Photo Gallery

The main festival in Chichicastenango is celebrated every 21st December during the winter solstice in honour of the holy apostle Thomas. However, since the Quiché calendar is based on astronomical events related to the sun, the festival may have originally belonged to the worship of a Mayan deity. The traditional indigenous festivals have survived the influences of the Catholic religion. But many elements have been adopted from Catholicism. For example, every village on the high plains has its own patron saint or patron saints, whose feast day is celebrated with pomp. The whole population takes part in the procession. - 1977

The main festival in Chichicastenango is celebrated every 21st December during the winter solstice in honour of the holy apostle Thomas. However, since the Quiché calendar is based on astronomical events related to the sun, the festival may have originally belonged to the worship of a Mayan deity. The traditional indigenous festivals have survived the influences of the Catholic religion. But many elements have been adopted from Catholicism. For example, every village on the high plains has its own patron saint or patron saints, whose feast day is celebrated with pomp. The whole population takes part in the procession. - 1977

The main festival in Chichicastenango is celebrated every 21st December during the winter solstice in honour of the holy apostle Thomas. However, since the Quiché calendar is based on astronomical events related to the sun, the festival may have originally belonged to the worship of a Mayan deity. The traditional indigenous festivals have survived the influences of the Catholic religion. But many elements have been adopted from Catholicism. For example, every village on the high plains has its own patron saint or patron saints, whose feast day is celebrated with pomp. The whole population takes part in the procession. - 1977

Not far from Chichicastenango, at the top of a hill that dominates the town, there is a place of worship that is very frequented by the Maya Quichés of the region. There is an anthropomorphic volcanic stone idol, known in the country as Pascuala Abaj, accompanied by a few crosses, also made of stone, which testify to a marked influence of Christianity on the religion of the natives. The Indians frequently go to this place to venerate their gods to whom they offer candles, pieces of copal, flower petals and pine needles. They say prayers to the God of the World and sometimes sacrifice a chicken or a turkey, throwing the blood of these animals towards the four cardinal points. Similar places of worship can be found in remote areas of the Guatemalan mountains or tropical jungle, where a pre-Columbian stela is found. - 1977

SantoTomás is the patron saint of the famous Indian village of Chichicastenango in Guatemala. The traditional indigenous festivals have survived the influences of the Catholic religion. But many elements have been taken over from Catholicism. For example, every village on the high plains has its own patron saint or patron saints, whose feast day is celebrated with pomp and ceremony. The whole population takes part in the procession. - 1977

One of the most important and esteemed figures in a procession in Chichicastenango, Guatemala. He is the principal or religious leader of the community, who leads all the ceremonies and rites celebrated by the members of his group. He is also known as the anciano or pasado (elder). To reach this enviable position, he has had to carry out a wide range of functions throughout his life, successively dedicating himself to the church and the objects of worship, organising the processions and serving the patron saint of his village. The principal is a respected man who acts in concert with the chiman or indigenous priest of the community. Both are the most faithful defenders of the tradition. They also seek, by their example, to maintain the balance and safeguard the morals of their group. The principal usually comes from a fairly well-to-do family, which is not necessarily the case for his closest aides. Nevertheless, both strive to perform tasks that are aimed at the material and spiritual development of the representatives of their clan. - 1977