San Juan de Chamula Church

Chamula is located in the Chiapas highlands, at an altitude of 2,200 meters inhabited by the indigenous Tzotzil Maya people, whose Tzotzil language is one of the Mayan languages. The town enjoys unique autonomous status within Mexico. No outside police or military are allowed in the village. Chamulas have their own police force. The church of San Juan is filled with colorful candles, and smoke from burning copal resin incense, commonly used throughout southern Mexico. The local form of Catholicism is a blend of pre-conquest Maya customs, Spanish Catholic traditions, and subsequent innovations. There are no pews in the church, and the floor area is completely covered in a carpet of green pine boughs and soda bottles (mostly Coca Cola). Medicine men diagnose medical, psychological or ‘evil-eye’ afflictions and prescribe remedies such as candles of specific colors and sizes, specific flower petals or feathers, or a live chicken. The specified remedies are brought to a healing ceremony. Chamula families kneel on the floor of the church with sacrificial items, stick candles to the floor with melted wax, drink ceremonial cups of Posh, artisanal sugar-cane-based liquor, Coca Cola or Pepsi, and chant prayers in an archaic dialect of Tzotzil.