Church of St. Francis of Assisi

After visiting the Catholic church in Santiago on a Sunday and seeing the throng of people in their traditional dress leaving the church, I thought I would try going to mass in the Catholic Church in Panajachel, St. Francis of Assissi, on a Sunday. I should have done my research first, as I guess the mass to attend is the one on Saturday evening. According to various sources on the Internet, it is very colourful and standing room only.

When I went at 11:00 on Sunday, there were only a couple dozen people sitting near the front and a handful of people towards the back. I tried to concentrate on understanding the sermon, but my Spanish isn't that good! Instead, I watched two young women make their way slowly on their knees from the front to the back. At first I thought they were sitting on chairs in the aisle, but as I watched their swaying motion back and forth, I realized they were moving to the back. I took their photo as they came along side where I was sitting. Dressed in traditional Mayan dress, they were quite striking.

After the rather mediocre singing and some rituals that a Mennonite girl would not understand, a man came along with what I assumed was the offering basket - a velvety bag on the end of a stick. I dutifully made my little donation to justify taking up space on the hard bench. Then there was a little commotion at the front and the man with the fancy camera gear who had been sitting a few benches in front of me went to the front. A few more stragglers came in and joined the family at the front, gathered around the priest. I was to witness the baptism of a little girl. Luckily I had my small binoculars (brought along to do a little birdwatching) so that I could see what was happening at the front. After the priest did his thing, the mother took the crying baby around so that the family could kiss her forehead. The photographer captured it all and I managed to get a shot of the parents and the baby.

The church was quite plain, compared to other churches I've seen in Mexico and Europe. It was built in the 16th centruy by Fransiscan monks and somehow survived the many earthquakes that have occured since then.