Friday, April 13

This afternoon Rita and I took her Spanish class out to Chamula for the final session on Rosario Castellanos' social realist novel, Oficio de Tinieblas (Book of Lamentations in English Translation). The final chapters epitomize both Spanish and English Titles. The crucifixion of the child, adapted from local legends, is the crux of the Dark Ceremony referred to in the Spanish title. In the final chapter, the brutal repression of the Chamula people is reinterpreted by them as a punishment for their sins, as is the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians in the Book of Lamentations of the Old Testament.

When we arrived at Chamula, we first went into the church, to see what remained of elements that were used in the celebration of Semana Santa (when the crucifixion is supposed to have taken place). We saw the huge cross, once again wrapped in cloth, as well as the glass casket in which an image of Christ is kept. The church still contained abundant white lillies for Easter and other flowers were hung over each of the cases containing the images of the saints.

We than went out to the plaza in front of the church, where the crucifixion takes place in Castellanos' re-writing of the event. We sat in a huge gazebo in the plaza, forming a circle, and began with some readings of the texts in both English and Spanish. The Spanish readings attracted some attention. Several girls of elementary school age came over while Paulina was reading. She handed them the book and one girl took over part of the reading, beaming with pride. A man who was trying to sleep off his liquor was later intrigued and joined the circle, sitting next to me. But he soon retired to the edge of the gazebo to continue his nap. We also attracted some of the young ladies selling the finger-woven belts and some small boys who thought we made an interesting setting for their play-time. Despite all these distractions, the discussion of the book was quite good, both of its conclusion and a general discussion of its use of social realism.

We gave the students some shopping time in the many souvenir and clothing stalls (I bought fruit for the evening in the plaza market) and then returned to San Cristobal. Brent joined us for supper, featuring Rita's famous moussaka among other treats.