Market Day: Chichicastenango
Chichicastenango is still described as “the largest market in Guatemala” in some publications. I don't know if that's true, and suspect it's not. The market in San Francisco el Alto, near Momostenango, is said to be larger. And especially since Mexico and Guatemala initiated a free trade agreement years ago, the market at San Pedro Sacatepequez, adjacent to San Marcos, in western Guatemala, is supposed to be much larger … albeit not nearly as colorful and interesting. But whatever its relative size, the Chichi market very likely remains the most visually appealing of Guatemala's markets, offering the best selection of home crafted textiles and carved wooden objects anywhere in Guatemala.
If you live in Chichicastenango, you come to understand the twice-weekly market is the heartbeat of the town. Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump every week, the slightly larger Sunday market being the first, systolic beat of the community's heart, and the Thursday market being the second, diastolic beat. The rhythm of the market is unconsciously incorporated into all plans … what you can and can't do because it's Thursday or Sunday, which restaurants or food vendors will be open, what the traffic into and out of the town will be like, and who you will or won't visit because of the throngs of people in the blocked streets.
The community takes on an organic life of its own with the continuous setting up and taking down of hundreds of market booths, the carting of merchandise on handcarts or huge bundles carried on the back, at the beginning and end of the day before and after a few hours of frenetic peddling in the street. The market is a holy day of obligation in a cultural sense … it almost never gets called off … even having some number of vendors on Christmas Day. The ONLY time I'm aware of in the 30+ years that I've been living, working, and hanging out there that the market was entirely closed were a few days at the outset of the Covid pandemic. Otherwise, it's reliably a vibrant and sensorially evocative event.
