Home / 2017 Guatemala / Ecuador 661
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Vegetable market, Chichicastenango - P7271639
Vegetable market, Chichicastenango - P7271649
Vegetable market, Chichicastenango - P7271669
Juanita and her husband cooking at Comedor Juanita - P7271677
Lunch at Comedor Juanita - P7271682
Posing with Juanita after enjoying her delicious food - P7271683
Women preparing blue corn tortillas - P7271685
Mother and daughter buying tomatoes at Chichicastenango Market - P7271704
Calvario del Sr. Sepultado - P7271690
Calvario del Sr. Sepultado we went to the two churches in the center of town. They stand opposite one another, one to the east and the other to the west. This is a common motif with Guatemalan churches. The smaller of the two churches always goes by the nickname of Calvary chapel, and is dedicated to the Mayan underworld. The larger of the churches is dedicated to the God of Catholicism. We visited the Calvary chapel (Calvario del Sr. Sepultado) first. Churches here are always a syncretism of traditional Mayan and Catholic beliefs. The underworld that Calvary represents does not have he stigma of Christian hell, but is rather simply where all souls go when they die. Mayans believe that man was created from corn, and that he returns to corn after death. It was decorated similarly to many churches in the area, with a carved wooden altar. It had a wide center aisle which was punctuated with slate slabs on which offering candles were placed. Narrow rows of pews flanked the aisle. Colorful vases holding flowers decorated the altar. Old wooden crosses of various sizes were propped against the walls. Ajq'ijab' (indigenous healers sometimes called shamans, though the latter is a bit of a misnomer) practice in this church, and people ask for protection ceremonies and are also able to communicate with their deceased loved ones. Humberto took us to a small, dark anteroom where many of these ceremonies take place. - P7271701
View from Calvario del Sr. Sepultado toward Iglesia Santo Tomas - P7271706
Men selling lime in the market - P7271707
Handicrafts for sale in Chichicastenango - P7271713
Iglesia Santo Tomas Next we crossed the market grounds to the larger church, Santo Tomas. Architecturally, it looks similar to Calvary only larger. Both have semicircular stone staircases leading to the entrance. Flower sellers had colorful bouquets laid out on the steps of Santo Tomas. There was a cement altar at the foot of the staircase where ritual offerings were being burnt. Primitive incense censers made out of coffee cans with holes punched in them emanted smoke with the scent of copal. We entered the church. It has a lovely wooden altar which resembles a mountain. We saw indigenous healers (Ajq'ijab) lighting candles and adhering them via hot wax to stone tablets in the middle of the center aisle. A woman was appoaching the altar on her knees as a sacrifice. This church is where the Popol Vuh was discovered back in 1702. We attended Palm Sunday Mass here in this church in 2004, when we experienced Semana Santa (Holy Week) in the Lake Atitlan and Antigua area. - P7271724
Mural advertising Quetzalteco aguardiente liquor in Chichicastenango