- Let Christ be lifted up (and lowered down)
Leaving Grutas Tolantongo, we stopped at two unusual sites today. The first was Templo y Ex Convento de San Miguel Arcángel (Ixmiquilpan) where the 16th century church’s walls are covered in bright fresco murals depicting figures from Otomí mythology in costumes that predate the Spanish conquest, something that was forbidden after Spanish conquistadors decimated the Aztec Empire. Much of the original mural is gone, and the rest quite faded. It would be fascinating to crawl into the minds of the monks who debated and ultimately permitted this art within a Catholic church.
This isn’t a unique occurrence, as we discovered at our next stop – Parroquia San Nicolas Tolentino (Actopan). Here, at one of the oldest churches on the American continent (1548) there is an open chapel built to serve the local Indigenous communities. Certain details painted in the scenes of Hell on the walls of this chapel make a direct reference to aspects of the pre-Christian Indigenous worldview, and include depictions of a pre-Colombian pyramid and figures clearly meant to portray Aztecs about to fall into the fires of Hell.
As we were admiring the artwork and speculating as to the thought process that went into both sites we had seen, a fellow approached and asked me if I could help. Apparently, a large display of Jesus in a glass coffin needed to be lifted off of its pedestals and set on the floor of the church. Well, who am I to say no? A dozen strangers gently set this display on the stone floor and then each of us dispersed to our former activities.
We arrived in the covered parking area of our hotel in Tula literal seconds before the sky opened up. The percussion of heavy rain on tin roofing material was deafening, but we thankfully managed to stay dry.
On a walk afterward, we observed a very well disciplined dog standing at the entrance to a restaurant. We’re not sure if it was begging for food or waiting for its owner, but for certain it was pretty focused!
As we were about to end our walk, a young lady approached us, and engaged us with a tentative “good evening”. She was kind, welcoming us to Tula and advising us to make sure we are off the streets before it gets too late, as it can be a little dangerous late at night. Between her comments and the offer from the Germans down the hall to join them for beer and BBQ tomorrow we remain confident that there are a great many kind souls in the world.
Credit to Atlas Obscura for today’s finds, and for some of the above text.
#atlasobscura
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