loop - home - next
We returned to Santiago Atitlan and the amazing world of Tz'utujil ceremonial to witness the transfer of Rilaj Mam, the figure better know as Maximon, from the Cofradía San Nicolas to Cofradía San Juan where he will hold court for the next year. In former times, when the base for traditional practices was much larger, all the cofradías transferred each year to a new location in the house of their new alcalde. Now it is only the Cofradía Santa Cruz, that of the Mam, which moves to another established and now-stationary cofradía. In fact this practice, with two cofradías under the same roof, was only instituted within recent memory to allow an equitable distribution of the much-needed funds which the presence of the Mam brings.
|
|