San Juan de Chamula, where Indigenous spirituality, Catholicism, and capitalism merge
“There is a church, it is the most interesting place you will visit during your time in Chiapas, Mexico”, the free walking tour guide in San Cristobal de las Casas talks about San Juan de Chamula. Indeed, what an interesting place. San Juan Chamula, a small village just outside of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, is an anthropologist’s dream. This small Mexican town is where indigenous spirituality, Catholicism, and capitalism collide.
Chamula is home to the Maya direct descent indigenous peoples, the Tzotzil. It is the religious and political center for the Tzotzil in the highlands of Chiapas and is visited by hundreds of tourists and Tzotzil around the area. Chamula is famous for its church and its rather unorthodox use of it. Being officially Catholic, as most of the Mexican state, they merged Mayan practices in their rituals that are performed in this white green church in the middle of the town (Rigg, 2013).
I visit San Juan de Chamula on a Sunday, a market day. While I walked through the market on the main square three things caught my attention, the traditional clothes made out of white and black hair, the amount of live chicken sold on the market, and the quantity of Coca-Cola bottles. Actually, the only people who were not holding a can or a Coca-Cola bottle were the tourists. As part of religious rituals, Tzotzils believe that burping after drinking the black sparkly soda eliminates bad spirits from their souls.
Additionally, Pox, the local 70% alcoholic drink is used to clean the soul of evil. For the Tzotzil, the evil spirits have to find a home before it leaves this planet, this is when I understood the quantity of white chicken sold in the market.
Having paid a 30 pesos entrance fee and listening to the guidelines, ‘no pictures in this church’, I walk into the dark, candle-lit, church. It is important to note that the church of San Juan de Chamula is an example of syncretism, where indigenous religious practices merge with the Christian belief systems introduced, or opposed, by the Spanish during the colonial era.
As traditionally known from the catholic church, when entering the church the Tzotzil crosses oneself. Yet, the following is rather different from catholic traditions. The first thing I notice is that there are no pews in this church, instead the floor is covered in pine needles. At the edges of the church, you see statues of saints, adorned by flowers and, interestingly, fruits. The wooden tables lined in front of the statues are covered with burning candles. Tzotzil women pray to the saints, covering the candles with kopal (a type of stone that has the same effect as incense if you burn it) while sharing their prayers in Tzotzil, the main spoken language of the indigenous community. Between the pine needles, the Tzotzil line several candles on the floor, sticking all the candles with a tiny drop of wax. Few come alone, others pray in couples or families in their religious ritual.
Surrounded by candles, Coca-Cola bottles, and bottles filled with, what I assumed by the smell of it, pox, I see a woman, dressed in a traditional black hair skirt, holding the hand of a young boy, I believe her son, and on the other side a older man, could be the father/husband. On the other side of the candles, under one of the wooden tables, there is a younger man, semi-conscious, saliva slowly leaves his mouth-creases while he tries to keep his eyes half open. In her other hand, the woman holds a white chicken, and while she holds the chicken she chants in a low tone, as she does she passes the animal to the younger boy. The chicken is now home to the evil spirits that the Tzotzil release during the prayers, whether these release from their soul or of the one that is prayed for.
While this ritual lasted more than an hour, the chicken did not move. As the ritual ended, the chicken was shaken up and down until its last breath. Following the end of the ritual, the older man of the family turns off the remaining burning candles with first, Coca-Cola, then pox, and then water. Within interpretative anthropology, Geetz (1973) explores religion as a system of symbols. This lens reveals that the above-described ritual and the usage of religious artifacts in rituals is part of a system of knowledge, where people, in this case, the Tzotzil, deal with problems such as evil and suffering.
A religious artifact only becomes sacred when the extraordinary value is decided. Essentially, Coca-Cola and Pox replaced the Christian wine ritual as a religious artifact (Dauth, 2009). Coca-cola was introduced in 1962 in Chamula, since then the local elites, including the Coca-Cola dealer, promoted Coca-Cola as a sacred drink in combination with the holy Pox. The average is about 2 liters of Coca-Cola per person, per day and it’s consumed more than water, due to its scarcity. After heart disease, diabetes is the second-leading cause of death (Lopez & Jacobs, 2018). Yet, the sugary beverage is perceived as a religious artifact. It is said that consuming Coca-Cola is chosen over consuming food (Bell, 2006). How is religion then influenced by the introduction of capitalism?
Following Asad’s concept of the influence of power on religious artifacts, objects can be formed into sacred objects through the power and authority of autocracy (Asad, 1993). Would this mean that the power of capitalism formed ‘drinking Coca-Cola’ into a religious ritual during these Catholic-Mayan prayers?
Possibly relatively new conditions of the social world that are introduced by globalization form and reform the meaning of religious artifacts. Along with the family that I observed from afar, about 10 other families were performing the same ritual that was watched by approximately 20 tourists, including me, in the tiny little church. The uncomfortable feeling of ‘being’ an anthropologist definitely arose throughout my two hours in this church. What does my presence, and those of other ‘outsiders’ mean for the rituals of the Tzotzil? Will the rituals be preserved as they are now, or do they evolve with time and the change of the world?
Asad, Talal (1993). The Conception of Religion as an Anthropological Category. Genealogies of Religion. pp.110–126
Dauth, H. (2009). The Sacred Transformation of Coca-Cola. Anthropology of Religion.
Geertz, Clifford (1973). Religion as a Cultural System. In: Interpretations of Cultures. ???. pp.
Rigg, S. (2013). Chamula, Chanting, and Coca Cola. Mexico retold.
