San Juan Chamula is a township in Chiapas. It has approximately 50,000 inhabitants. It is inhabited by the Tzotzil Mayan people. The town is unique in that it has autonomous status within the country of Mexico. No outside police or military are allowed.
Religion in San Juan Chamula is limited to an odd blend of Catholicism and pre-Spanish Mayan customs. When you enter the church there are people breaking raw eggs over people’s heads because they need a re-birth. Chickens necks are wrung because people need someone to die for their sins and Coca Cola is drunk to induce burps by which the sins leave the body. During all of this you can hear prayers being said in an old dialect of Tzotzil.
A Roman Catholic priest is only allowed in the church twice a year to baptize people.People are baptized in the names of the Father Son, the Mother Moon and the Son Earth.
It is within this setting, that a
religious revival took place about 35 years ago. There were mass conversions to evangelical
Christianity and as a result, at least 35,000 people have been evicted from San
Juan Chamula. The Mexican Constitution says
that individuals are allowed the practice the reglion of one’s choice but this
has not been enforced in San Juan Chamula.
Utilities have been shut off and town services denied to people who have
become evangelicals. There has been
violence, even death, causing the evangelicals to move to the outskirts of San
Cristobal de las Casas located not far from San Juan Chamula. They have settled into what has come to be
called a “ring of poverty” that surrounds San Cristobal.
Tourists can visit San Juan Chamula
but they are not allowed to preach the Gospel and are warned that if they do,
death might follow. It is indeed a "dark" experience and one leaves praying that God's love and light would enter the lives of all who live there.
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