Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
matters, with a separate council and mayor, and a court that decides cases involving only
local indigenous people.
Due to a long-running land dispute between the indigenous community and Telgua,
Chichicastenango has been without land lines for the past two years and no resolution is
foreseen anytime soon. Thus, all numbers listed here are for cell phones and may be tem-
porary.
COFRADÍAS
Chichicastenango's religious life is centered on traditional brotherhoods known as
cofradías
. Membership is an
honorable civic duty, and election as leader is the greatest honor. Leaders must provide banquets and pay for fest-
ivities for the
cofradía
throughout their term. Though it is expensive, a
cofrade
(brotherhood member) happily ac-
cepts the burden, even going into debt if necessary.
Each of Chichi's 14
cofradías
has a patron saint. Most notable is the
cofradía
of Santo Tomás, the town's pat-
ron saint.
Cofradías
march in procession to church every Sunday morning and during religious festivals, with the
officers dressed in costumes showing their rank. Before them is carried a ceremonial staff topped by a silver cru-
cifix or sun-badge that signifies the
cofradía's
patron saint. A drum, flute and perhaps a trumpet may accompany
the procession, as do fireworks.
During major church festivals, effigies of the saints are carried in grand processions, and richly costumed dan-
cers wearing wooden masks act out legends of the ancient Maya and of the Spanish conquest. For the rest of the
year, these items are kept in storehouses-cum-workshops called
morerías;
two prominent ones are at the start of
the trail leading up to the Maya shrine of Pascual Abaj.
Sights
Take a close look at the mural running alongside the wall of the town hall on the east side
of the plaza. It's dedicated to the victims of the civil war and tells the story using symbo-
logy from the
Popol Vuh
.
Inguat-authorized guides in beige vests offer cultural walks of Chichi and up to Pascual
Abaj.
