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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.

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Craig and Steph
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