[Photographs of an Indigenous Maya Market Town]
![[Photographs of an Indigenous Maya Market Town]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/449/586/1693586449.0.x.jpg)
- [Chichicastenango, Guatemala] , 1940
[Chichicastenango, Guatemala], 1940. Very good. 25 loose sepiatoned photographs; 20 measure 5” x 7”, 5 a bit smaller. Generally very good or better: one with a moderate stain, one with a horizontal crease across the top and a few with some light corner wear.
This is an uncredited group of beautiful photographs taken in a town in Guatemala known for its Indigenous Maya culture, both past and present.
Though uncaptioned, these fantastic shots show scenes in and around Chichicastenango, located in mountainous western Guatemala, at an altitude of over 6400 feet. A traditional market center for the Indigenous Maya K'iche' civilization, at the 2012 census over 98% of the town's residents were K'iche' people. The markets continue to be held twice weekly, with vendors of food, pottery and handicrafts, medicinal plants, traditional tools and many other goods. They serve the Indian villages and abut another cultural destination, the Iglesia de Santo Tomás, built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform around 1545. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense, candles and at times a chicken sacrifice. Each of the 18 stairs leading up to the iglesia stands for one month of the Maya calendar year.
Most of these well-composed, vivid photographs were taken on a market day; they show Indigenous Maya, singly and in groups, setting up wares, hocking and buying, conversing and moving about. The men and women are dressed similarly, in traditional clothing. We see smiling children, and goods piled high on an old man's back. There is an aerial shot of the town with a volcano in the distance, and a great bird's-eye view of the market in swing. Several reveal a ritual burning on the steps of the church, a few a religious procession, and one shows a group at rest and at trade, gathered around a fountain. One particularly striking image shows a woman and children at the top of a hill, buildings beside and a cemetery further off.
An impressive collection of photographs revealing Indigenous Maya culture in a Guatemalan town.
This is an uncredited group of beautiful photographs taken in a town in Guatemala known for its Indigenous Maya culture, both past and present.
Though uncaptioned, these fantastic shots show scenes in and around Chichicastenango, located in mountainous western Guatemala, at an altitude of over 6400 feet. A traditional market center for the Indigenous Maya K'iche' civilization, at the 2012 census over 98% of the town's residents were K'iche' people. The markets continue to be held twice weekly, with vendors of food, pottery and handicrafts, medicinal plants, traditional tools and many other goods. They serve the Indian villages and abut another cultural destination, the Iglesia de Santo Tomás, built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform around 1545. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense, candles and at times a chicken sacrifice. Each of the 18 stairs leading up to the iglesia stands for one month of the Maya calendar year.
Most of these well-composed, vivid photographs were taken on a market day; they show Indigenous Maya, singly and in groups, setting up wares, hocking and buying, conversing and moving about. The men and women are dressed similarly, in traditional clothing. We see smiling children, and goods piled high on an old man's back. There is an aerial shot of the town with a volcano in the distance, and a great bird's-eye view of the market in swing. Several reveal a ritual burning on the steps of the church, a few a religious procession, and one shows a group at rest and at trade, gathered around a fountain. One particularly striking image shows a woman and children at the top of a hill, buildings beside and a cemetery further off.
An impressive collection of photographs revealing Indigenous Maya culture in a Guatemalan town.
Details
Title
[Photographs of an Indigenous Maya Market Town]
Condition
Very Good
Publisher
[Chichicastenango, Guatemala]
Date
1940