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Published: February 12th 2013
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THURSDAY (1-24-13): We are up pretty early so we can walk to the central area for breakfast. We go to a place I had walked by several times. We both have eggs Mexican style - yummy. We buy another pound of coffee and return to the room for our adventure to the villages Zinacantan & San Juan Chamula. Both of these places have large indigenous populations and are relatively secluded from outdoor life. We first went to a very small village called Zinacantán the village is supported by growing flowers. You enter and can’t help but feel that you have stepped back in time. After going to the church, we had the opportunity to speak with some women who sold beautiful handwoven pieces. They showed us how a backstrap loom works, and then Teresa and I dressed up in traditional Tzotzil Maya wedding clothing - ridiculous! The stuff was way to small for me! We walked around the small village for a while, where the children were dressed in traditional and very colorful clothing. In the small place where we bought handwoven pieces, 2 women allowed us to eat lunch with them, which was fresh corn tortillas, cheese, and some sauces.
It was so delicious, and so fresh! They were cooking the tortilla over a fire and a steel plate. The churches here are very different from Catholic churches in the United States. One of the churches we went into had dozens of flower arrangements, statues of saints that looked like lawn decorations. It was all an extremely interesting experience! Teresa purchased several pretty scarf’s.
Our next stop was San Juan Chamula. San Juan Chamula is known for being exceedingly strict with its photography policy. Photography is very strictly prohibited inside of their church. San Juan Chamula does not allow any outside police forces or military forces, and has its own law enforcement groups and policies separate from the rest of the state and country. Within the city there is an interesting cemetery, not at all like the ones seen in the United States. It’s eerie, with the crumbling headstones and crosses dotting the churchyard. There is almost no open space, and the graves are all raised.
The main church in San Juan Chamula has a very strict no-photography policy. People have been arrested before for attempting to take photos of the church. Our guide
is very clear, DON’T DO IT. He said you can get in big trouble. I am in the church for 5 minutes and I see one of the very indigenous members of the community speaking to an older European woman. He is stern and he is speaking in Spanish. I stop to listen. I can hear him saying you were told, your ticket says no, the sigh says no, why did you take a picture? I freeze……..so I can hear better…… She says in TERRIBLE Spanish, “because it is so pretty.” This does not please him. He tells her I will keep your camera (actually an iPhone) and you must pay a fine of 2000 pesos. She begins to beg and tries to explain that she is sorry but must have her phone back. He is firm. Then her husband approaches. He tells him to sit and continues to talk with both of them. He suddenly orders them to stand and follow him. He actually walks to the front of the church where our guide is with part of the group. Everyone in the community clearly knows our guide. The guide translates for the couple. In the end, they agree
to let them delete all of the photos on the camera and pay $800 pesos ($66). Our guide tells us that they were actually very lucky. Some of the other people watching for people taking pictures would not have been that nice.
The outside, the church is a beautiful example of combining the Maya religion with Christianity. The Christian church is decorated with Maya blues and greens and flower symbols. Inside, there were literally thousands of candles. On the floors, on tables, everywhere. The floor was covered in pine needles, and statues of the saints lined the walls. Incense burned, and smoke hung in the air throughout the chapel. People drank Coca-Cola and corn liquor. Two roosters were in the sanctuary, and men, women, and children knelt, lighting their candles and chanting in Maya. I later found out that both were to be sacrificed to the saints so they would heal someone – I actually heard one of the roosters scream as they broke it’s neck! It was an incredibly powerful, but also a strange, experience. One point of interest, in this culture, certain members of the town are selected each year to spend all of their
money taking care of one of the church saints for a year. This is considered to be the highest honor. When their wealth has been spent, the next caregivers step up to the plate, and it continues like this. During the year they pretty much dedicate their entire life to taking care of the saint. The end the year broke and often in debt.
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