Today was our first official day trip as a part of the LASOM program. Our primary destination was the Tzotzil Maya pueblo of Chamula, which is only about 1/2 hour from San Cristobal. We chose today, because it is the final day of carnaval (Ash Wednesday is tomorrow). Carnaval is celebrated for five days, and in all the Maya pueblos, but it is most famous in Chamula, where it draws enormous crowds, mainly of Maya from the Chamula district or nearby Zinacantan, but also a few tourists. The town was packed with wall-to-wall people at ground level, plus crowds perched wherever they could get a better view, as on roofs, nearby hills, etc.
We stopped first at the old church of Chamula, dedicated to St. Sebastian. The church burned down around 1760, according to our guide, Miguel Angel. He says it wasn't a battle but carelessness with the candles. Miguel Angel explained that crosses in the cemetery in front of this church are colour coded: green for young deceased; white for child, black for adult or elder, blue for women. He reminded us that on November 2, the Day of the Dead, the Chamulas and many other groups will carry food and rink to the cemetery and play music for the dead, reestablishing positive relationship with them. Miguel Angel said that when the San Sebastian church was deserted, the saint statues were taken to the new church, and that these statues often have Maya deity images hidden in side them.
On the way to the current major church, dedicated to San Juan, Miguel Angel explained that this church is open from 6am to 6pm for people to prey. He noted that the church is considered the centre of the world and the place of origin for Chamulas, and that biblical stories are also understood as having taken place here. He mentioned that the Maya account of monkeys as transformed people who climbed into trees has been connected with the flood of Noah. He also pointed out large green crosses set up as stations for processions of the saints. At each station, food and drink will be offered along with music and dance. Other crosses were set up flanking the plaza before the church. The two crosses on the south, one larger than the other, are dedicated to the Sun and Moon. The three crosses on the north represent the three barrios of Chamula: San Pedro. San Sebastian, and San Juan. Walking along, I noted that the market had been displaced from the main plaza by carnaval, and was now spread out on both sides of the main street into town.
Arriving at the plaza, we went first into the church of San Juan. Blog readers will remember how impressed Rita and I were on our visit here a few weeks ago. It was even more impressive today. When we entered the church, the first group of worshippers we saw was a line of men in the white vests chanting a recitation almost in unison while standing in front of lines of burning candles on the floor. Later we were told they are curers. Farther up the main body of the church, a line had formed of worshippers to pay homage to the image of the dead Christ, appropriate for the period in which the passion of Christ begins. There were also many families sitting on the floor or standing before their candles and praying, as on our first visit. Almost all had brought eggs, which Miguel Angel later told us are associated with curing in relation to divination. Miguel Angel also mentioned that the clothing of the saints images is the reponsibilitiy of the mayordomos, who wash the clothing in sacred springs.
When we left the church, groups representing the three barrios were already in procession around the main square, carrying large flags, accompanied by incense and musicians, and sometimes dashing across the plaza. In each group the "monkeys" who are musicians come first, jumping about, in brightl coloured clothing with textile panels on their backs and conical caps decorated with ribbons. They also wear bandanas over their lower faces and strips of fir around their face. Next come the Indigenous police, in white vests and carrying large sticks, then the religious authorities (cargo holders) in white headcloths, and finally the flag-bearers. These processions were accompanied by fireworks, the noise of which is designed to chase away destructive spirits. The crowds were enjoying these procesions, including the highest ranking cargo-holding authorities who watched from the balcony of the cabildo or city hall.
After about an hour of these processions, we noticed that some were accompanied by men holding bunches of dried grass. These would later be mixed with defacations of the bulls and set on fire for the procession participants to run across. First bulls were brought into the plaza, tethered to ropes. Each time they tried to lunge in a new direction, it would cause the crowd to surge in the other direction to get out of the way. We saw some of this from a distance for a while before heading to the vans for our pre-planned 3 pm roundup. On the way to the vans, we noticed that one of the few drunken men we had seen, and one who was bothering Heather for a while (though not dangerously) had been put in jail to sober up.
There are no pictures from Chumala, as cameras are not allowed at carnaval. Most of us did not bring a camera, but Sara did, and the pictuers from later in the day are courtesy of her.
With the incredible traffic in Chamula, it was a while before we could get into the vans. Then there was a problem with the drivers who said it was getting too late and if we still wanted to go to Zinacantan as planned it would cost us more. Then they decided that if we went to Zinacantan but didn't dawdle, we would not have to pay more. So off we went. After a brief stop at an outlying and more "catholic" church in Zinacantan, we headed to the house of people known by the drivers and/or tour company, for a set tourist event. We were shown the altar in the front part of the house, maintained by right of the household head having served as a mayordomo for a year. The altar, pictured above, included flashing Christmas lights, a chest in which the rosary had been kept, a small statue of Mary wearing a Zinacantan shawl, incense stands, and ceramic horse candle holders.
The next planned event for this house was to encourage us to buy from their stock of weavings by dressing up members of the group. Verity was chosen as bride and James was chosen as groom. Peggy and Rhett were the "padrinos." Verity's clothing included not only the usual huipil, skirt, and shawl but also a white sobre-huipil, a long garmet into which white feathers were sewn. The Padrinos dressed much more plainly. While the dressing was going on, we were served a taste of posh, the cane liquor offered and drunk at most ceremonies. There was also the obligatory 2-minute demonstration of weaving on a backstrap loom, and finally tortillas were cooked on a comal or griddle and a selection of fillings put out for people to make their own tacos. The woman cookng tortillas is shown in the second picture.
It didn't seem consistent that we were criticized for taking too long at Chamula, and then driven to a shop where there was no time limit (due to potential money to be made for sales), so I decided to ask to see the main church in town. We walked there, a short distance, and could not get into the church because of carnaval performances in the plaza. This was totally different than Chamula. Much more low-key, with less observers. I noted the sea of brilliant blue from the women in traje who filled the plaza. There were many groups of masked performers. The "monkeys" actually wore complete gorilla outfits that looked like they came from extras in a Planet of the Apes movie. There were devil dancers in red suits and horned masks. Another team of dancers wore Mexican wrestling outfits (See Sara's picture above). In front of us, two performers played very old men, one of who acted as if he were drunk and toppled over. Soon after, a group of youths masquerading as a brigade of Zapatistas in balaclavas marched around the plaza, led by the Marcos impersonator complete with headphone.
Well the drivers got antsy and we were torn away from this entertainment to head back to San Cristobal. Quite a day!
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