An effigy of Judas is venerated in Zunil, Guatemala, where 

 the Maya have infused Christianity 's villain with 

 a combination of ancient and modem attributes. 



Tom Owen Edmunds 



Judas Transformed 



During Holy Week, the Maya confront the man they, love to hate 



by June Nash 



When I saw Judas last year in Gua- 

 temala, he was wearing a sport shirt, jog- 

 ging pants, running shoes, and a blue hard 

 hat — at least that was how some Maya 

 portrayed this reviled figure. The conquer- 

 ing Spaniards had introduced him as the 

 betrayer of Jesus, a personage in the drama 

 of the Crucifixion. But in the dehcate op- 

 eration of imposing and maintaining the 

 Cathohc religion in Mexico and Central 

 America, the priests could not prevent 

 Judas from slipping away and taking on a 

 life, and meaning, of his own. 



I first encountered a Maya Judas forty 

 years ago, when I began anthropological 

 fieldwork in Cantel, a township in the 

 western highlands of Guatemala. Inhab- 

 ited by Quiche-speaking Maya, Cantel 

 was a farming center with a large textile 

 factory. The settlement clustered around 

 the large colonial church that stood atop a 

 high hill. Below flowed the Samala River, 

 which had run red with the blood of the 

 slain in 1 524, when the Maya king Tecum- 

 Uman fought and died in battle with the 

 conqueror Pedro de Alvarado. 



The Maya still spoke of that battle, and 

 during Carnival they subtly reenacted it. 

 The conquerors had introduced a dance 

 commemorating the Spaniards' struggle 

 with the Moors, which the Maya contin- 

 ued to perform. The dancers dressed in 

 costumes of both roles but, embracing the 

 enemy of the Spaniards as their own race, 

 they mingled brown masks of Tecum- 

 Uman with the black masks of the Moors. 

 In everyday life as well, the Maya re- 

 mained hostile to those they called Ladi- 

 nos, those of mixed Indian and Spanish 

 descent who identified with the foreign 

 culture. Their attitude was a result of a 

 long history of exploitation and oppres- 

 sion by Ladinos, who controlled the plan- 



tations, markets, and institutions of gov- 

 ernment. 



Judas was one of the effigies paraded 

 about during Holy Week each year, when 

 the priest and the catechists (loyal follow- 

 ers of orthodox CathoUcism) stage-man- 

 aged the Passion of Christ. In 1954 the 

 priest was a young Franciscan, newly ar- 

 rived in Guatemala after previous service 

 in China. His goal was to rescue CathoU- 

 cism Irom the folk traditions that had been 

 shaping religious practices during the pre- 

 vious decades, when communities like 

 Cantel did not have resident priests. His 

 major adversaries were the groups of 

 devotees, known as brotherhoods, that had 

 arisen around various saints. Particularly 

 resistant were the mayordomos, or care- 

 takers of the brotherhood houses, who 

 were responsible for the saints' figures. 

 Even Judas had his own brotherhood, 

 being granted a far less negative role in the 

 folk tradition than by the church. 



At times during Holy Week, the two re- 

 ligious factions came into conflict over the 

 ceremonial use of public space. For ex- 

 ample, on Holy Saturday, those upholding 

 the folk traditions took the figure of the 

 body of Christ, recumbent in its bower of 

 flowers and pine needles, on a slow march 

 through the town, accompanied by the 

 mournful tune of trumpets and wooden 

 ratchet noisemakers. The priest tried to get 

 them to return the figure while it was still 

 daylight, but the mayordomos insisted on 

 a very slow pace, out of respect. The sac- 

 ristan was obliged to allow the mayordo- 

 mos to reenter the church after midnight. 



Generally, however, the two groups co- 

 ordinated their activities, the catechists ex- 

 erting their control in the church while the 

 mayordomos held sway in the plaza and 

 the brotherhood houses. For example, on 



Holy Thursday, in dramatizing the biblical 

 scenario, the catechists set the image of 

 Christ bearing the cross in the center of the 

 nave. But outside the church that evening, 

 under the direction of the mayordomos, 

 the folk-traditionalists played the role of 

 "the killers of Christ." The streets filled 

 with the spectators' raucous cries of "the 

 Jews!" as participants ran through the 

 town seeking the one who played the role 

 of Jesus. Often pausing to rekindle their 

 energies in the liquor shops, they contin- 

 ued their search until they discovered 

 "Jesus" and dragged him to an improvised 

 jail in the comer of the plaza. 



Judas, a straw figure with a wooden 

 mask, belonged to one of the brotherhoods 

 and was entirely defined by folk tradition. 

 Costumed in a black wool suit, felt hat, 

 and laced shoes, he was a caricature of a 

 Ladino (in those days, Indians typically 

 went barefoot or wore sandals and had 

 straw hats and cotton clothing). Among 

 his devotees were those who wished to 

 gain commercial success or who profited 

 from Indian labor. Some were Ladinos 

 from outside Cantel; most were de vestido 

 Indians (Indians "of clothing"), those in 

 transition from their Maya culture. 



On Saturday, the brotherhood dedicated 

 to Judas, who was also caUed San Simon, 

 removed his effigy ft"om the brotherhood 

 house, mounted it on a donkey, and led it 

 around town to visit all the shops, includ- 

 ing fire liquor stores in the town center. 

 Each shop owner gave Judas a five-doUar 

 donation to insure luck in business. Many 

 also plied him with drinks, ^ownngposh, a 

 distilled cane liquor, through a funnel into 

 his open mouth. The drinks, collected 

 through a tube that extended into a rubber 

 "stomach" bag, were later consumed by 

 his followers. 



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