Pope Francis' symbolic celebration of indigenous
Mexican culture
(Vatican Radio) One of the
highlights of Pope Francis’ six day visit to Mexico was the Mass that he
celebrated at the sports centre of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the
southern state of Chiapas on the morning of Monday February 15th .
As our correspondent in
Mexico, Veronica Scarisbrick reports, it was a colourful celebration for the
thousands of indigenous people who turned out to welcome the man they call
“amigo Francisco, Papa de la libertad” or "our friend Francis, Pope of
freedom".
He had chosen to be with the
indigenous people of Chiapas. And they turned up in their gaudy traditional
costumes providing a splash of colour in this beautiful mountainous region
where nature reigns. And the sound of rather elaborate wooden xylophones filled
the air.
It was a highly symbolic
celebration, firstly because in this remote area, home to the Mayan people, the
altar stood against backdrop of a giant cut out the colorful ocre, rust and
white façade of the city’s Cathedral, placed there to indicate the connection
with the centuries old evangelization initially by the Spanish Dominicans.
Secondly because the altar in
this region of Mayan temples in misty jungles, waterfalls and a wealth of
wildlife rested on a Mayan Pyramid symbolic of steps reaching up to heaven.
Meaning how Christian faith does not clash with the cultural roots of a people.
And the altar itself evoked the waterfalls of ‘Agua Azul’, so an expression of
the harmonious contact with nature, of the abundance of the rainforest.
And the Mayan people reached
here in great numbers, 150.000 of them, from right across Chiapas. For the
record there are 12 federally recognized ethnicities. The largest group being
the ‘Chamulans’, a subset of the ‘Tzotzil Mayas’ who make up a third of Chiapas'
nearly one million indigenous people
And the Pope’s presence here
took on meaning. He had chosen to be with a people who have long been
used and misused by the local ‘ladinos’, those of Spanish origin and the
‘mestizos’, those of mixed race. To put you in the picture not so long ago the
indigenous people were only allowed into town for the market but had to return
to their homes in the pine forests at night. That’s when they weren’t misused
as easy labour.
And in his homily Pope Francis had words of comfort relating to
this exclusion of the indigenous people from society. Highlighting how on many
an occasion some have considered the values and culture of this people’s
traditions to be inferior. How others intoxicated by power, money and market
trends had stolen their lands or contaminated them. How sad, the Pope said to
this people from whom he insisted we have a lot to learn. Your peoples know how
to interact harmoniously with nature which they respect as a source of food, a
common home and an altar of human sharing.
And finally, symbolic of the
acceptance of these people, Pope Francis made sure these long ostracized Mayans
got a chance during this Holy Mass to speak in their own languages:
tseltal, ch’ol and tsotil.
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