Maya Communities by San Cristóbal
Unique Cultures and Customes for the Curious Traveler in Chiapas
Amatenango del Valle and San Lorenzo Zinacantán are known for local crafts, unique costumes, and friendly people.
Amatenango del Valle
This Tzeltal community is located southeast of San Cristóbal just past Teopisca along the Pan-American Highway. You will see women in this village wearing white pullovers, huipiles, with finely embroidered designs in red, gold, and blue. Do take caution before purchasing one of these shirts, as Western women tend to have much larger heads than the local women.
Pottery
Amatenango is a village of potters who are renowned for their clay roosters, jaguars, and house wares. Instead of using a kiln, the locals will gather all of their unfired works in one of the neighbors’ yards and build a fire around the pieces. Because of this some of the works have black ash marks from the firing process.
You will find children here, as well in San Cristóbal, selling small clay animalitas which make great inexpensive gifts. Even if the children are overly persistent maintain a polite attitude towards them as the locals are very sensitive to rudeness.
Getting There
From San Cristóbal you can either take a bus or combi headed for Comitán and get off when you see the rows of clay pottery on the side of the road for sale just past Teopisca. If you are only in San Cristóbal for a limited time it is a good idea to rent a car because the buses and combis here can be time consuming and do not always have reliable schedules.
San Lorenzo Zinacantán
A little more than 10km from the center of San Cristóbal, this community of Tzotils resides in the valley of Zinacantán near the Maya community of San Juan Chamula. The traditional garments are still worn today though they have reportedly become more colorful and dramatic since the arrival or more tourists in the 1980’s. You will see women wearing distinctive purple embroidered cloaks designed with animals and flowers and the men wearing pink embroidered tunics with tassels and white hats with colorful streamers.
A small museum, Ikol Okoj, features a lot of traditional artifacts, including musical instruments and regional costumes, and is situated inside of a traditional hut called a palapa.
Festivals
The most important festival is for La Virgen de la Candelaria during August 7-11 but Semana Santa and the celebration for San Sebastián (January 19-22) are also important as well. During these festivals large markets form around the central church, Iglesia de San Lorenzo. At the markets, local artisans sell embroidered fabrics and crafts.
La Iglesia de San Lorenzo was rebuilt in 1975 after a fire destroyed the roof. There is a small admission fee for outsiders, and it is important to remove hats before entering. Inside and in the church plaza, photography is prohibited. This is one of the few chiapaneco communities that has embraced the Catholic clergy.
Getting There
From San Cristóbal, Zinacantán is a short taxi ride. Also, you can take one of the combis from the market which leave about every 20 minutes.
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