Evangelicals, Day Keepers, and Three Religions in One Capital

Guatemala has moved faster and further from Catholic majority status than any country in Latin America. Protestant and especially Pentecostal churches grew from a tiny minority in the mid twentieth century to something approaching half the population, a shift accelerated by relief work after the earthquake of 1976 and by the appeal of small congregations offering discipline, healing and a role to lay members. The capital holds neo Pentecostal megachurches with auditoriums seating thousands.

That growth intersected with the war. Efrain Rios Montt, who seized power in 1982 and presided over the most intense period of the highland campaigns, belonged to a neo Pentecostal congregation and preached on television while it happened. He was convicted of genocide in 2013; the verdict was annulled within days on procedural grounds, and he died before a retrial concluded.

Maya religious practice continued through all of it. Day keepers still count the two hundred and sixty day ritual calendar, are called to the work through dreams and illness and trained by other keepers, and conduct ceremonies with candles, copal and fire for individuals and communities. The peace accords of 1996 recognised indigenous spirituality and the right of access to sacred places, though access to sites under state or private control has remained contested. A figure known as Maximon or San Simon, honoured with cigars, alcohol and money, sits somewhere between all three traditions and is claimed by none of them officially.