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San Juan titular Catholic chapel
This is the chapel honoring John the Baptist,
the patron saint of the town.
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San Juan Chamelco's evangelical Church of the
Nazarene.
The church was completed in 1983 at the height of
the civil war, during the military dictatorship
of another evangelical, General Efrain Rios
Montt.
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Changing the chapel flowers, Saturday morning. Six
couples carry out the religious work for the community
Catholic chapel for a year. The senior woman (the xbenil
in Q'eqchi' and the most prestigious) is second from the
left; the most junior woman (the waquil) is on the
right
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Evangelical procession to newly inaugurated church. Much
of Mayan ritual is carried out across the landscape int
he form of pilgrimages and processions.
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The winner of the school oratory contest. Both Q'eqchi'
girls and boys attend school and are expected to develop
highly formal speaking and writing skills; this girl is
bilingual in Spanish and Q'eqchi'.
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Senior woman prepares cacao for men planting corn. Cacao
is the prestige drink of the Mayas and in its seed form
it served as money. Corn is the staff of life.
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Senior men musicians play at town fiesta
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Indigenous beauty queens: San Juan Chamelco on left. The
winner in the center, from Quetzaltenango, is a doctor.
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