February 24 and the 12th day into our trip. We were on the road by 8:30 after picking up Cris, our local guide. The main attraction for the day was to be the culmination of carnival celebrations on Fat Tuesday, today. Cris provided background for what we were supposed to witness in San Juan Chamula (a Tzozil Maya Community). The guide was very well informed and quite opinionated, not much sympathy for the rich people of the community and derided those who took advantage of the indigenous poor. He went into many more details about local village hierarchy and how the cuidad authorities pressured the villagers to contribute to the celebration. Refusing the request was not an option and those who did not contribute were ask to leave the community.
Cris also explained local attitude about tourists that come into their towns to take pictures to sell (photo journalism), exploiting the indigenous people. He suggested that we not take pictures for fear of offending the performers, even suggesting that after the participants had become drunk they might be belligerent enough to take our cameras by force. In no way did we, Babu and Bibi, want to offend our hosts, not because of the threat but we had learned while living abroad, that it is necessary and desirable to show respect for the host population.
Our first stop was Zinancantan, a Tzotzil Maya weaving village. The back strap loom used to produce the beautiful textiles is pictured in the middle where one of the daughters of the host family is demonstrating the technique. The matriarch and the obvious boss is pictured center left talking to Ricardo. The shawl over her shoulders is a sample of their products which incorporate weaving and embroidery. Many of the pictures show patterns learned by apprentice weavers to complete their training, one of the skills necessary to become "marriageable." Our guide Cris, is showing a special textile made from local wool, right, and Darlene is inspecting a blouse that she later bought, lower row. The usual ritual as before in Tenejapa, the shop liked to dress the tourist in the local costumes. Babu and Bibi dressed as bride and groom and Bibi is pictured lower left corner in a gorgeous wedding dress trimmed with feathers complemented with a shawl similar to the one upper right. There are no pictures this time of Babu dressed as the groom or David and Lorna who dressed as the grand parents.
The weaver's shop was also their home and we were invited to a lunch of traditional tortillas baked over an open fire on the floor in the kitchen/dining room. Cris is pictured in the center of the collage showing the different varieties of maze used locally. A daughter is processing maze lower left and upper right another daughter is using a press to make the tortillas. Cooking facilities are shown lower right and upper middle. The low serving table with meat and condiments is pictured upper left. The confines of the room dictated the high angle of the picture.
Center bottom is the family shrine located in an adjoining room.
Leaving the weavers village we drove on to Chamula where we found the crowds already gathering. Axel had considerable difficulty finding a parking place for the bus. We scouted out the town on foot and found the square with the church. The approach to the church as can be seen in the picture is covered with pine boughs. The cross in the foreground was festooned with pine boughs which is part of the traditional Maya customs. The Maya honored the cross as a tradition symbol representing the cardinal directions of the universe. Inside the church the walls as usual are lined with figurines representing Catholic saints a few also represent Maya Deities. Tributes in the form of candles were placed on the floor in front of each figure. There has been an interesting merging of Christianity and Maya beliefs which vary by locality.
Although there was a lot of milling around nothing seemed to end up as an organized running of the bull. We never saw a bull or a replica of a bull nor did we see the religious authorities walk on the burning coals! Perhaps they were saving all the fun until the
mzunguwa (Swahili for foreigner) left for home! We found a place to sit down for a much need break. For next two to three hours we watched the people gather then finally gave up and left. Steve, however, spent a lot of time filming a group of men who wandered around town playing an accordion, dancing while consuming pulque and getting more drunk.
The picture below was taken as we were walking back to where the bus was parked. The congestion of both cars and people was being compounded as pictured here. People were crowded on the roof tops and on every vantage point that could be found and as we looked over the hillsides above town every trail leading into Chamula was crowded with more people coming for the celebration. It must have taken place some time, but when we don't know!
Our fellow travelers Claudia and Jim are the foreigners standing on either side of the white car and Joan is the white hat over Claudia's shoulder. Ricardo in the dark jacket just beyond Jim, is looking down the street observing the human and automobile traffic toward the center of town.
