The Iglesia de Santo Tomás is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in

Chichicastenango Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town, with a population of 71,394 (2018 census), and the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name in the El Quiché department of Guatemala. It is locat ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. It is located in the market place of the town which is known for its pottery and contains the Chichicastenango Regional Museum. It was built around 1545 atop a

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

temple platform, and the steps originally leading to a temple of the pre-Hispanic

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...

remain venerated. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning

incense Incense is an aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremonial reasons. It ...

and candles. Each of the 18 stairs that lead up to the church stands for one month of the

Maya calendar The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon ...

year. Another key element of Chichicastenango is the Cofradia of

Pascual Abaj Pascual Abaj (alternatively written Pascual Ab'aj),Ventura Peliz 2007, p. 64. also known as Turcaj, Turk'aj, Turuk'aj and Turukaj,Rodríguez Rouanet et al 1993, p. 18. is a pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Maya peoples, Maya idol at Chichicastenang ...

, which is an ancient carved stone venerated nearby and the Maya priests perform several rituals there. Writing on the stone records the doings of a king named

Tohil Tohil (, also spelled Tojil) is the Maya god of fire. He is a deity of the Kʼicheʼ Maya in the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, Tohil was the patron god of the Kʼicheʼ. He was included in the Tol ...

(Fate).Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, Vol. 17, 1988
A Decipherment of the Chichicastenango Stone
(22 pp) John S. Carroll -p 31]

External links

References

Roman Catholic churches in Guatemala Chichicastenango 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Guatemala Roman Catholic churches completed in 1545 1545 establishments in the Spanish Empire {{Guatemala-church-stub