Chiapas

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State of Chiapas
Flag Coat of arms
Location within Mexico
Municipalities of Chiapas
Country	Mexico
Capital	Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Municipalities	118
Largest City	Tuxtla Gutiérrez
Government
- Governor	Juan José Sabines Guerrero (PRD)
- Federal Deputies	PRI: 7 PRD: 5
- Federal Senators	PRI: 1 PRD: 1 PVEM: 1
Area Ranked 8th
- Total	74,211 km² (28,653 sq mi)
Population (2005)
- Total	4,293,459 (Ranked 7th)
- Demonym	Chiapaneco
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
HDI (2004)	0.7076 - medium Ranked 32nd
ISO 3166-2	MX-CHP
Postal abbr.	Chis.
Website: http://www.chiapas.gob.mx

Chiapas is the southernmost state of Mexico, located towards the southeast of the country. Chiapas is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the north, Veracruz to the northwest, and Oaxaca to the west. To the east Chiapas borders Guatemala, and to the south the Pacific Ocean. Chiapas has an area of 74,211 km² (28,653 sq mi). The 2005 census population was 4,293,459 people.

In general Chiapas has a humid, tropical climate. In the north, in the area bordering Tabasco, near Teapa, rainfall can average more than 3,000 mm (120 in) per year . In the past, natural vegetation at this region was lowland, tall perennial rainforest, but this vegetation has been destroyed almost completely to give way to agriculture and ranching. Rainfall decreases moving towards the Pacific Ocean, but it is still abundant enough to allow the farming of bananas and many other tropical crops near Tapachula. On the several parallel "sierras" or mountain ranges running along the center of Chiapas, climate can be quite temperate and foggy, allowing the development of cloud forests like those of the Reserva de la Biosfera el Triunfo, home to a handful of quetzals and horned guans.

The state capital city is Tuxtla Gutiérrez; other cities and towns in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las Casas, Comitán, and Tapachula. Chiapas is home to the ancient Maya ruins of Palenque, Yaxchilan, Bonampak, Chinkultic, and Tonina.

Most people in Chiapas are poor, rural small farmers. "Chiapas is aptly described as rich land with poor people."^[1] About one quarter of the population are of full or predominant Maya descent, and in rural areas many do not speak Spanish. The state suffers from the highest rate of malnutrition in Mexico, estimated to affect more than 40% of the population. "Without roads, cities or even small towns, eastern Chiapas is a kind of dumping ground for the marginalized, in which all of the hardships peasants confront in the highlands are exacerbated."^[2]

Other social issues involve the increasing presence of the Central American gangs known as Maras, and illegal immigration from Central America in general, mostly directed towards the United States, but further aggravating the panorama of local poverty. This floating influx of people is frequently subject to abuse and human rights violations from Mexican authorities.

In 1994, there was an outbreak of violence between the Mexican Government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (the EZLN or Zapatistas). Today, the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, named in honour of Emiliano Zapata) has rejected the use of force and seek to be recognized as a voice of the disenfranchised. There are currently 32 "rebel autonomous zapatista municipalities" (independent Zapatista communities, MAREZ in Spanish), affiliated with the EZLN in Chiapas: examples of these communities are Ocosingo and Las Margaritas.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Pre-Columbian 1.2 History through the 19th century 1.3 Zapatista Army of National Liberation 1.3.1 Sub-Comandante Marcos 2 Geography 2.1 Rainforest 2.2 Highlands 2.3 Central Valley 2.4 Sierra Madre de Chiapas 2.5 Soconusco 3 Energy 4 Demographics 5 Murals 6 Landmarks 7 Municipalities 8 Major communities 9 Alcohol use 9.1 Fiesta 9.2 Informal drinking 9.3 Familial abuse 9.4 Quitting 10 Rituals and symbols 10.1 Birth 10.2 Baptism 10.3 Marriage 10.4 Death 10.5 Episodes of symbols 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Pre-Columbian

Chiapa de Corzo (Mesoamerican site), in the center of Chiapas, shows evidence of periodic occupations throughout pre-history, and evidence of continual occupation since 1400 BCE. The oldest Maya Long Count date yet discovered, equivalent to December 36 BCE in the Gregorian calendar, was found on one of several monument shards there.

In approximately 800 CE, Mangue-speaking Chiapaneca peoples from the north conquered the native Zoque and Maya towns. The mounds and plazas at Chiapas de Corvo date to approximately 700 BCE with the temple and palace constructed during the Late Formative, perhaps 400 BCE to 200 CE.^[3]

The Maya city of Palenque was founded in the early Pre-classic, with the first large structures constructed around 600 CE.

[edit] History through the 19th century

Chiapas was conquered by Spain in the early 16th century, and became part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, administered as part of the Kingdom of Guatemala (what is now Central America), from Santiago de Guatemala.

When Central America achieved its independence from Mexico in 1823, western Chiapas was annexed to Mexico. More of current day Chiapas was transferred after the disintegration of the Central American Federation in 1842, and the remainder of the current state taken from Guatemala in the early 1880s by President Porfirio Díaz.

Chiapas remained one of the parts of Mexico least affected by change, with the descendants of the Spanish continuing to exercise much control over the native peoples through such institutions as debt peonage, despite attempts by the central government to abolish those practices.

In 1868 there was an armed native rebellion, led by the Tzotzil Maya as well as Tzeltal, Tojolabal, and Ch'ol; it almost succeeded in taking San Cristóbal, then the state capital, before it was suppressed by the Mexican army.

[edit] Zapatista Army of National Liberation

Main article: Zapatista Army of National Liberation

In the twentieth century some people in Chiapas felt that their poor and largely agricultural area had been ignored by the government since enactment of the constitution of 1917. One of the chief complaints was that many indigenous farmers were required to pay absentee landlords,^{[citation needed]} despite the fact that since the 1920s the Mexican government had been promising the peasants ownership of the land they had farmed and lived on for generations. Article 27 of the 1917 constitution guaranteed indigenous peoples the right to an ejido or communal land. As Mexico restructured its economy after the 1982 financial crisis, the state sector shrank due to privatizations and reorganization while land reform became less of a priority (it had long since been completed in most of the country, with Chiapas as a notable exception). The Mexican government under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari sought to liberalize the closed and autonomous economy and increase its openness to trade. As part of this process Mexico repealed the constitutional guarantee of communally owned ejidos for rural communities. As the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect on January 1, 1994, the indigenous peoples of Chiapas—struggling to make a living with few resources—felt increasingly left behind.

Such dissatisfaction led to the rise of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Zapatistas, or Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional), which began an armed rebellion against the federal government on January 1, 1994 as a response to the implementation of NAFTA. In the same year, a large meeting of thousands of supporters of the anti-globalization movement was held in Chiapas. Some groups, such as the pacifist group Las Abejas, sympathize with the goals of the Zapatista revolution but not with the use of violence to accomplish those goals.

Zapatista rebels are most comprised of Tzotzil and some Tzeltal. Besides a language, Tzeltal is also an identity and ethnicity.^[4] “In some highland communities, some people referred to the Zapatistas in native Tzotzil as “trouble makers” or as “thieves”— a reference to marauders who roamed the countryside in the 1910–1920 decade of the Mexican Revolution.”^[5]

The Zapatistas have been cut off by the government from goods, political power, and their growth economically, because of the rebellion and for declaring themselves to be at war with the state of Mexico. “Such circumstances played in fueling the frustrations on which the Zapatistas capitalized.”^[2] The Mexican government also installed a Solidarity Program to help indigenous in the state of Chiapas. “The government’s Solidarity Program, which was ostensibly designed to alleviate poverty, but which instead became an instrument for rewarding political loyalty and contributed to the anger and frustration expressed through the Zapatista rebellion.”^[6]

The group is named after the iconic revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata who fought during the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s. Zapata gained enormous respect throughout Latin America for defending the rights of the poor agricultural sector of Mexico. The Zapatistas were in principle a peaceful movement that was pushed to use the force of arms to guarantee the indigenous right to ejidos.

Another view of this could be that, the Zapatistas movement started out as one that was bloody, violent, and horrifying with an untold number of indigenous left dead in the streets; the numbers are estimated to be from 150-500. This was a movement that started out with the raiding and seizing of 4 cities in Chiapas (including San Cristóbal de las Casas), over 600 ranches, and control over about a quarter of Chiapas. The Zapatistas took up arms not because they wanted to, but were forced, because of a non-compliance from the Mexican state; who was allowing corporate America to buy up their lands at cheap prices, and give nothing to the indigenous in return.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Sub-Comandante Marcos

Sub-Comandante Marcos, the face of the Zapatistas, succeeded in attracting international attention, with the innovative use of modern information and communication technologies.

Marcos, spokesperson of the Zapatistas, has been quoted as saying, “Why does the government [refuse to put] national politics on the agenda for negotiation? Are the indigenous people of Chiapas “Mexicans” only for the purpose of being exploited?”^[4] At this time he also goes by "Delegado Cero (Delegate Zero)."^{[citation needed]} Marcos has a pet that he brings around with him to places. "He travels with an animal mascot, a deformed rooster he calls "el pingüino" ('the penguin'). According to a New York Times article of January 6, 2006, Marcos uses the animal as a symbol of the various disenfranchised people he champions."^{[citation needed]}

A surprising fact about the Zapatistas and indigenous of Chiapas, that is not widely known, is they actually showed political support of the Mexican government and the officials in power; no one can measure the numbers exactly because of election fraud. “The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has always claimed victory on the basis of overwhelming support from Mexico’s rural south. In the 1988 presidential elections…89.9 percent of Chiapas voters, including impoverished Indian peasants, allegedly turned out for the PRI.”^[7] But as stated before, they cannot be sure these numbers are correct because of election scandals. The Zapatistas have actually, or did, view the Mexican system as an ally to their communities, until the system turned on them once again. After the Mexican Revolution and land reform acts, they came to see the government as an ally, until the start of the Salinas government put an end to agrarian reform.^[8]

After the initial seizure of San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, the Mexican army kept the Zapatistas bottled up in their rural strongholds. Sporadic armed repression by paramilitaries that appears to have been funded by local landowners, and with which elements in the federal government may have sympathized, followed. There was a series of massacres, most notably in 1997 in Acteal, where 47 refugees from indigenous communities, mainly women and children, were killed in a church, after a National Peace Accord had been signed.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, the EZLN renewed its revolt, autonomizing a number of villages and sending a delegation into Mexico City. While the delegation did not obtain everything it sought due to opposition in Congress, which the support of President Vicente Fox was not able to overcome, the villages remain under Zapatista control, in large part due to the local villagers and their support of the group^{[citation needed]}. In August 2003, the EZLN declared all Zapatista territory an autonomous government independent of the Mexican state^{[citation needed]}. Since then, the armed EZLN has been lying low to some extent working on the government level to implement health care and educational institutions in poor rural indigenous communities that had until then been ignored and discriminated against by the central government.^{[citation needed]} Anti-Zapatista paramilitary activity continues, pointing to the threat of re-escalation.^[9]

In actuality,The Zapatistas continue to campaign, their efforts are continuous for indigenous autonomy and for humanity, are still going on today; without any clear progress. Currently the rebel movement is attempting to gain sovereignty and autonomy from Mexican government. With the implementation of what is called the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle and the launching of The Other Campaign, the Zapatistas remain hard at work.^{[citation needed]} "The Zapatistas, through Subcomandante Marcos, along with other Indigenous peoples of the Americas, announced the Intercontinental Indigenous Encounter. They are inviting Indigenous from North and South America."^{[citation needed]} The struggle of the Zapatistas is not one that will go quietly into the night.

[edit] Geography

Chiapas is geographically divided into five zones. These are the rainforest, the highlands, the central valley, the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and the Soconusco.

[edit] Rainforest

Main article: Lacandon Jungle

The tropical rainforest of Chiapas, which includes the Selva Lacandona, is quickly being deforested. This is due to population pressures forcing highlanders into the rainforest. These include ladino (Spanish-speaking) landowners, indigenous and mestizo campesinos of the Ch'ol, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Tojolabal and other groups. Migrants from Chiapas are being joined by Guatemalans fleeing the Civil War. These colonists constantly compete with one another for land, with the campesinos seizing or squatting on claimed land while landowners respond with the military or police. The economic activities of both groups contribute to the massive deforestation of the Lacandón. Rain falling on the forest drains into the Usumicinta river, which forms the border between Chiapas and the Petén department of Guatemala. The river flows into the sea in Tabasco, and deforestation may be a cause of the floods which inundated Villahermosa in 2007^[10]

[edit] Highlands

The Central Highlands have been the population center of Chiapas since the Conquest. European epidemics were hindered by the tierra fría climate, allowing the indigenous peoples in the highlands to retain their large numbers. Indigenous peoples provided labor for Spanish conquistadors, who also heavily settled the highlands. Indigenous highlanders were conscripted into labor service on plantations, drafted into debt servitude, which was so widely practiced that Chiapas earned the illustrious title of "Mexico's slave state" in the late 19th century ^[11].

Since World War Two, the highlands have benefitted from a boom in the energy and petroleum sectors. However, economic growth in these industries did not reach the subsistence farmers of the highlands.^[11] High population and land reform pressured the poor and rich alike to move into the eastern rainforest. The highlands are home to the cities of San Cristóbal de las Casas and Comitán. Close to the rainforest, San Cristóbal was one of the first sites seized by the Zapatista army in their attack on January 1, 1994.

[edit] Central Valley

The Sierra Madre de Chiapas is cut through the middle by the Río Grande de Chiapas, known outside of Chiapas as Río Grijalva. The river flows from southwest to northeast. This area contains six of Chiapas' seven hydroelectric plants. The construction of these dams flooded hundreds of thousands of hectares, making lakes out of former ejido lands. The capital of Tuxtla Gutiérrez is located in the Central Valley, which enjoys a roughly tierra templada climate.

[edit] Sierra Madre de Chiapas

Main article: Sierra Madre de Chiapas

A continuation of the Sierra Madre del Sur, the Sierra Madre de Chiapas runs from northwest to southeast along the Pacific Ocean coast. It is extremely volcanic, resulting in high peaks, occasional eruptions and earthquakes, and rich soils. The mountains partially block rain clouds from the Pacific, a process known as Orographic lift, which creates a particularly rich coastal region called the Soconusco.

The largest city in the Soconusco is Tapachula, site of the seventh Chiapaneco hydroelectric plant, José Cecilio del Valle^[12].

[edit] Soconusco

Main article: Soconusco

The Soconusco lies in the southernmost corner of Chiapas. It shares many ties with Guatemala, which claimed the territory until 1882. Since it was a part of the Aztec empire, Soconusco has been known for its agricultural products. Then it was cacao, now the main product is coffee, which is grown on large plantations. These plantations were owned by German-Guatemalans and employed indigenous peoples of the Mam group. The tierra caliente climate of Soconusco allowed plantation agriculture to succeed, and in addition to coffee also grows sugar cane, rice, maize, and plantains.

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The Chiapas swordtail (Xiphophorus alvarezi) is named after this region.

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[edit] Energy

The energy resources of Chiapas include the seven hydroelectric plants on Grijalva and its tributaries and petroleum in the north. Six out of these seven are located in the Central Valley, including the Manuel Moreno Torres plant in Chicoasén, the most productive in Mexico. All of the hydroelectric plants are owned and operated by the Federal Electricity Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE), while the petroleum resources are owned by Petróleos Mexicanos, PEMEX. ^[12]

[edit] Demographics

About 55% of the state's population consists of Mestizos, 40% Amerindian (mostly of Maya ancestry); and around 35% of the indigenous population do not speak Spanish as their first language.

The products they produce are their only livelihood, yet corporations working with the Mexican government, have found ways to extort and take from them; as well as ladino’s who are ranchers that control Chiapas politics.^[4]

The 20th century saw massive population growth in Chiapas. From less than a million inhabitants in 1940, the state had approx. 2,000,000 in 1980^[11] and over 4 million in 2005^[13]. Overcrowded land in the highlands was relieved when the rainforest to the east was subject to land reform. Cattle ranchers, loggers, and subsistence farmers migrated to the rain forest. The population of the Lacandón was only 1,000 people in 1950, but by the mid-1990s this had increased to 200,000^[14].

“Chiapas is almost an internal colony for the rest of Mexico, providing oil, electricity, timber, cattle, corn, sugar, coffee, and beans, but receiving very little in return.”^[1] “Household income, education, and basic standard of living fall far behind the national average, and infant mortality is much higher.”^[1]

"Only 11 percent of adults earn what the government calls moderate incomes of at least $3,450 per year (versus 24 percent nationally); less than 50 percent of households have running water (versus 67% nationally); and only 14 percent have televisions (versus 45% nationally)."^[1] Chiapas is only 3% of Mexican population. They produce 13% of country's maize, 54% of its hydroelectric power, 5% of the nation's timber, 4% of its beans, 13% of its gas, and 4% of its oil; while nearly half of Chiapas is without electricity. The indigenous peoples of Chiapas have always produced and supported Mexico’s system, yet are "extorted, taken from, colonized, oppressed, and exploited in every way possible".^[4]

[edit] Murals

The Zapatista communities of Chiapas are celebrated for their murals. Vibrantly colourful communal paintings done on the outside walls of village buildings tell the recent Zapatista story of resistance—a story that often uses images of historical political heroes.

[edit] Landmarks

The Sumidero Canyon is occupied by an artificial lake, the dam , which produces a large percent of the electricity in Mexico. The sides of the cañon are covered with tropical vegetation.

• The Alvarez del Toro Zoo, ZOOMAT ^[15], in Tuxtla Gutierrez, featuring local, native fauna.
• The Lagunas de Montebello, near Comitan.
• The Cataratas de Agua Azul (Blue Waterfalls), near Palenque.
• The Maya ruins of Bonampak, in the Lacandon rainforest (La Selva Lacandona), feature probably the finest and better-known Maya murals. These are very realistic, depicting human sacrifices, music players and life at the royal court.
• The Lacandon Jungle is an important biodiversity spot, which recently yielded one of the newest and unique plant family discovered, represented by the plant Lacandonia schismatica.
• The Soconusco, the south-eastern coastal region bordering Guatemala, is a tropical agricultural area devoted to the intensive production of bananas and coffee, for the national and international markets.
• Chiapas is part of the Ruta Maya or Gringo Trail that links Cancun, Belice, Tikal, Lake Atitlan, San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque and other Maya archeological sites.
• San Cristóbal de las Casas is a favorite international tourist destination due to its colorful First Nations traditions and customs.
• Agua Azul is a famous waterfall.

According to the limited geography model of the Book of Mormon, now widely accepted by LDS religious scholars, Chiapas is the most plausible location of the land of Zarahemla. Chiapas has since seen an increase in Mormon tourism.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Municipalities

Chiapas is subdivided into 118 municipalities (municipios). See municipalities of Chiapas

[edit] Major communities

• Chiapa de Corzo
• Cintalapa
• Comitán de Domínguez
• Huixtla
• Ocosingo
• Ocozocoautla de Espinosa
• Palenque
• San Cristóbal de las Casas
• Tapachula
• Tonalá
• Tuxtla Gutiérrez
• Villaflores

[edit] Alcohol use

Alcohol use in rural Chiapas has been studied by North American anthropologists for over half-a-century. Many of these studies have included Tzotzil communities in the highlands of Chiapas. These studies done on alcohol use vary in their specific aim; some seek to understand ritualized drinking practices, some are more interested in casual drinking environments, and others still are focused on alcohol related abuse and methods used by rural Chiapanecos to quit drinking.

[edit] Fiesta

The celebration of Fiesta has been recorded in anthropological studies for decades. Fiesta is an annual celebration that serves to bring a community together through services, religious expression, and exchange^[16]. Throughout the celebration the use of alcohol pervades the atmosphere, and nearly everyone from public officials^[17] to the musicians ^[18] consumes some amount of alcohol. Not all of this alcohol use is in the spirit of celebration though. Alcohol use has worked its way into numerous ritual acts related to Fiesta, commonly as a gift presented to colleagues during the celebration. In fact, offering alcohol to another can be an act of thanks ^[19], payment for work ^[20], and as a way to celebrate the work that has been done ^[21]. The ritualized nature of these events is quite clear, as expressed by this passage from Eber (an example of celebration of successful work):

“When Victorio finishes distributing the money, the male server begins to serve shot glasses of rum. [ . . . Various helpers drink the rum . . .] Each answers Victorio and Angélika with “I am drinking” as they accept the cup and “I have finished” when they hand it back to the drink pourer.” ^[22].

[edit] Informal drinking

Christine Eber’s ethnography Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town contains many telling accounts of non-ritual, informal/casual drinking. Through her accounts she illustrates that individuals in rural Chiapas begin and continue drinking for many reasons. Presented here are three of Eber’s accounts.

First, Eber points out that ritual drinking can lead to non-ritual drinking, or as in her example, individuals that drink heavily during fiesta do not always stop once fiesta is over ^[23]. She talks about Victorio, who “. . . drank non-stop for twenty days” after fiesta had ended. Victorio’s wife showed concern for his well-being, but he insisted that he had no problem and continued drinking heavily. Eventually Victorio was fighting with his close friends and becoming destructive, and it was due to the embarrassment brought on by his drunken actions that he first began to scale back on his drinking.

A second example of informal drinking comes in the form of Pascuala, who said that the death of her daughter caused her to start drinking ^[24]. Pascuala’s daughter was five years old when she died, and her death hit Pascuala hard both because it was a shock and because she was left alone with nothing to help her cope but extensive housework and alcohol. Pascuala’s drinking began to pervade her daily activities, though she never drank when working out of town because she would embarrass herself.

A third example of non-ritual alcohol use comes from Bartolo and Otelia, a married couple who both drank heavily ^[25]. The couple’s neighbor, a relative, would often have to come over to break up fights, or take Otelia out of the house when Bartolo was particularly violent (he had chased her from their house on many occasions with a machete). Their drinking was not always physically destructive however, and many days they would sit at the table and trade harsh insults. Their heavy drinking did make some friends and family uncomfortable and certainly put Eber on edge, but there had been no community-wide attempts to make them stop drinking.

By these ethnographic accounts we can see that drinking occurs in nearly any setting and for numerous reasons in rural Chiapas. Victorio was a man who let the ritual drinking of Fiesta run away with him ^[23]. Pascuala was a woman whose daughter’s death caused her to turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism ^[26]. Bartolo and Otelia were simply an older couple who passed the time by drinking heavily ^[25].

[edit] Familial abuse

Familial abuse is one of the more widely studied alcohol-related issues in rural Chiapas ^[27]. It should be noted that familial does not simply entail spousal abuse; accounts of familial abuse in rural Chiapas have been recorded from the perspectives of wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, brothers, and sisters ^[28]. Many times, the abused acknowledge alcohol as the primary source of the violence ^[28]. One woman talks about how she and her sisters used to cry at night when their parents would not come home on account of being drunk in town for days at a time. Furthermore, this same woman notes that alcohol related abuse in her household was often over trivial matters:

“My parents felt like hitting me for any little thing. If our jug broke when we went to the waterhole, they hit us. Just for that!” ^[29]

However, alcohol is not always seen as the primary catalyst of violence. Women have cited money (both the lack and procurement of), failure to adequately perform duties as wives, failure to produce children, lack of obedience, or the fact that, “ . . . they were men” as reasons for violence ^[30]. When reading about alcohol related abuse in rural Chiapas, keep in mind that alcohol is only one facet of a multi-sided culture and that it would be a mistake to simply hold alcohol consumption responsible for violence.

[edit] Quitting

In Christine Eber’s ethnography Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town she presents a few different accounts of people’s methods for quitting alcohol use ^[28]. Two culturally significant accounts will be mentioned here: cold turkey quitting and dream cures.

When discussing Fiesta and musicians, Eber mentions Pablo, who said “Rum, no more” ^[31]. Pablo was a musician who, against the wishes of his friends, stayed sober during fiesta (many musicians use the stupor from alcohol to keep themselves awake and active throughout the event). He said that drinking does him harm, and that God said that heavy drinking would certainly kill someone. Instead of being paid with rum for his playing during fiesta, he took money that he and his wife used to buy what they wanted.

An account not related to Fiesta was of Angélika, who said “My dream cured me” ^[32]. Angélika was asked how she came to quit drinking, and she recounted a dream that she had. In her dream, the Moon (the Virgin Mary) came from the sky and scolded her for continuing to drink because alcohol was not sustenance, and it dulled her nerves. The Moon further pointed out that Angélika’s friends were constantly embarrassing themselves due to alcohol use and that they were going to embarrass the Moon as well. Angélika finally states that the Moon gave her a medicine which she drank, and has yet to imbibe alcohol again.

Pablo’s method of quitting was an active decision on his part, which involved repeatedly turning down his friends’ gifts of drink ^[19]. They mocked and taunted him, but he said that he was healthier and his wife was happy, so he was content. Angélika’s method of quitting was much more spiritual ^[32]. The Moon administered a medicine to Angélika, which she says cured her of her addiction to alcohol. She says that she never had the urge to drink again after that dream, her spirit was removed from the drink.

[edit] Rituals and symbols

The Zinacanteco people, a Tzotzil speaking ethnicity of the San Lorenzo Zinacantán municipio, celebrate four distinct stages of life: birth, baptism, marriage, and death. Each of the four stages involves a combination of various degrees of symbolic interaction.^[33]

[edit] Birth

The first major life stage is birth. The creation of a child is thought to be due to the mixing of the “Hpwersa”-from the Spanish word for “force”- from both man and woman. Though the male is viewed as the major contributor in procreation, the woman’s role is also important, as she is the one responsible for providing nourishment and acting as a “receptacle” for the child. A midwife is employed to aid in the birth and also plays a role vital to the wellbeing of the child. After the child is born, it is censed with copal and prayers are recited over the child after which point the child is dressed in clean clothes. Following this step, the next rite establishes the sex identity and helps to fix the soul into the body. The midwife rubs salt two times on the top of the baby’s mouth and gives it three chilies in order to provide “heat”^[34] to the baby’s body which is, until this point, viewed as “cold”^[34]. If the child is a boy, his hand is touched to items that he will use in life including a hoe, digging stick, splinter of pitch-pine, and a billhook. If the child is a girl, her hand is touched to a sword for the loom^[35], carding comb, spindle, thread, a mano and needle. Following this step, the baby is returned to the mother however, both mother and child are swathed in blankets in order to help block them from the potentially harmful views of other individuals. The umbilical cord and placenta are buried behind the house and are used as a divine influence over the number of children that will be born as either male or female to the family. Though it is not necessarily an illness, the mother is treated as if she is recovering from sickness for the next few weeks. She is confined to the house, must take three ritual sweat baths with the midwife, cannot perform tasks she normally would had she not given birth, and is only allowed to eat “hot” foods. This process is possibly done to restore the mother to her previous state of equilibrium. Also during this time, the baby is guarded from view so that his/her soul is protected.

[edit] Baptism

The second major life stage is baptism. Because the Zinacanteco people were influenced by European culture, traces and combinations of Christian rituals are often incorporated into the four life stages, baptism included. Baptism, for Catholics^[36], is the most important of the Seven Sacraments and is also quite important to the Zinacanteco as it is used to permanently fix the innate soul in the body if the child. It is viewed as a way in which to create bonds of ritual kinship between the parents and the godparents; this bond is known as compadrazgo. Baptism obligations “create(s) a network of interdependence among Zinacantecos which extends beyond the bonds of kinship and constitutes a most important basis to the dynamic of the society” ^[33]. The godparents of the child, or compadres, are chosen with for distinct factors in mind including: that they must be members of a different patrilineage, that they have previously or are currently called upon to serve as compadres for three other children of the family, that they must live relatively nearby, and that they are willing and able to provide economic and political services in the future should the need arise. The actual ceremony of baptism involves ritual steps starting with the child’s parents requesting the godparents to be “embracers”. This role requires that the godparent that is the same sex as the child hold the child during the ceremony. A ritual meal follows the ceremony and in the months that follow, the child receives food and clothes from the compadres. “Ceremonies associated with birth and baptism may be seen as a linear sequence characterized by phases of separation, transition, and incorporation” ^[33]. These phases are evident upon observation of each life phase.

[edit] Marriage

Marriage is the third stage in the life cycle. This stage is extremely important for a male because it is not until he is married that he is viewed and treated as a full member of society. The courtship process of marriage is lengthy and can become expensive. With the help of family friends, relatives, compadres and the male’s parents, the costs of courtship are provided for properly. The courtship process begins with a male choosing a female and then choosing two “petitioners” to convince the female’s father to allow the marriage to take place. If the female’s father accepts, he accepts liquor that has been offered to him however, if he refuses, the petitioners try again but with the male’s second choice for a wife. Once the female’s father accepts the proposal a trial period takes place involving the male and female’s families to see if the relationship will actually work in practice. There is also a bride price to be paid but the payment is gradual and may take up to two years. Only after the bride price is paid does the female’s father allow the “house entering ceremony” to take place. Once this ceremony occurs, gifts are given from the male’s family to the female and both families can call each other “kumpadre” and “kumale”; this establishes a permanent compadrazgo relationship. The female’s father then selects two “embracers” to serve as ritual advisors to the couple. The actual wedding has three phases, including a civil ceremony, a church ceremony, and a house ceremony which is then followed by a ritual meal. During the house ceremony, the embracers formally introduce the female to her new home and then advise the couple on their mutual responsibilities as a married couple. A dance is performed around the couple by both families as a symbol of melding both families. However, since the Zinacanteco are patrilineal in descent and patrilocal in residence pattern, the female’s family no longer has any claim to her services and the embracers become her “parents”. This lengthy process is an example of separation, transition, and incorporation.^[33]

[edit] Death

Death is the final stage of the life cycle though it is not necessarily a result of “natural causes”. Death, to the Zinacanteco, may result from losing ones soul, having one’s animal companion released from its corral, irreversibly selling one’s innate soul to the Earth Lord or, very seldom, through physical injury. After the moment of death, the body is washed and the deceased’s head is placed “toward the setting sun” and then the area is fenced off within the house using household articles. There is a period of mourning and ritual meals that follow. The same night, the body is placed in a coffin including a small bag of money and charred, ground tortillas as sustenance for the afterlife. The following morning the coffin is taken out of the house. If the deceased was a married female, her widower must announce his choice for a new wife. After the coffin is outside the house, a woman performs a rite that will “loosen the soul from the house”, “prevent the soul from returning to see its possessions”, and to “make it forget its house and not come back to frighten the living”.^[33] The coffin is taken to be buried and when it is half-buried personal objects associated with the deceased-often torn, burned, or damaged in some way- are put into the grave. The objects are damaged so that they cannot be used against the living after the deceased is buried. When the grave is completely filled, it is then covered with pine needles and a wooden cross that has been decorated with pine tree tops and red geraniums. These decorations are used as a means of communication. A dead body is seen similarly to a fetus in that it is “cold” and must be provided with “heat” for the soul, therefore burning candles, censing the body, and presence of liquor are used to accomplish this goal.

[edit] Episodes of symbols

As previously stated, most if not all rituals involve a culmination of several symbols in varied degrees. “Symbols are crucial in the Zinacanteco case, not only because the performance of ritual constitutes a focal concern of the society but also because it serves to store and transmit elements of the Zinacanteco prescriptions for a coherent and orderly society and to provide measured ways for the society to change over time” ^[33]. There are recurring episodes of symbols that are intricately involved with each other in daily life and “underline essential and distinctive qualities of the culture” ^[33]. The themes of these symbols are focused around three different actions, “talking, seeing and embracing” and two states, “heat and time”. “The actions are performed by Zinacantecos to affect or express two basic conditions: to provide for and symbolize the proper amount of ‘heat’, and to place and symbolize the Zinacanteco and his activities within the slow of ‘time’ in the universe.^[33]

The action of talking is a crucial element in life because it is a way to directly affect a person’s experience in life via other men and also with the gods. The Zinacanteco are highly verbal and actually differentiate, through a specific hierarchy, the different types of talking used and who uses which type. There is a premium placed on people who are able to say the correct thing at the right time.

Being able to see extends beyond the physical realm of visual perception. Seeing means to know or have insight in general. For example, Shamans can see into the mountains by way of dreams. In this way they are able to have a connection with the ancestral gods that live in the mountains. Also, the long process of education for the young is conceived as “learning to see”. The youth are thereby taught how to learn about, understand, and interpret the world as a responsible member of society would. This is an example of what would be called, in anthropology, enculturation.

Embracing is viewed as one of the most important duties of parents. They are expected to embrace their child, meaning they should care for the child so that is does not lose its innate soul. Throughout the four stages of life, there are always types of embracers and their responsibility is to guard and carry the soul of the individual they are “embracing”. On a larger scale, to the Zinacanteco, the Sun and the Maya moon goddess are the mother and father of the universe and by perpetually moving around their creation, they are thereby “embracing” it.

“Heat” symbolizes a general quality of existence and is accumulated with age and as power increases. Similarly, as was seen in the life stage of death, a deceased person is considered “cold” because right before death they are said to have reached their peak of “hotness”. Heat is used as a language to describe power differences in the universe. The candle is a physical item that combines two of the main actions and/or conditions including heat, light, and “disappearing”. The candle gives off physical heat, provides light for the action of seeing, and in going from solid to gas represents a transition from material to divine. The burning of copal, as in the life stage of birth, is used as a vehicle for transferring heat to the baby as well as a transition from the material to divine as with the candle.

Finally, the concept of time is also vital to the Zinacanteco. They are a people extremely concerned with knowing when plans are scheduled for, and actually, a wrist watch is almost always the first thing acquired in the industrial world ^[33]! The use of symbols and meaning of such symbols plays a tremendous role in the highly structured system of the Zinacanteco people. They rely on clusters of symbols borrowed from European culture and ancient Maya culture to maintain, and also evolve, their current culture.

[edit] See also

• 2007 Tabasco flood
• Subcomandante Marcos
• Zapatista Army of National Liberation
• A Place Called Chiapas
• Subcomandante Marcos#The Other Campaign

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Benjamin, Thomas. A Rich Land, a Poor People: Politics and Society in Modern Chiapas. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. 1996.
• Benjamin, Thomas. A Time of Reconquest: History, the Maya Revival, and the Zapatista Rebellion. The American Historical Review, Vol. 105, no. 2 (April 2000): 417-450.
• Collier, George A, and Elizabeth Lowery Quaratiello, foreword by Peter Rosset. Basta! Land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas. Oakland: The Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1994.
• Collier, George A. The Rebellion in Chiapas and the Legacy of Energy Development. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 10, no. 2 (Summer 1994): 371-382
• Eber, Christine Engla. Women and Alcohol in a Highland Maya Town: Water of Hope, Water of Sorrow. First Edition. 1995. University of Texas Press: Austin TX.
• Glantz, Namino Melissa. Halperin, David C. “Studying Domestic Violence: Perceptions of Women in Chiapas, Mexico.” Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 4, No. 7, Men. (May, 1996), pp. 122-128
• Groark, Kevin P. (2005). Vital warmth and well-being: steambathing as household therapy among the Tzelttal and Tzotzil Maya of highland Chiapas, Mexico. Social Science and Medicine, 61, 4, pp. 785-795.
• Lowe, G. W., "Chiapas de Corzo", in Evans, Susan, ed., Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America, Taylor & Francis, London.
• Vogt, EZ. Tortillas for the Gods: A Symbolic Analysis of Zinacanteco Rituals. Harvard University Press, London 1976.
• Whitmeyer, Joseph M. and Hopcroft, Rosemary L. Community, Capitalism, and Rebellion in Chiapas. Sociological Perspectives Vol. 39, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 517-538.

[edit] Further reading

• Bunzel, Ruth. “The Role of Alcoholism in Two Central American Cultures.” Psychiatry, Vol. 3. (1940), pp. 361-387.
• Castillo, Rosalva Aida Hernandez, and Lynn Stephen. "Indigenous Women’s Participation in Formulating the San Andres Accords". Cultural Survival Quarterly. 1999. <http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/csq/csq-article.cfm?id=1117>.
• Castillo, Rosalva Aida Hernandez and Robert Nigh. Global Processes and Local Identity Among Mayan Coffee Growers in Chiapas, Mexico. American Anthropologist Vol. 100, no. 1: 136-147
• Collier, George et al. “Socio-Economic Change and Emotional Illness among the Highland Maya of Chiapas, Mexico.” Ethos, Vol. 28, No. 1, (Mar., 2000), pp.20-53.
• Collier, Jane F. Stratification and Dispute Handling in Two Highland Chiapas Communities. American Ethnologist Vol. 6, no. 2: 305-328.
• DeWalt, Billie. “Drinking Behavior, Economic Status, and Adaptive Strategies of Modernization in a Highland Mexican Community.” American Ethnologist, Vol. 6, No. 3, Interdisciplinary Anthropology. (Aug., 1979), pp. 510-530.
• Gonzalez, Mario J. “Dual or Duel Fiesta System? The Politics of Identity in Southern Mexico” Wicazo Sa Review, Vol. 14, No. 1, Indigenous Resistance and Persistence. (Spring, 1999), pp. 165-176.
• Holland, WR. Contemporary Tzotzil Cosmological Concepts as a Basis for Interpreting Prehistoric Maya Civilization.. American Antiquity, Vol. 29, No. 3. (Jan., 1964), pp. 301-306.
• McGee, Jon R. and Belisa González. Economics, Women, and Work in the Lacandón Jungle. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies Vol 20, no. 2: 175-189
• Menegoni, Lorenza. “Conceptions of Tuberculosis and Therapeutic Choices in Highland Chiapas, Mexico.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 10, No. 3. (Sep., 1996), pp. 381-401.
• Miller, FC. Tzotzil Domestic Groups. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 94, No. 2. (Jul. - Dec., 1964), pp. 172-182.
• Nash, June C. Mayan Visions: "The Quest For Autonomy In An Age Of Globalization". Routledge. 2001. <http://books.google.com/books?id=Q2m1T53bOxwC&printsec=frontcover&vq=mayan+visions+by+june+nash&source=gbs_summary_r#PPP1,M1>.
• Selby, Henry A. Zapotec Deviance: The Convergence of Folk and Modern Sociology. 1974. University of Texas Press: Austin TX.
• Vogt, EZ Ancient Maya and Contemporary Tzotzil Cosmology: A Comment on Some Methodological Problems (in Facts and Comments) American Antiquity, Vol. 30, No. 2. (Oct., 1964), pp. 192-195.
• Willey, Gordon and Wauchope, Robert. 1966. Handbook of Middle American Indians. Ulrich Kohler. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Wilson, Richard. Maya Resurgence in Guatemala: Q'eqchi' Experiences. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

[edit] External links

• (Spanish) Zapatista National Army of Liberation (de facto government of much of Chiapas)
• (Spanish) Chiapas State Government
• (Spanish) Comisión Federal de Electricidad
• Travel article about Chiapas
• Chiapas murals 1
• Chiapas murals 2

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Coordinates: 16°24′36″N, 92°24′31″W