Case file · Folklore / legend
Maximón of Santiago Atitlán
Anthropologist E. Michael Mendelson's fieldwork in Santiago Atitlán in the early 1950s documented Maximón (Ri Laj Mam), a wooden Tz'utujil Maya figure dressed in suits and hats who receives cigarettes, liquor and prayers.
1952 CE · 14.64, -91.23 · status: account
The account
Maximón is housed in a different family's home each year by a religious brotherhood (cofradía) and carried in procession in Holy Week. He has been associated with the Maya Mam, with Judas and with San Simón; the Catholic Church has often opposed his cult.