Today, many Christians will celebrate the birth of St. John the Bapist. For the Tzotzil people of Chiapas, Mexico, the holiday is a blend of Catholic and indigenous traditions which center around a celebration of sheep. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“This is an Indian church. And it is a mixture of Catholic practices from colonial times with ancient Mayan traditions and the blending of those two things constitute the actual Tzotzil religion.”
Raul Perezgrovas is a researcher at the University of Chiapas in San Cristobal, Mexico.
“The main festivity for the Tzotzils comes on the 24th of June, which is the day of Saint John the Baptist. St John the Baptist is traditionally in the Catholic culture, the one that took care of the lambs of God. And nowadays, the Indians in the Tzotzil area consider St John the Baptist as the ritual shepherd of all sheep. And Tzotzils offer things to St John the Baptist every 24th of June in the form of candles and insence, flowers and ribbons to be blesssed by St. John. The ribbons will be put on the neck of the newborn lambs.”
This month, many members of Tzotzil and other indigenous groups will gather at the annual Sheep is Life celebration in Arizona.
Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I’m Jim Metzner.