Chamula and Zinacantan

    A couple days ago, we visited the twin towns of Chamula and Zinacantan. While they are ethnically similar, they have diverged into two very different and distinct towns, despite the few miles that separate them. Their divergence occurs with a signal event during the conquest: to cooperate, or to resist.

                Chamula is a fairly large town of resisters who specialize in wool production. Although as Chamula Indian may not be Catholic, and in fact are considerably likely to be Evangelical Protestant,, to live in Chamula, as a Chamulan, you must be a member of their Catholic Church with its idiosyncratic hierarchies and traditions. While I am sure there is more to it than just the church, the main divergence for me, appeared there.  The outside is colorfully decorated with various Mayan symbols. Inside the church, the saints line the walls in boxes decorated with symbolic flowers and tokens. There are no pews- instead, there are tables with candles on them, each with a different meaning according to their color. When the candles have taken over the tables, people pray on the floor, with specific numbers and colors of candles according to their prayer surrounded by a thick layer of pine needles that covers the church floor. Sometimes, healers with accompany them, or give them directions on how to cure an illness in the family, or misfortune. I saw one woman swinging a bag of eggs over the candles she had placed on the floor.

                In addition to their different church customs, the Chamulans also have a mayordomos. To be a mayordomo is a great honor, because it is indicative of the fact that the elected person is a spiritual leader in the community.  When you are chosen, you are responsible for buying all of the drinks and food for every major celebration in the community: weddings, baptisms, funerals, etc. They, like the rest of the Chamulans, also have a distinct costume, which I have put into a picture to the left. The traditional clothing of a Chamulan is usually a white or black wood tunic for men, and for a women, a woolen black skirt and a white blouse. I have seen very few Chamulan women wearing  their hair in anything other than braids, although I have seen girls running around with their hair behind them.

                Zinacantan means “Land of Bats” in the Nauhatl language of the Aztecs with whom they traded extensively with in pre-Colombian times. When the Spanish arrived, they were more gracious to their invaders than the Chamulans, and have thus acquired a better reputation that continues today. To call someone a “Zinacantan” means nothing, but calling someone a “Chamulan” is a racial slur. Through my eyes, the people of Zinacantan dress similiarly to the people of Chamula, only they tend to appear more wealthy because of their more colorful clothing. Traditionally, the men wear a more colorful tunic and the women wear indigo skirts, a white blouse and/or an indigo shawl embroidered with elaborate flowers. This is because the Zincantans are responsible for a lot of the tropical flowers shipped throughout surrounding Mexican states and the flowers have thus became important to their culture as their means of prosperity.

                While the Zinacantans have adapted Catholicism similarly to the Chamulans, they are less notable because they just seem happier. Maybe it’s because no one mentioned mandatory expulsion if they abandoned their specific brand of Catholicism? Perhaps it because they seemed to have means of acquiring money other than farming on poor land and hawking goods to the tourists? For me, although I was exposed to more intimate aspects of their lives- a traditional Zinacantan house, weaving of their clothing, delicious tortillas filled with ground pumpkin seed…they struck me less. I was interested, but I found my curiousity sparked more by the people who were more often sticking their hands, empty or full of pulseras in my face while I was sitting down at a restaurant.