Standing beside the main plaza, Chamula’s main church is a ghostly white, with a vividly painted arch of green and blue. Inside the darkened sanctuary, hundreds of flickering candles, clouds of copal incense, and worshippers kneeling with their faces to the pine-needle-carpeted floor make a powerful impression. Chamulans revere San Juan Bautista (St John the Baptist) above Christ, and his image occupies a more important place in the church.
You must obtain tickets (M$20) at the tourist office beside the plaza before entering.
Chanting curanderos (literally ‘curers’; medicine men or women) may be rubbing patients’ bodies with eggs or bones, and worshippers often drink soft drinks (burps are believed to expel evil spirits) or copious amounts of pox (alcohol made from sugarcane). Images of saints are surrounded with mirrors and dressed in holy garments.
