LORDS OF THE CLOUDS

Heirs of ancient cities lost to the jungle, the Tzotzil men and women are distinguishable for their genuine pride and their firm, defying gaze. They call themselves the batsil uinic, "true men", and their roots are buried deep in pre-Hispanic America.

By David Díaz Gómez

The Tzotzil are a group of people that for centuries have conserved their customs in the highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The majority of the Tzotzil live in small valleys or the summits of mountains, amid clouds, at altitudes of 1,500 to 2,700 meters above sea level.

    The Tzotzil way of life is preserved orally. In parajes (villages) it is possible to hear the retelling of myths that have shaped the Tzotzil perspective since the culture began. The totiques (venerable people) of Zinacantan, for example, will tell you that the earth is a cube surrounded by water, and that this cube rests on the shoulders of the gods of the four cardinal points. When one of these titans moves, because of fatigue or to move the cube from one shoulder to the other, earthquakes and tremors result.

    Five centuries of Christian colonization has failed to shake the Tzotzil from their beliefs. On the contrary, with time, the Tzotzil merged catholic saints and virgins with attributes of pre-Hispanic deities, all of which converged and flowed in a series of beliefs that have given head aches to many of the representatives of the Catholic Church.

    Juan Pérez Jolote, perhaps the most known Tzotzil, writes in his biography, "…before Saint Manuel was born, the sun was as cold as the moon. Pukujes (demons) lived on earth and preyed on man. When the Child God was born the sun bean to grow warmer. When the day grew light, the pukujes fled, hiding in ravines and mountains, so as not to be seen."

    The Zinacantecos say that when the statue of Saint Lawrence, their patron saint, arrived it was very talkative. The elders, who did not think saints should talk, silenced it forever by poring hot water down its throat.

    The Tzotzil believe that everything in the universe, inanimate or live, has chulel or soul. The soul of man is something that can be lost or stolen, and when this happens, the person sickens and runs the risk of death. It is said that if a Tzotzil mistreats his or her family, damages the forest or fails to follow the religious hierarchy (a service all Tzotzil must carry out), he or she loose part of their chulel and become depressed or have bad moods.

    Equilibrium reigns in the magical world of the Tzotzil. Every man is born with an animal double that inhabits the deities' territory. If man misbehaves its animal counterpart is disgraced and seizes to receive divine protection. Furthermore, it is left vulnerable to injury and the hunt in the real world, which in turn holds serious repercussions for its human counterpart.

    Diagnosis and treatment of the soul can only be realized by the village ilol or healer. Numerous prayers, offerings of flowers and placing candles in front of a holy image in a church, at the mouth of a natural water source, or in a mountain cave are remedies for a damaged soul. Ilols also council "true men" on their daily life with the family, society and nature in order to keep the chulel intact.

TZOTZIL SOCIETY

The real world of the Tzotzil is not as wondrous as the mythological. The majority of Tzotzil women give birth squatting in the dirt, aided by a female in-law or a midwife. Children help their parents with the family chores. Boys work in the cornfields and cut wood. Girls learn to prepare tortillas, fetch water—sometimes from sites various kilometers away from the home—and follow the maternal tradition of weaving their own clothing. If time permits they go to school.

    The Tzotzil diet is simple: beans and corn, homegrown vegetables, and an occasional egg or a rare chicken. Beef is reserved for weddings, festivals and other special events.

    To augment their meager income, men hire themselves out as itinerant farm workers in the cornfields and coffee plantations throughout the state. Young men save up to marry, and married men save to defray the costs of serving on the religious or civil hierarchies, which for all purposes is obligatory.

    Officials of the Mexican Federal Government are in the communities, but the real authorities for the Tzotzil are those they elect. They have two branches of community government: the civil cabinet and the religious hierarchy. The civil cabinets have a minimum of 40 members, all men, with specific posts. They see to the "moral health" of the community. They settle family, domestic and social disputes, but will refer more serious offenses to the Mexican authorities.

    The religious hierarchy is responsible for the community's spiritual health. It oversees festivities honoring the saints and the conservation and observation of rituals. The hierarchy is also obligated to provide that which is indispensable for the realization according to tradition of the vital and spiritual cycles of the community.

    Every male member of the community is expected to hold a hierarchy post at least once in his life. While serving his 12-month term, a man leaves his wife and lives at the hierarchy's headquarters. He attends every meeting, and focuses on duties assigned him. His principal duties are collaborating and organizing all festivities in honor of assigned patron saints. This signifies a complex annual cycle of festivities that invariably require heavy outlays of money. In fact, a term on the religious hierarchy leaves a man seriously out of pocket.

    In many ways, the women are the backbone of the community. When the men are gone, the women become the family's sole support. They work the fields with their children and in-laws and sell whatever they don't need for the table. They care for the livestock, principally sheep, whose wool they take for their looms. They continually make clothing, and even produce ceramics or hand-woven textiles for the handicraft markets of San Cristobal de las Casas and Tuxtla Gutierrez (the state capital).

    Tzotzil marriage is contracted after a lengthy and ritualistic, almost public courtship. Respected members of the community act as intermediaries between the young man and the girl's parents. The ritual begins with the padrinos, godparents, of the groom visiting the bride's parents with the purpose of extolling the young man's virtues.

    Once the suit is accepted and the relationship formalized, the novio (future bridegroom) embarks on a series of gift-bearing visits to the girl and her family. Acceptable bequests include fruit, corn, beans, sweets for the younger children, wood for the future mother in-law's loom and posh (alcohol) for the future father in-law. The novio may also work on the fields or in the house of his in-laws.

    After an 18-month courtship of gifts and labor, the father presents his daughter to her future husband. The couple are married first in a civil ceremony in accordance with Mexican law, and then then an elaborate and expensive Tzotzil wedding.

    Tzotzil weddings are considered important events. An elder knowledgeable in tribal ritual and law supervises the entire process, and the roles of husband and wife are clearly set forth. Infidelity is prohibited and rare because, according to tradition, male offenders lose a part of their souls, while unfaithful women risk being killed by Vinikton, a ghost with body of a mule.

    Excess is only permitted during the seven days of Carnival. In the town of Chenalho for example, married men and women may couple with whomever they wish during kin tajimoltic (the crazy days), free of reprisal and punishment.

    The rejection by the Tzotzil of all that does not come from the tradition and beliefs goes further than jus forming parallel authorities. When the Tzotzil are sick they consult the village ilol before going to government-run clinics. These curanderos, or healers, are avid herbalist who mix spirituality with pharmacology, praying and at times sacrificing a chicken as they blend their remedies.

    The ilol makes a diagnosis parting on what the patient's blood 'says'. To accomplish this the ilol takes the body's pulse in various places, and 'listens' to what the blood's flow dictates. Diagnosis is also obtained by throwing corn': the pattern an hand full of corn grains lie in can tell an ilol how many pieces of the soul have been lost. If the disease looks to be a ladino (anything not Tzotzil is a caxlan or ladino) like tuberculosis, chicken pox or Asian flu, the curandero will refer the patient to a clinic.

    So it is in the magical world of the Tzotzil. A world in which the mountains, valleys, and forests are charged with a profound significance.

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