Beginning of the Feria de Cholula

The Feria de Cholula is a religious festival that lasts for about two weeks and more than 250,000 people from around Mexico and the world come here the first two weeks of September and celebrate the Virgen de los Remedios. The church (not pictured here-this is the church of St. Gregorio I think) that the Spaniards built up on top of the Great Pyramid of Cholula is named after Cholula's patron saint, La Virgen de los Remedios (Our Lady of the Remedies). Anyways, this year my friends Paloma and Jorge and I were invited by our friend and professor Timothy Knab to come and observe the opening night of the feria. For someone like me who isn't religious, it's always interesting to observe the rituals and beliefs in action of religious people. I usually don't take pictures inside the churches here in Mexico but this was a special occasion and I wanted to be able to put up a few pics of the Virgin. People kept going up to her (to me, of course, she's just a doll-but not to these people- she is much more than that) and touching her, holding her dress up to their faces, kissing her and talking to her. It was an interesting night and I was glad to be able to have something to do that night other than work on my final project!

So we waited around the church for the 10 different barrios of Cholula to arrive with their patron saint in tow. At one point, it was quite funny because almost each barrio arrived carrying their lanterns and their patron saint AND each barrio had their own marching band. So needless to say, it was extremely loud with the church bells ringing and each barrio's band playing their own songs. It was quite crazy, but once all of the barrios showed up, we were all able to take to the streets.

And then the procession went out into the streets to begin the walk around Cholula, carrying the Virgen de los Remedios in the truck pictured here. Paloma and I didn't want to spend two and a half hours walking around Cholula; so after a few blocks, we went home. Cholula is so interesting because of its people and their religious devotion (if one finds all of that interesting- frankly, I don't quite understand it, but obviously, I wanted to observe this whole procession thing in order to maybe get a glimpse of comprehension). It was an interesting night and something to do and observe (from an anthropological perspective).

PALENQUE!!!

So here I am at Palenque (in the state of Chiapas). Palenque's original, ancient name was Lakamha' or 'Big Water'. There are supposedly many waterfalls and other water sources close to the site (I didn't see any) that gave it its name. Palenque was established around 200CE and the dynasty's founder (in 431CE) was from another, unknown center. Palenque flourished during the Classic period (250CE-900CE), particularly during the reign of one of Mesoamerica's most famous kings: K'inich Janaab Pacal ("Great Sun Shield"). Palenque was allied with Tikal and Copan and these sites fought against Calakmul and all of its allies. I loved the Temple of the Inscriptions which was the tomb or the funerary monument for Pacal. Pacal had this building constructed before he was dead so as to commemorate his own death (in 683CE, after 68 years as king). In 1952, an archaeologist, Alberto Ruz, came upon what must have been just an amazing moment in anyone's life (not just as an archaeologist but just as an admirer of the Maya civilization): the sarcophogus of Pacal, with the amazing lid with its iconography depicting Pacal's descent into the underworld after death. I loved being able to visit Palenque and even though I was sick and it was blistering outside, Palenque was incredible and fascinating!!

The Palace of Palenque, built by Pacal (I think he added onto what was already there, built originally in the Early Classic), is an interesting building. It has a main courtyard with a few relief sculptures and of course, this tower. There are a few underground passageways, one leading from the ruler's chambers to the courtyard. Another interesting thing about the Palace is that Pacal built one of the structures to resemble the ordinary and humble abode of the common people of Palenque. I think it's interesting because royal architecture (state architecture) included that of all people of the realm ('Baak' or bone). The Palace is quite a collection of buildings and passageways and I was very impressed with it.

Here are some images of the artwork etched in stucco at Palenque. The Maya that lived at Palenque were very lucky to live where they did: the limestone quarries in this area of the southern lowlands contained some of the finest limestone. All of these pics are from the Palace at Palenque. This second image is within the courtyard of the Palace and of all of these figures, perhaps one or two of them were scribes. I've included a pic of the tablet that showcases the enthronement of Pacal; his mother, Lady Sak K'uk ("Resplendent Quetzal") gives him the royal headgear. The story of Pacal's accession is quite interesting: he was born in 603CE and acceded to the throne at 12 years old, in 615CE. His father was not the king; Pacal claimed royal descent through his matrilineal ancestry, through his mother's bloodline. In fact, from 583-604CE Lady Yohl Ik'nal ruled; one of the only women that truly ruled (she was not a regent that controlled the throne until one of her sons could take it as was the case with Pacal's mother). Pacal ruled until his death in 683. I have also included a picture of the "corbeled vault" of the Maya (the Maya arch) and a pic of our guide, Feliciano (who knew quite a lot) in front of a relief sculpture on one of the columns of the Palace.

Here is one ballcourt at Palenque. It's kind of small but we still don't quite know all of the variations of how the game was played; all across Mesoamerica, it would seem that the ballgame was not homogenized. There were different rules, different equipment used and perhaps completely different ways of playing. Anyways, here are some pics of the group of the three temples: the Temple of the Cross, the Temple of the Foliated Cross and the Temple of the Sun (this group is known as the Cross group because when the site was first being explored a few centuries after the Spanish Invasion, the first explorers noticed the sign of the Christian cross found in several places on these buildings). At Palenque, written in the inscriptions, a date of genesis for the site is given: in 3309BCE there was the first creator god who created three deities who are the triad venerated at Palenque (the Maya believed that the creation of the world was on Aug 13 3114). There are still excavations and studies being done here because we do know a lot about Palenque but the site is quite large and extensive.

So after visiting the ruins we were given like 15mins at the museum! Not enough time to look at everything in depth but I was very glad to be in an air-conditioned building after spending 3hrs out in the hot and very humid air of Chiapas. Anyways, I like this facial carving (and I forget who this person is) because sometimes I can't quite imagine the Maya as actual human beings; people who remain somewhat mystical and mysterious to me are shown in a very humanistic way. I'm sure that somedays, these people that lived in the tropical rainforests of Chiapas were bored or just wanted to take a nap; they weren't always, everyday, creating this life of mystique. There were quotidian things that they did. I included a few pics of the Tablet of 96 Glyphs because it's quite impressive. Also, the last pic of these five is an incense burner; there were several found together, buried in the ground. Perhaps they were ritualistically "killed"; the Maya, just like other Mesoamerican cultures, believed that many objects that were created contained an animate substance.

And these last few images are quite interesting as well. The relief sculpture of the individual still has some of the original red and greenish-blue paint on it (almost all Maya buildings were painted red-it's difficult to imagine because now they all just look so whiteish-grey but more than a millennia and a half ago, these buildings jutted out of the landscape drenched in a blood-red color)!! This piece had been broken up into more than 300 fragments but with painstaking effort, a team was able to put it back together. I also like looking at the panel of hieroglyphs; very fascinating even though I can only recognize a few of the signs (and that doesn't mean that I know what they mean to say!). I truly enjoyed this adventure at Palenque. I would love to go back and be able to spend more time at the museum and the actual ruins. Maybe one day, they'll allow me to climb to the top of the Temple of Inscriptions and then descend below to view the sarcophagus of K'inich Janaab Pacal! Well, at least I can dream!

Various Places in Chiapas

I thought that I would just take a few minutes and post some more pictures from my trip to Chiapas. One of my favorite places to visit (other than the archaeological sites) was the indigenous town of Zinacantan (it's the town tucked away in between those mountains in one of my pics below). We were only given an hour here, but we had a guide, Felipa, who joined us for the twenty minute busride from San Cristobal over to her town of Zinacantan. She explained some things to us and taught us some expressions in her language, Tzotzil. I can only remember how to say 'buenos dias' which is "mili oh shike' (I'm just writing it out phonetically because of course I don't know how to spell in Tzotzil- it's mee lee oh shee kay or something like that). I found all of the language lessons to be fascinating. She even sang us a couple of songs in Tzotzil. Anyways, here I am with Felipa's sister whose name escapes me. But these women weave for a living and Felipa was kind enough to invite us (all 46 of us) into her home to see all of the things that she and her family weave. They were also kind enough to let us take some pictures; in many indigenous towns across Mexico (as in the Southwestern US), you aren't allowed to take pictures at all and it's very rude to take pics without asking first (you may be charged to take a picture but for a minimal fee). So I asked a group of women if I could take their picture as they came walking by but only one of them responded in Spanish and the others just smiled and nodded 'yes'. I hope to be able to come back to Chiapas one day and spend a lot more time here. Oh, the last picture in this series of five photos is of Felipa with two of the students from the UDLA dressed in the "traditional" bride and groom outfits for those getting married in Zinacantan.

Then we went to San Juan Chamula (part of the collection of towns that were known simply as Chamula) and got to spend a whopping 45mins here. I had a funny experience here: as soon as we pulled into a parking lot, tons of these indigenous women and children came running over to the bus, even before we got off, to start trying to sell their crafts. I was first approached by a woman named Maria and she tied a cool, well-made bracelet onto my wrist, letting me know that this was a "gift" from her. She asked me my name and then said that she would look for me when we returned to the bus. Well, the 45mins were up and so we went back to the bus and Maria found me, called me by name, and began to try to sell me one of her many items that she had made. I eventually bought two "hand-made" sunglass cases (which look machine-made to me) because Maria informed me that she would have to take back the bracelet that she gave me if I did not buy something from her. It was funny to me; a lot of the indigenous peoples in Chiapas are astute business people and as soon as they see foreigners coming, they turn on that charm. But from my perspective, studying Mexican Anthropology now for over a year, it's difficult for me to say no to them or to haggle with them when I know that the prices that they originally offer are really good (for both the consumer and the producer-maybe not so much for the producer). I just wish that I could have spent more time here in San Juan Chamula. The men that have on the white, fuzzy vests are Tzeltal (I believe). There are lots of indigenous groups in Chiapas, each with their own language, history, and culture.

These are some pics from Agua Azul (and one can definitely observe why this place is called Blue Water). It was beautiful here and I tried to enjoy it as much as I could even though I couldn't breathe very well (due to illness). It did feel nice to be close to the calming effects of the cool, serene water. Some people from our group went swimming here but I try to avoid getting into confined bodies of water with hundreds of other people (this must be not only a touristy kind of place to see but also a local hotspot because there were so many people and only a few large buses but several cars with Chiapas license plates).

Here are a few pictures of Misol-Ha ('Ha' means 'water' in one of the many Mayan languages and 'Misol-Ha' means 'Streaming Water'), a beautiful little spot tucked away in the forest/jungle of Chiapas, not too far from the town of Palenque. We didn't spend too much time here because the site consists of exactly what I have shown in these pictures; but the hour or so that we were here was nice and the climate felt cooler as we stood underneath the waterfall. There were a couple of people swimming but I was so sick that there was no way I was going swimming. Anyways, I truly enjoyed this trip to Chiapas and I only have one more entry left from this adventure: Palenque. And in the very last picture, you can see where people are standing underneath and behind the waterfall.