Church of St. Juan Bautista

About

The Church of St. Juan Bautista was built in the 16th century when the Spanish arrived and tried to convert the local people to Christianity. Chamulans, however, are fiercely independent, and while the Spanish tried to incorporate indigenous rituals, the locals ultimately appointed their own religious leaders and dropped any pretense of a standard Catholic Mass. Instead, the interior of this unassuming church is blanketed under a carpet of pine needles, and worship usually involves candles, moonshine, and maybe an animal sacrifice lead by a healer. Devotees do pray to the statues of saints lining the walls, but these actually represent Mayan deities, and must live up to local standards - the saints held responsible for allowing the nearby church of San Sebastian to be destroyed had their hands cut off.