A short flight and bus-trip brought us into a different world - Chiapas. A mainly Mayan area in the mountains, trying to be independent to some extent. San Cristobal is at the heart, a lovely little colonial town with a few nice churches, a well-preserved main square (Zocalo) and surrounding streets. It has a hippie feel to it, a welcome change in pace after Mexico City.
Besides this, the main attraction are the villages in the surrounding mountains, which are still mainly traditionally Mayan, albeit to different extents. The most traditional being Chamula, a ´village´ of ca 75,000 people over 150 square kilometers, whose inhabitants follow the traditions as closely as possible. They have water and electricity, but for many other things they rely upon the ways of their ancestors. They call themselves catholic, but they have adopted a mix of Catholic saints with Mayan rituals. The church in town is a Mayan temple, where locals together with Shamans engage in complex rituals to clear their souls and bodies when ill, or to ask for assistance when needed. The rituals include the offering of food (eggs, sometimes chickens), drinking coca cola (traditionally this was done with a sugercane-based concoction, but coca cola has the same burping effect which means the illness is leaving the body) and lighting large amounts of candles, while the Shaman is praying to the gods. As they need the money from the tourists, we are allowed in the Church to observe these very personal moments. It is hard not to feel an intruder, but at the same time it is very moving. (We were not allowed to take any photos of inside the church or of the people in this village as they believe a photo removes part of their soul)The main economic activity in Chamula is agriculture, so there is a large market where all sort of fruit and vegetable are on offer. It is mainly the women who do this, as they look after the ´home´ while their husbands are working the fields or engaging in some political activity. Besides food for themselves, the market has the usual tourist offerings - textiles, woodcarvings, stone sculptures, pottery and nick-nacks. Never has either of us seen such a colourful market, with the reds of the tomatoes contrasting with the blues of the traditional female dresses and the oranges and yellows of the tourist-scarves.
As said, Chamula is a very traditional village, for example women cannot vote (except in the federal elections), people get married very young and have 6 to 8 children (birth-control is not allowed), for healthcare they go to the Shaman (the hospital is only a last resort) which means that the life expectancy is lower than in the rest of Mexico and the level of education is relatively low. Still, it is a very strong community (people who convert to another religion than the ´Mayan catholicism´ get expelled from the village - and end up selling crafts on the street in San Cristobal) and very interesting to visit. It made us wonder about the cultural variety that still exists in this world and how fascinating it is!
One valley further is Zinacantan, a village of similar origin, but one that has adopted many of the ´western influences´ with regards to voting, healthcare and education. However, even here the people live a very traditional life in (partly) clay huts where the women weave and prepare food on wood-fires, while the men work the land (in this case to grow flowers). As the crow flies only 4 kilometers, but the difference feels like 100 years....
Back to San Cristobal and to the bus station, from where we would go to Palenque and around, home to some of the main Mayan sites in Mexico.....
No comments:
Post a Comment