La Ciudad de las Iglesias

I get to write down what I'm discussing with my Spanish teacher this morning, or I'll soon forget all of them XD





An impression I have in my mind for Antigua is that, why there are CHURCHES everywhere, and that's for sure, since simply the little Antigua city has 14 (or 12? I forget... ) churches. If you don't know how small Antigua is, there is a map: http://www.aroundantigua.com/antigua/map.htm to show you. And the real size for Antigua is about 1,200 meters from the east to the west of the map! Besides the city of Antigua, there are also some village belonging to Antigua around it, and there are also some cathedrals in each village!



Although there are lots of cathedrals in Antigua, not all of them are active. If i didn't misunderstand one Antiguan's words, there are only 4 or 3 cathedrals helding 3 times of Mass everyday. some of them only held the Mass once a week, and some others simply "function" once a week!



Not only for the churches, the faith Guatemalans have for their religion is also decreasing. About 70% of Guatemalans are Catholics, 20% are Evangelicals, and 10% are for other religions. Most of the elders are devoted Catholics. But more and more youngsters in Guatemala tend not to be such that religious. For them, Catholic has more or less become a form of tradition.



On the other hand, although there are many Mayan descendants live in Guatemala, there is simply nobody believing in any Mayan religion -- I'm not sure about this conclusion, since i'd read somewhere else that there are still some Mayans keeping their ancient religion in the jungle of Guatemala nowadays. They don't have Mayan religion anymore; however, many Mayan people still helds ancient Mayan rituals regularly. Besides the rituals, some of Mayan belief have been kept in another form, mixed with the mainstream religion of Guatemalan. For example, the belief of Mayan for Maxímon. Maxímon is also called San Símon (the 'X' should be pronounced as SH as in English. It's a Mayan pronunciation). This is a religion popular among the regions of San Andres, Santiago, and Chichicastenango. Many religionists will bring cigarettes, money, or other "regalos" to worship Maxímon. The people who worship him may ask for love, wealth, career, etc. Some say the religionists wield "magia negra"(black magic) for their purpose, yet there are still some good story of Maxímon´s miracle.





BTW, I'm now arriving Panajachel by the Lake of Atitlán (Lago de Atitlán) -- and the view of the lake is just so astonishing! If time allowed, I'll ferry to the other side of the lake for some sight of Maxímon in Santiago. I may complement a photo of Maxímon if I can get one from Santiago :)