Local People Burning Incense and Selling Yellow Flowers in Front of Iglesia De Santo Tomas on a Market Day in Chichicastenango, Guatemala Village
Image details
Contributor:
Autumn Sky Photography / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
T2E9FXFile size:
57.1 MB (1.7 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5472 x 3648 px | 46.3 x 30.9 cm | 18.2 x 12.2 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
3 January 2019Location:
Chichicastenango, GuatemalaMore information:
Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town in the El Quiché department of Guatemala, and is the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. It is located in a mountainous region about 140 km (87 mi) northwest of Guatemala City. Chichicastenango hosts market days on Thursdays and Sundays where vendors sell handicrafts, food, flowers, pottery, wooden boxes, condiments, medicinal plants, candles, pom and copal (traditional incense), cal (lime stones for preparing tortillas), grindstones, pigs and chickens, machetes, and other tools. Among the items sold are textiles, particularly women's blouses. Masks used by dancers in traditional dances, such as the Dance of the Conquest, are also manufactured in Chichicastenango. Next to the market is the 400-year-old church of Santo Tomás. It is built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform, and the steps originally leading to a temple of the pre-Hispanic Maya civilization remain venerated. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense and candles. In special cases, they burn a chicken for the gods. Each of the 18 stairs that lead up to the church stands for one month of the Maya calendar year.