all photos »

San Juan Chamula, six miles from San Cristóbal, is the spiritual and administrative capital of the fiercely religious Chamulas. The men in this Mayan indigenous group wear traditional white or black wool tunics over pants, while the womenfolk are attired in blue blouses and black wraparound skirts. Life in the small village revolves around the plaza’s church, a pretty white stucco building that can be seen from the nearby hills. The church’s lovely doorway is decorated with colorful flower motifs, and on the day I visited, several local men were busy painting it. When I tried photographing their activities, one of them very angrily threw something at me, a serious reminder that using a camera in this very conservative village is frowned upon. While I knew photography inside the church is absolutely forbidden, I didn’t realize the hostility that would result by taking a photograph of its exterior. Many of the locals believe that taking their photograph steals their souls, but I believe they also feel exploited by tourists. Some of the Chamula residents weren’t especially welcoming or even friendly, but the longer I remained there (I visited the village twice over several days), the more I understood why – hordes of tourist buses disgorging foreigners seemed like an unwanted cultural invasion into their small village.

see all photos »

The fascinating rituals that take place in this church have to be seen to be believed. Part Catholic ceremony, but predominantly Mayan, the reverential locals sit on the church’s pine-covered floor (the church has no pews), and light candles of various sizes and colors. The use of particular candles denotes the requests that are being made, our guide informed us. They also drink soft drinks or alcohol, and they chant or pray facing different statues of saints placed in glass cases along the length of the church. Sometimes eggs or live chickens are used as part of the religious activities.

see all photos »

“The most important element is faith. If you don’t believe, you won’t get cured,” said Gabriela Gudino Gual, the director of tourism in San Cristóbal, who accompanied us to the two villages. The ceremonies are performed with the hope that the physical or spiritual problems the people are dealing with will disappear, she added. Chamula church is not a Catholic church, as it has no priest and only one Roman Catholic sacrament, baptism, is performed there – and John the Baptist, whose blue robed statue holds central position on the altar, is the patron saint of 17 local communities. There was no statue of Jesus in sight.

see all photos »

While there wasn’t much to see in Zinacantan, three miles away, the villagers made our visit a memorable one. They treated us to a traditional lunch on our arrival at the small museum of Sna Tzotz’lebetik, which translated from the Tzotzil language means the bat’s house. In the museum, we learned about daily activities like back strap weaving, saw some of the traditional costumes worn for weddings and others for positions of authority, and learned about the history of the Tzotzils, who originated in Guatemala and moved to Chiapas sometime after 900 B.C. Some of the women and men in our group tried on the ornate wedding costumes, much to the amusement of our hosts.

see all photos »

Unlike the church in Chamula, the village church of Saint Lawrence has no shamans, and Mass is celebrated every Saturday. Statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, clothed in traditional costumes, were also evident. As we were leaving the church a group of men arrived playing traditional musical instruments. Photography, however, is also forbidden in this church. San Cristóbal, which is situated at a cool 6,000-plus feet above sea level, is the economic and social center of the highlands and was once the colonial capital of the region. The city was named to honor Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, the “protector of the Indians,” who fought against the colonizers’ oppression against the original inhabitants. The city is full of pretty, cobble-stone streets and low lying colonial buildings. Some of the lovely structures have been converted into craft stores, and others have become some of the city’s 140 small, intimate restaurants.