Chalma, Mx

Twenty five kilometers west of Cuernavaca is situated the pre-Columbian sacred site of Chalma. Now a Christian holy place it is the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico after Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. While its early history is shrouded in myth it seems that when Augustinian friars first visited the area in the mid 1530’s they learned that local Indians were making pilgrimages to a sacred cave with the name of Chalma. The pilgrims would walk for days through the surrounding mountains, wearing flowers in their hair and carrying incense burners, in order to make offerings to a statue of Ozteotl, the Dark Lord of the Cave. This statue was said to be a large, man-sized, black, cylindrical stone reputed to have magical healing powers. The god was variously identified with a deity of human destiny or of the night, sometimes taking the form of a jaguar, or with the god of war, depending on different Indian oral traditions. The arriving pilgrims bathed in a river fed by a sacred spring and drank holy water before entering the cave.

When the friars were taken to the cave to see the stone statue, they found flowers and other gifts, as well as evidence of blood sacrifice. In 1539, Fray Nicholás de Perea gave a sermon to the Indians, preaching the evils of idol worship and blood sacrifice. When the friars returned to the cave three days later, it had been cleaned and whitewashed. The flowers were still there, but the image of Ozteotl was in pieces on the floor. In its place was a life-size image of a dark Christ on the cross. Seeing this, the Indians reportedly fell down in "a wave of apostolic piety" and thus began the conversion of the natives in this region. According to another version, two friars arriving at the cave soon after the Spanish invasion destroyed the Indians' idol. They returned with a wooden cross to put in its place but miraculously, so the legend goes, there was already a crucifix with a black Christ and the entrance was full of exquisite flowers. Still other sources say that the Augustinian friars sculpted the archaic stone into the shape of Jesus Christ.

Before long, the cave entrance was enlarged and a shrine was dedicated to St. Michael. The image of Christ remained in the cave for 143 years but in 1683 it was brought down to a church specially consecrated for its worship, which became the first sanctuary of Chalma. This new church was given the official name of El Convento Real y Sanctuaria de Nuestro Seńor Jesus Christo y San Miguel de los Cuevas de Chalma (the Royal Monastery and Sanctuary of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Saint Michael of the Caves of Chalma) under the protection of Charles III of Spain. In 1830 the sanctuary was renovated. From the middle of the 16th century hostels to accommodate the pilgrims were built. The original Christ statue of Chalma was destroyed by a fire in the 18th century and the image which is venerated today was modeled with its remains.