The steep walls of the Sumidero Canyon in Chiapas, Mexico are still sacred spaces where humans meet ancestors and deities much in the same manner as they did 2000 years ago before European influences came to this continent. This practice is maintained up to date by the so called “traditioners” (costumbreros). According to archaeologist Enrique Mendez Torres from the Mexican School of Anthropology and History (ENAH), surrounding Tuxtla, Chiapas and mainly on the Capoya Plateau, the Mountain Range and the Sumidero Canyon –whose walls rise to 1200 meters (4000 feet)- caves, rocky shelters and gullies are found that have been used for ritual means since pre-Hispanic times. 

Many of these places were used to realize prayers and ask the deities for rain. Even during the 16th and 17th century, when the conquest and Catholic Church prohibited these rituals, indigenous people from the region continued visiting the caves; at least 5 inquisitorial processes were filed for idolatry during that time.  
Constant persecution during Colonial times caused the abandonment of these sites as places of adoration and encounters with the ancestors. Nevertheless, the practices survived and are still nowadays maintained. People continue using these spaces for witchcraft, petitions and cleansings during which the help of certain deities or powers is invoked. According to the worldview of the Zoque –this region’s ethnic group- the caves are not only inhabited by spirits of water and fertility but also by their ancestors. As for today, when the Zoques need advise or need to ask permission to conduct festivities like a carnival celebration, a group goes to the cave, makes offerings, leaves food and shares the knowledge obtained with others of the brotherhood, usually the community that they belong to. Archaeologist Mendez, who participated in the 5th Week of Mountain Anthropology organized by the Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), mentioned that inhabitants of the regions near Tuxtla Gutierrez usually maintain 3 different attitudes regarding the rituals. A first group supports the “traditioners” or costumbreros, who conduct rituals with Pre-Hispanic reminiscence. A second group is led by Christians that belong to communities with a strong presence of the so called Seven Day Adventist Church, and a third group is represented by “white” or mestizo people that are not involved in these practices and reject the rituals with distrust. In spite of frequent conflict between the different groups, Enrique Méndez noted that the current government of Chiapas has a more open attitude towards the rituals conducted by costumbreros. This has allowed several costumbreros to practice with more openness and even guide visitors along these caves and shelters while partly avoiding vandalism to the places.  In 1999 Enrique Mendez made a brief review of archaeological sites within the Sumidero Canyon. A group of people descended 500 meters down the cliff and found a balcony with a set of arranged stones on the edge, as well as a metate (grinder) and 2 incense burners in the center. “It is remarkable that Pre-Hispanic people climbed the cliff walls to access these places”, mentioned the archaeologist. Construction of the Chicoasen dam in the ‘70s led to the saving of archaeological sites on one side of the Sumidero Canyon. Archaeologist Alejandro Martinez Muriel reported 53 caves and archaeological material, mainly ceramics, in 23 sites. Rock paintings were found in 18 caves. At the opposite side of the canyon a 10 meter high rocky shelter called La Ceiba was found. Evidence of human presence found here, as well Pre-Hispanic rock paintings and contemporary designs date back to 7000 BC. In the left wall of the canyon 4 balconies were found with over 100 rock paintings and hands prints, most of them date from Pre-Hispanic times, concluded Mendez Torres.

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