One could argue that all roads in Mayanist ethnography and history lead to the Guatemalan town of Santiago Atitlán (following, perhaps, some detours through the Yucatán peninsula). Such is especially the case with studies tracing the fate and transformations of Maya religious ideas and practices through the centuries since the Spanish invasion.
Christenson travels this path to establish the case that much of the contemporary ritual life of traditionalists in Santiago Atitlán can be traced to pre-Columbian sources. His particular aim is to demonstrate continuity between Atiteco Holy Week celebrations and world renewal rituals performed by the ancient Maya during the five “lost days” (Wayeb' in Yucatec Maya) that are appended to the 360-day cycle of 18 months of 20 days that complete a solar year. Although the substance of his argument is not novel, the strength of Christenson's work lies in the depth and variety of sources that the author commands.
In the first four chapters, he provides a regional history focused on Maya ritualism, with a particularly detailed treatment of what is known of pre-Columbian Yucatan, primarily through the writings of Fray Diego de Landa, though supplemented with materials from post-Classic Maya codices and early colonial texts. A comparable analysis is offered for the Maya highlands of Guatemala, with an extensive historiographical discussion of a key source by Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas. The aim of these chapters is to establish the nature of world renewal rituals in the Maya region prior to and following the Spanish invasion, including assessments of the varied and, in some contexts (that of Santiago Atitlán in particular), marginal effects of conquest and evangelization. This discussion frames the presentation of detailed materials covering a range of themes, including (among others) new fire ceremonies; world tree and cross symbolism; sacrifice and bloodletting. In general, it treats the way ritual is brought to bear on matters of myth and history.
Christenson argues for a very early and selective incorporation of Catholic symbols and practices into Maya ritual, with particular stress on the importance of Easter as a near perfect palimpsest onto which the Maya could rewrite their own ideas about world renewal. The key evidence for indigenous agency in this historical process comes from Maya sources such as the Popol Vuh, which seamlessly work Spanish themes into indigenous narratives. With this basis, and given the virtual absence of clergy in towns like Santiago Atitlán from colonial times to the twentieth century, there seems to have been little interference with the Maya as they remade their cultural worlds.
The following six chapters present in meticulous detail—too rich for easy summary— Christenson's own ethnographic observations of Atiteco Holy Week activities (focusing on events taking place between Monday to Friday), shored up by a close reading of the work of ethnographers from decades past (Atitlán is one of the most well-studied Maya communities). Most of the substantive sections of these chapters feature epigraphs from colonial sources inviting comparison between particular practices across the centuries. For example, for a section describing the laying of intricately designed carpets of colored sawdust on the streets of Atitlán prior to saints' processions on Good Friday (a common practice throughout Guatemala), Christenson provides an epigraph from Landa that describes Wayeb' ceremonies in Yucatan, which included travel along “a path which was very clean and ornamented” (304).
Even though some of these correspondences are simply suggestive, the combined ethnographic and historical evidence allows for conclusions concerning the “Maya-ness” of Atiteco Holy Week celebrations, perhaps most clearly in the detailed discussion of the relationship between Maximón (a complex deity, here embodying the powers of antiquity and a dying world) and Christ (representing, among other things, the sun and a world reborn as a tree on Good Friday). Notably, traditionalist Atitecos are relatively uninterested in ritualizing Easter Sunday, their god having been born days before at the same time the orthodox were mourning his death.
Although Christenson uses the term ‘syncretism’ to describe a process of religious blending between Maya and Christian traditions, the evidence presented refutes any substantive religious transformation. Indeed, the process, controlled by Maya, produced a very “Maya” set of ideas and practices. That said, one catches glimpses here and there of the effects of more effective and relatively recent Christian evangelization in different keys (orthodox Catholic and evangelical). Still, as with most ethnographies of Atitlán—with the possible exception of the foundational work of E. Michael Mendelson in the 1950s—the primary focus here is on the traditionalist community and its members' efforts to conserve their practices.
Christenson is optimistic about the survival of world renewal rituals in Atitlán, and it would seem that the weight of history is on his side. Still, as reflected in various anecdotes describing conflict over control of Atiteco ritual life—in particular the intransigence and dogmatism of a Tzutujil-Maya Catholic priest trained by Opus Dei—it seems clear that the story is far from settled, and that Atitecos themselves are less than united on these matters. It will be interesting to see how they come to deal with increased religious and cultural pluralism in the decades to come. Christenson has provided a worthy benchmark to assess that change, whatever forms it takes.
