By Carlos Mendoza \u00c1lvarez<\/p>\n
A microcosm unfolds at every turn in the Highlands of Chiapas, like parallel worlds with secret passageways connecting ancestral traditions and modernity. It's possible to explore them by sharpening your gaze and silencing the outside noise to listen to the sounds that resonate within each space.<\/p>\n
Here you can step through the tunnel of time in an instant upon entering the temple of Sots'leb <\/em>where women and men dressed in flowery costumes wander about, engaged in prayer, sowing candles <\/em>to the saints, adorning the images with thousands of flowers. The processions in the atrium are like a spiral of cries mixed with pom<\/em> Or incense, colors, chants, and prayers. All that religious commotion stops at the culminating moment of Christ's elevation on the cross. Then the entire community falls to its knees before the Nazarene, accompanied by his Mother, with Mary Magdalene and John the Evangelist at his sides.<\/p>\n And suddenly, in the same town of Zinacanteco, ministers appear filming with their cell phones, media personnel are live-streaming the procession with their cameras mounted on stabilizers, and young people are chatting with their friends in Tsotsil about the upcoming praise concert that the Alfarero group will offer on Easter Sunday in Navenchauk. Technology connects them to cyberspace.<\/p>\n \u2202<\/p>\n Just a few kilometers away, in the coastal region, another ritual, now mestizo and baroque, celebrates Good Friday with pious fervor. Hooded penitents, images of the Holy Burial, Our Lady of Sorrows, Saint Mary Magdalene, and Saint John the Evangelist are carried on litters, accompanied by the faithful advancing solemnly in the silent procession. The procession begins with a tall cross and two processional candles, followed by friars in their white habits and black capes, and some hooded figures playing the mournful drum. We walk slowly along the pedestrian walkway filled with tourists who stroll, stop, film with their cell phones, and continue on their way with disdain. A few people cross themselves, but most ignore the religious ritual. A group of young urban Indigenous women caught my attention; they were coming from the opposite direction. As if angry and laughing mockingly, they sped past, challenging the group of worshippers. Was their anger that of adolescent youth, or did it express some centuries-old resentment? I'll never know. Shopkeepers and drivers grew nervous at the slow pace of the procession, but they didn't honk their horns. In contrast, the loudspeakers of businesses that try to attract customers with loud, vulgar music didn't stop blaring. Their noise drowned out the rumble of the silent procession's drum, despite the attempts of some believers who approached and asked the employees to turn off their horns for a few minutes. Nevertheless, the faithful advanced undeterred in the procession, while the spectators on the sides followed its course like flies to other delicacies.<\/p>\n This is how the holy days pass, between parallel worlds that sometimes touch, but most of the time ignore each other.<\/p>\n \u2202<\/p>\n In a suburb of Jobel, the Zapatista community gathers to talk about love and heartbreak, about criticisms of the pyramids of privilege, and about resentment as well.<\/p>\n More than five hundred people registered, from more than forty different \u201cgeographical\u201d places, to hear the wisdom of Commander Moses lecturing - with a slow narrative, accompanied by powerful flashes - on the Common <\/em>as an alternative to the pyramids of yesterday and today, structures of privilege and command, including the Ezln organization itself.<\/p>\n The presence of three girls at the table represented children in resistance, accompanying the Subcomandante and the Captain. A symbol of the Zapatista movement's intergenerational vision that envisions other possible worlds<\/em> In 120 years, to gradually bring them closer as a legacy for new generations of children and youth. Through communal agreements, from now on the assemblies will include the Zapatista base and other communities that do not necessarily share their organization, but do share the yearning and commitment to justice: \u201cNothing for us, for everyone\u2026 the Commons,\u201d declared the insurgent Subcomandante Mois\u00e9s emphatically.<\/p>\n One day, the Captain surprised many people and communities by speaking of \u201cthe progressive Catholic Church that wanted to destroy us.\u201d This is a topic that deserves careful consideration by its main actors, explored within the social and religious context of the time, to move beyond accusations that perpetuate the spiral of rivalry, resentment, and hatred. One cannot simply erase six decades of a liberating Church\u2014with its strengths and weaknesses, of course\u2014that has yielded rich fruits of collective memory, dignity, and the empowerment of the Mayan peoples in these lands.<\/p>\n \u2202<\/p>\n On Saturday night, thousands of Christian communities around the world gathered to celebrate that Life is stronger than death<\/em> with the new fire ceremony. In Sots'leb, the Easter Proclamation, sung in Tsotsil by Paco Torre, enveloped the community in the darkness with the radiance of the light of the Crucified one who awoke<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Easter Vigil reminds us that - in the midst of the night that the victims of yesterday and today are going through - Abba<\/em>Jesus pronounces a Yes, definitely.<\/em>, rescuing his son from Sheol<\/em>, the abyss, the underworld, to open in the walls of the past and present hegemonic world a crack of hope through which full life emerges for the entire cosmos.<\/p>\n And it will be a woman, Mary Magdalene, who first dares to see, to recognize, and to mobilize her grieving community to move beyond rivalry and resentment over the torture and execution of their Rabbi Jesus as a criminal on a Roman cross, with the complicity of the enraged mob in an exemplary lynching. Together with the other women of the Galilean community, the call is to \u201cgo to Galilee,\u201d to encounter their resurrected friend and teacher, continuing his dream of a humanity wounded and healed by the unconditional love of God. Abba<\/em> in the strength of his Ruah<\/em> divine.<\/p>\n By rereading the Hebrew Scriptures, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, that nascent messianic community was able to receive glimpses of another world<\/em> come from the God of life.<\/p>\n Happy Easter!<\/p>\n Sots'leb, Jobel and Navenchauk, April 5, 2026<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Carlos Mendoza \u00c1lvarez Un microcosmos en los Altos de Chiapas se despliega a cada paso, como mundos paralelos que tienen pasadizos secretos conectando ancestralidad y modernidad. Es posible recorrerlos cuando se aguza la mirada y se silencia el ruido exterior para escuchar las sonoridades que vibran en cada recinto. Aqu\u00ed se puede atravesar en […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":266113673,"featured_media":1795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"postBodyCss":"","postBodyMargin":[],"postBodyPadding":[],"postBodyBackground":{"backgroundType":"classic","gradient":""},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[780849726],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categoria-es"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgx1jY-sQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1695,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2026\/02\/22\/somos-tierra-somos-viento\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788,"position":0},"title":"We are earth, we are wind","author":"mendocinomx","date":"22 de February de 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The ancestral tradition of the Zinacanteco people of praying in the hills is told in its symbolic, ritual and spiritual sense as an invitation to connect with the earth and the wind, where it is possible to become a living body.","rel":"","context":"In "Bioculturalidad"","block_context":{"text":"Bioculturalidad","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/bioculturalidad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Blog-CMA-Plantilla-imagen-para-Photopea-2026.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Blog-CMA-Plantilla-imagen-para-Photopea-2026.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Blog-CMA-Plantilla-imagen-para-Photopea-2026.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Blog-CMA-Plantilla-imagen-para-Photopea-2026.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Blog-CMA-Plantilla-imagen-para-Photopea-2026.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1564,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2026\/01\/17\/los-cristos-negros-de-zinacantan\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788,"position":1},"title":"The Black Christs of Zinacant\u00e1n","author":"mendocinomx","date":"17 de January de 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The patron saint festival of Elamb\u00f3 Esquipulas in the Highlands of Chiapas opens with the resounding music of a band that\u2014to the sound of cymbals, clarinet, trumpets, and drum\u2014animates the community's procession...","rel":"","context":"In "Chiapas"","block_context":{"text":"Chiapas","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/chiapas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cristo-negro-por-Carlos-Mendoza-Alvarez.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cristo-negro-por-Carlos-Mendoza-Alvarez.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cristo-negro-por-Carlos-Mendoza-Alvarez.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cristo-negro-por-Carlos-Mendoza-Alvarez.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Cristo-negro-por-Carlos-Mendoza-Alvarez.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1779,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2026\/04\/02\/trilogia-cuaresmal-en-los-altos-de-chiapas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788,"position":2},"title":"Lenten Trilogy in the Highlands of Chiapas","author":"mendocinomx","date":"2 de April de 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"By Carlos Mendoza \u00c1lvarez. The fourth Friday of Lent is a Zinacantecan tradition to begin rituals to cover the saints' faces with purple cloths and place flower mats at their feet, accompanied by prayers, candles, incense, and ancestral music, to prepare them for Holy Week, which will be the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sin categor\u00eda"","block_context":{"text":"Sin categor\u00eda","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/sin-categoria-es\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-01-at-15.25.25.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-01-at-15.25.25.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-01-at-15.25.25.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-01-at-15.25.25.jpeg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1516,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/12\/27\/navidad-en-lo-secreto\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788,"position":3},"title":"Secret Christmas","author":"mendocinomx","date":"27 de December de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas Eve was shaping up to be different this year due to the change from Boston's frigid weather to the cold but sunny days of the Chiapas Highlands. Of course, it wasn't just a difference in climate, but above all, a difference in cultural worlds.","rel":"","context":"In "Navidad"","block_context":{"text":"Navidad","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/navidad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Carlos-Mendoza-Nacimiento-tsotsil-Nachig-Chiapas-2025.jpg?fit=1200%2C904&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1179,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/09\/06\/santidad-laical\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788,"position":4},"title":"Lay holiness?","author":"mendocinomx","date":"6 de September de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend, two young Roman Catholics will be canonized by Pope Leo XIV (Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati). Pier Giorgio Frassati was an Italian Dominican layman who lived in the first quarter of the 20th century. The other, Carlo Acutis, was the so-called "first millennial saint."","rel":"","context":"In "Espiritualidad liberadora"","block_context":{"text":"Espiritualidad liberadora","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/espiritualidad-liberadora\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2012,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2026\/07\/04\/en-las-laderas-volcanicas-del-altiplano-mexicano\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788,"position":5},"title":"On the volcanic slopes of the Mexican plateau","author":"mendocinomx","date":"4 de July de 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A story of a journey to the foothills of the Popocat\u00e9petl volcano with recollections of stories lived in that ancestral sacred land with its new expressions of life that resist systemic violence.","rel":"","context":"In "Biodiversidad"","block_context":{"text":"Biodiversidad","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/biodiversidad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Jorge-Gonzalez-Camarena.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1186&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Jorge-Gonzalez-Camarena.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1186&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Jorge-Gonzalez-Camarena.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1186&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Jorge-Gonzalez-Camarena.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1186&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Jorge-Gonzalez-Camarena.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1186&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Vigilia-Pascual-Sotslec-20226.jpg?fit=4284%2C5712&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266113673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1794,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions\/1794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}