Thirty kilometers from our home in Ajijic and 100 years in time, the small town of San Juan Evangelista is just one of several small pueblas along the shores of Lago de Cajititlan, each named for one of the 12 apostles. The old adobe homes, crumbling under the weight of their years and the oppressive heat of the summer sun, lean one against another other like aging and exhausted burros.
We walk down the main street toward the old Spanish church, heat waves radiating off the sun blasted cobblestones, dust plumes trailing behind.
Spanish soldiers and Franciscan missionaries arrived here within 50 years of Columbus’ arrival in the New World in their seemingly endless lust for more gold and more souls to fill the coffers of the church and crown.
The stone façade, much of its detail erased by the centuries, still stands in defiance of the ravages of 400 years. Completed as a Franciscan mission in 1617, this extraordinary sanctuary has given up much of it’s original architectural detail but only a few of her secrets.
The missionaries’ attempts to subjugate the local population to the ways of the church, with the help of the Spanish sword, was at least moderately successful. The church was built by the local indigenous craftsmen and artisans, but a closer look reveals that not everything was done to the exacting specifications of the Christian Church.
The intricate stone carvings over the main doorway, although closely resembling Christian iconography, upon closer inspection are actually a representation of Tlaloc, the rain god.
The faces of the angels quite closely resemble the faces of the local people. One, carved just over the side doorway, with inset black obsidian eyes is said to be the local version of the heavenly seraphim, eternally whispering "Holy, holy, holy", and keeping a watchful eye on all who enter.
.Intricate details of flowers are entwined across the surface of the façade and echoed in the interior of the church serving as a reminder that this area next to the lake was once known as Xochitlán, the Valley of the Flowers.
Stone snakes, reminiscent of the of the Book of Genesis, but also of local lore and legend slither along the cornices and brackets, morphing occasionally into fully plumed serpents. Long chains of symbols representing "Olin," the wind, stream across the outside walls.
Many of the statues inside the church were found to have been hollowed out with smaller, more intimately carved statues of the local deities placed inside. So this house has been a place of worship and devotion now for 400 years, the only question is to whom that devotion was directed
The church celebrated it's 400th anniversary in June of this year. The bronze bell in the tower is stamped with the date 1595.
Mass is still celebrated every day. Enormous bouquets of fresh flowers are brought each Sunday morning, and at dusk when the sun sets over the lake and candles illuminate the golden altar, this truly is a magical place.
Excruciatingly detailed, exquisitely carved and intricately painted, an image of the crucified Christ rests in an alcove at the side of the church.