A lot of Americans and other foreigners have been moving to Cholula. It's an impressive place. – Victor Lozano, a local cab driver and guide
CHOLULA, MEXICO — When "Popo" the volcano blew last week, many Mexicans worried for their health and safety. They also worried for the health and safety of Cholula, a town five miles outside the city of Puebla.
Cholula is Mexico's "city of churches," a prized jewel of Christianity.
According to the locals, "God lives in Cholula."
He must, they reason.
He has dozens and dozens of houses there.
Say the word Cholula in the States and people think "hot sauce."
Say it in Mexico and they think "churches" — most of them 300 years old and built on the sacred sites of ancient Indians.
The story goes that the natives in Cholula refused to buckle under the conqueror Hernan Cortes, so to show them who was boss, Cortes massacred thousands and ordered the people of Cholula to build 365 Catholic churches, one for each day of the year. They never reached the goal, but what they did accomplish remains a wonder to behold.
Throw a stone in Cholula today and it may break a stained glass window.
"A lot of Americans and other foreigners have been moving to Cholula," says Victor Lozano, a local cab driver and guide. "It's an impressive place."
And the most impressive place in that impressive place is the Church of Our Lady of Remedies, which sits on a great, pre-colonial pyramid. The pyramid, the largest archaeological site in the Americas, is laced with catacombs and filled with artifacts. Because of the Catholic Church perched on its summit, the pyramid has not been fully restored or even studied.
The church today is a national treasure and a holy shrine.
Standing as it does on a pyramid with the great volcano Popocatepetl looming in the background, the site not only embraces three civilizations, but seems to exist outside of time itself. Its image is iconic for Mexicans. It says, "This is us."
Climbing the cobblestone path to reach the church takes a little effort, but it's not exhausting. At the top, one finds vendors, a small, outdoor snack shop and a wonderful view of the valley of Cholula and the many spires and domes that grace its throng of churches.
Below to the right stands the grand convent that today serves as a school.
Other famous churches — Santa Maria, with its legion of brown-skinned angels; San Pedro; San Gabriel near the main plaza; and San Francisco — display architectural flourishes and handiwork that still stun three centuries later.
But what charms most about all those churches is they are not ancient museum pieces. Mass is held in each one at least once a week and celebrations, first communions, marriages, baptisms and processions are constantly taking place.
Cholula is not spiritually dead, but vibrantly breathing.
As for the town, the temptation is to call it "sleepy," though a sprawling public market near the main square and many open-air eateries add more than a little pizzazz. It is an agriculture town (radishes, beans, cilantro, pears, apricots) with tourism and small industry slowly gaining sway. The city is divided into two sections (following a pre-conquest pattern) and has 18 unique "barrios" or neighborhoods, all linked by common civic concerns and cultural celebrations.
Other religions have set up shop in Cholula (it's not unusual to see Mormon missionaries lengthening their strides through the main plaza) but because of the local lore and deep heritage, Catholicism remains the faith of choice.
Ruth Horsley of Brigham City served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cholula some 50 years ago. She remembers vibrant festivals and ringing celebrations filling the churches on Christian holidays.
Those spicy "feast days" continue today.
Says Victor Lozano, the cab driver and guide, "On the fifth of May (Cinco de Mayo) we will celebrate the Battle of Puebla. Then things will really get lively."
The word "Cholula" may mean "refuge," but nobody said a refuge must be quiet and serene.
Especially not the Mexicans.
Today, Cholula remains as culturally alive and as spiritually awake as it was 300 years ago.
Maybe more so.
Email: jerjohn@desnews.com