Elsewhere, his effigy is often burned, but in Cuajimalpa, a papier- 

 mache figure of Judas, below and right, is exploded. The town, on 

 the outskirts of Mexico City, holds elaborate festivities that include 

 individuals who dress as Judas and whip people in the crowd. 



Photographs by Tom Owen Edmunds 



dwellings. The women who were active in 

 the saints' associations, and who bore the 

 statue of Our Lady of the Rosary, were 

 full-time potters, some who had good 

 trade networks with national museums 

 and tourist shops. 



Holy Week was celebrated more lav- 

 ishly than ever, with eating and drinking in 

 most of the houses. Even the Judas figure 

 had proliferated, with several families 

 hanging effigies in their own courtyards. 

 As before, the mayordomos cheerfully im- 

 bibed the drinks that were their reward for 

 carrying out the fiesta. Most of them pre- 

 ferred the soft drinks that were rapidly re- 

 placing the strong, home-brewed liquor. 



In the nearby city of San Cristobal, the 

 custom of hanging Judas in effigy had de- 

 veloped into a competition of Holy Week 

 figures, promoted by the municipal au- 

 thorities. The offer of a cash prize had gen- 

 erated some lively dioramas, which were 

 displayed under bright fights in the garden 

 of the newly painted gray-and-white mu- 

 nicipal building. Drawing from a variety 

 of themes, the tableaux departed widely 

 from the Passion Play. First prize, appro- 

 priately in the quincentennial year of 

 Columbus's arrival, went to a local sculp- 

 tor's depiction of a Spanish conquistador 

 beating an emaciated. Christlike Indian 

 with a sword. 



One contestant mounted a multitiered 

 tableau of the class system, showing the 

 rich landlords on top, stamping out the fife 

 of the gasping peasants. Another depicted 

 the poUce evicting famifies from the San 

 Juan Chamula barrio (this dispute re- 

 flected religious differences within the In- 

 dian community and a land grab by local 

 elites). Yet another tableau sought to raise 

 people's consciousness about sexual ha- 

 rassment and violence toward women by 

 dramatizing the American prizefighter 

 Mike Tyson's jailing for rape. These new 

 conflicts cut across the division between 

 Indians and Ladinos, which was no longer 

 so keenly felt. 



Last year I again made my pilgrimage 

 to Amatenango on Holy Saturday. As the 

 time came on Sunday for Judas's ride 

 around town, at ten in the morning, his 



hanged effigy was unceremoniously cut 

 down from the belfry and hoisted on the 

 back of a horse. He was still garbed in a 

 gaily colored sport shirt and jogging pants 

 as he had been the year before, but fliis 

 time, strapped above his flaming pink face 

 was a blue hard hat. When I asked his 

 caretaker what he represented, he said, "A 

 government agent," and his assistant 

 added, "Yes, a forestry agent!" and they 

 both laughed. Judas's identity now cen- 

 tered on a specific Maya conflict with the 

 government. New laws limited the cutting 

 of trees; in addition, I was told, the forestry 

 agents would sometimes solicit bribes 

 from violators or even confiscate the cut 



wood and sell it for their own profit. 

 As the Maya gain greater entry into flie 

 Ladino world, die animosity is still there, 

 but now it is focused on particular adver- 

 saries instead of on the generalized 

 Ladino. This January, a local rebellion 

 gained international attention as a group of 

 indigenous people calling themselves the 

 Zapatista Army of National Liberation at- 

 tacked the military barracks near San 

 Cristobal and seized nearby towns. They 

 specifically rejected the North American 

 Free Trade Agreement and the reform act 

 permitting the sale of communal lands. 

 Perhaps this year, Judas wiU be dressed as 

 a Mexican soldier. D 



52 Natural History 3/94 



