Santa Cruz El Chol () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Baja Verapaz Baja Verapaz () is a department in Guatemala. The capital is Salamá. Baja Verapaz contains the Mario Dary Biotope Preserve, preserving the native flora and fauna of the region, especially the endangered national bird of Guatemala, the Resplen ...

department of Guatemala. It is situated at 1008 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

and contains about 8817 people. It covers a terrain of 140 km² and its annual festival is held from December 6-December 8.

History

First settlers

Originally, the region was named "Santa Cruz Belén de los Indios Choles" (Bethlehem Holy Cross of the Chole Indians), and it was settled in 1603 (according to the friar Joseph H. Sotomayor), which makes it one of the oldest Spanish towns in Guatemala.

18th century

In the early 1710s, friar and chronicler

Francisco Ximénez Francísco Ximénez (November 28, 1666 – c. 1729) was a Dominican priest who is known for his conservation of an indigenous Maya narrative known today as the '' Popol Vuh''. John Woodruff has noted that there remains very few biographical ...

, O.P. wrote in the fifth volume of what is known as ''Historia de la Providencia de San Vicente de Chiapas y Guatemala'' (''History of the San Vicente de Chiapas and Guatemala Providence''), that by order of Real Audiencia President, Governor and Captain General of the

Kingdom of Guatemala The Captaincy General of Guatemala ( es, Capitanía General de Guatemala), also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala ( es, Reino de Guatemala), was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire, under the viceroyalty of New Spain in Central Am ...

, Jacinto de Barrios Leal, natives from Cahabón went into the El Chol mountain in 1689 -later names Chuacús and Chama mountains-, in order to expel the infidel and rebellious chole natives from there, and then be able to establish the town of Santa Cruz ("Holy Cross"). Verapaz Mayor, Joseph Calvo de Lara, founded the town in Urram valley, next to Rabinal mountain on a location that the Indians called "San Clemente and San Diego", where there was a cross, and therefore it was named "Santa Cruz". Friar José Ángel Zenoyo, O.P. took over the town in 1690 and helped the natives in all he could, building houses and giving them clothing.

21st century

In the 21st century there are very few natives that speak achí, k'akchiquel, or

k'iche' K'iche', K'ichee', or Quiché may refer to: * K'iche' people of Guatemala, a subgroup of the Maya *K'iche' language, a Maya language spoken by the K'iche' people **Classical K'iche' language, the 16th century form of the K'iche' language *Kʼicheʼ ...

- even though in the 18th century there were much more, and some of them even spoke the "chol lacandon" language, also known as "choolí" or "kholií".

Traditions

Among this municipality representative folkloric dances the main ones are the dances of "El Venado" ("The Deer", "Los Animales" ("The Animals") and "El Costeño" ("The man from the coast"). During

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

and the annual festival, one can see religious processions and colorful died-sawdust carpets that are made for the processions.

Annual festival

Santa Cruz El Chol annual festival takes places on 8 December in honor of the municipality saint patron: Holy Virgin of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

. The festival is famous for its commercial activities, sports events, cultural, social and religious festivities and the traditional processions and "Romería", activity in which people rides horses for three days from the Eastern side of Guatemala to present the town's Catholic Church with gifts, prayers and special songs.

Climate

Santa Cruz El Chol has a hot semi-arid climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''BSh'').

Geographic location

El Chol is located 52 km East of

Salamá Salamá is a city in Guatemala. It is the capital of the department of Baja Verapaz and it is situated at 940 m above sea level. The municipality of Salamá, for which the city of Salamá serves as the administrative centre, covers a total ...

, Baja Verapaz Department capital city.

Notes and references

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{coord, 14, 58, N, 90, 29, W, display=title, region:GT_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Municipalities of the Baja Verapaz Department