Guatemala: This god's got it good!

The Mayan alcohol taboo

The Mayans' relationship with alcohol is very different to that of the free drinking Gringo tourists.  As a tourist, you almost never see a local imbibing.  The one time I had a couple of beers in my homestay, I had to use my backpack to smuggle the incriminating cans in and out.

The few times you do see someone the worse for wear, they are all male, and lie unconscious and ignored, by the side of the road.  The first time Michele and I saw this, we thought we were at the scene of a fatality.
 

Maximon: one lucky god

 

In this light, the Mayan relationship with the god/idol called Maximon is kind of interesting.  His worship belongs to a group of practices labelled "syncretism".  The Catholic Church does not sanction devotions to him.  Nevertheless he receives lavish offerings of cigars, firewater and beer from otherwise devout Catholics. 

 

You can find out more about Maximon at this Wikipedia link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim%C3%B3n

 

We encountered the god on our afternoon trip to Santiago de Atitlan.  He is moved to a different house each year.

His current home has more empty beer bottles stacked outside than most bars.  Even more remarkable is the sight of women holding cans of beer. 

Michele needed to pay them to take photographs.  The act of actually paying them, was the occasion for uproarious mirth among the ladies (the gringos must be crazy?).

 

My picture of the same scene features the god himself together with devotees of both sexes in various states of inebriation:

 

Maximon himself is holding up pretty well, given all the liquor that has literally been poured down his throat and into a receptacle at his back.

 

The same room contained sacred icons that you normally associate with Semana Santa: