 prev - home - next Late this evening sees the entry of a unique figure into the proceedings: Rilaj Mam — more widely known as Maximón — the richly garbed figure who seems to embody an ancient deity and who is, for traditionalists (and tourists), the symbol of the town. The Mam is brought down from his place of rest, of sleep and temporary death, in the rafters of the Confraternity House of Santa Cruz. In pitch darkness and behind matting screens, but nonetheless in the presence of the spiritual and temporal leaders of the community, he is reassembled and dressed in new apparel by his shamanic priest — the telinel. |
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