Introduction to San Juan Chamula & Tips for Visiting
A visit to the church of San Juan Bautista, or Templo de San Juan Bautista, is truly an experience. For me, it is the most interesting church in Mexico, and possibly the most interesting church I’ve ever visited. The church is located in San Juan Chamula, an indigenous community with unique customs about 20 miles from San Cristobal de las Casas. A few things:
- I highly recommend visiting this town with a guide. The community has specific rules. You will want to understand the customs and culture to really enjoy the visit.
- The culture is very closed. The people do not travel outside their community often and the laws of Mexico do not apply to them. The town has it’s own laws and dialect.
- Respect the rules. It is very important to respect the culture and rules of San Juan Chamula while you’re there to avoid offending anyone in the community.
This is the tour we took, which I highly recommend. For more on San Cristobal de las Casas, see my post A 3-Day Itinerary for San Cristobal de las Casas.
Jump to a Section:
The Community & Culture of San Juan Chamula
About the Templo de San Juan Bautista
Inside the Templo de San Juan Bautista
Final thoughts on San Juan Chamula
The Community & Culture of San Juan Chamula
San Juan Chamula is home to an indigenous community that is one of the last to practice the Mayan religious culture. They have their own laws, and speak in a dialect called Tzotzil. Some of their specific customs include an extreme respect for elders, lack of public displays of affection, the practice of polygamy, and largely oral agreements versus written contracts. In short, the town and people come off as cold and relatively unfriendly at first glance.
For example, it is not common for parents to hug or kiss their children – affection isn’t a part of their culture, but respect is. Some examples of this include that they celebrate Día de los Muertos, and if they fail to pay respects their ancestors, they can lose their land and property. If they disagree with how the mayor of the town handles finances or agreements, they can kill the mayor. It last happened in 2017. The majority of the women work in the home, and the government provides payment for every child to preserve the indigenous culture. So life for women mainly focuses around their families.
Our tour guide and our local guide from the community painted two very different pictures of the community. Whereas our tour guide found the people of the community cold, the local guide expressed that this is just their culture. They don’t expect affection from their parents. Our tour guide expressed feelings of disdain towards the polygamy, but the local guide seemed to find it normal. Much of the tour was like that. There are definitely conflicting viewpoints from outside and from within the community. It was very interesting to see the culture of an indigenous community preserved. At the same time, I wouldn’t want to be a women there, as the culture is very male-dominated. Based on this, and my experience, I have mixed feelings towards the town and community.
About the Templo de San Juan Bautista
The church, or templo, in San Juan Chamula is a mix of Catholic religion and Mayan rituals. It is a fascinating blend of the indigenous community’s culture and the religion of the Spanish colonizers’ that was forced into this region. Originally a Catholic church, San Juan Bautista eventually became a mixture of Catholicism and Mayan rituals after the Mexican revolution. It is not recognized by the Catholic church.
When you visit the Mayan Catholic church in Chamula, your guide will tell you to put away your phones. Foreigners are not allowed to use phones in the church, and no one is allowed to take pictures. For foreigners, the fine is over 4,000 pesos (>$200). If a local is caught taking a picture, the punishment can be death by fire. It is a serious rule, and I don’t recommend breaking it. The only way to see inside the church is to visit it.
When you get there, your tour guide will likely ask if your group would like a local guide for the church. The cost is about 200 pesos (~$12) person – this is on top of the cost of the tour. The local tour is in Spanish, and I found it super fascinating to hear about the culture and rituals from a local. Our guide was incredibly well-versed in the culture, history and rituals of the church and community. This added significant value to the tour for us.
Inside the Templo de San Juan Bautista
There is no seating inside the temple. Instead, it’s a completely open space. All the patrons sit on the floor, which is sprinkled with pine needles, a part of the Mayan customs. You will see people praying with candles around them, and the entire church is filled with the smell of incense, giving it a smoky, reverent feel. There are also many statues of Catholic saints along the walls, and several people dedicated to taking care of the church. For example, clearing away altars and candles. It is common for men of the community to serve in the church, and they often spend a period of time dedicated to service.
As for rituals, you will see many people lighting candles and chanting in small groups with their family. You may also see people laying out eggs or killing live chickens. The reason? They believe that if someone is sick, they can transfer the disease to the chicken, and if they kill the chicken, they kill the disease. You cannot eat these eggs or chickens because they are tainted with the sickness. There is no confessional or single priest, rather, there are mirrors around the church where you can make a self-confessional. So you will hear people speaking or chanting to these mirrors and also openly in the church.
Overall, the feel of the church and town is reverent yet dangerous. While we were there, we all felt a heaviness in the air both from the people and the town itself. When we left to go to Zinacantan, we had a feeling of both awe of the uniqueness of San Juan Chamula, but also relief to have left.
Final thoughts on San Juan Chamula
As I mentioned, I have mixed feelings about this fascinating community and their church. While I found the mix of new and old culture extremely interesting, there also seems to be a dark side to it. I think the mix of indigenous old and modern new is catching up to this closed-off town. For example, there are many gaudy, enormous homes in the community made of stone. According to our guide, the houses are built from money sent back from the U.S., but also from drugs coming across the border. Without formal laws governing the community, the drug trade is apparently prevalent. Although I have no way of truly knowing the truth of that.
The community is also affected by the modernity of the capitalistic world around them. Several years ago, Coca-Cola built a plant in this region, and you see soft drinks everywhere. Even in the church as offerings. At times, Coca Cola is less expensive than water. In this region, they drink over two liters of soft drinks per capita per day, leading to an overwhelming level of type two diabetes.
There will always be a pull between the old, indigenous customs and the new, modern world, and Chamula is no exception. While there are amazing, interesting aspects of the culture that deserve to be preserved, I don’t agree with the treatment of women in the community. And while I appreciate immensely the preservation of the culture, the modern world is clearly creeping it’s way in. It will be interesting to see how long the old can survive the new.
