Yecapixtla

The town's historic center surrounds the church and former monastery complex of San Juan Bautista. Immediately surrounding it are the four neighborhoods established in 1550: San Pablo, La Concepción, Santa Mónica, and San Esteban. The town center around the monastery complex was divided by a number of arroyos, but most of these have since dried and/or have been filled in.^[6] A number of newer neighborhoods such as Mexquemeca, Tlachichilco, Los Reyes, Zahuatlán and La Cruz Verde were originally independent communities that were annexed as the town grew later in its history.^[7] The main facade of the monastery complex is to the west, with the back of it facing the main plaza and municipal palace of the town. The town clock is visible from the main plaza; the clock was placed on one of the monastery's back towers by Father Evaristo Nava in the early 20th century.^[7][8] The main plaza is sometimes called the Plaza de Tributación, referring to its pre-Hispanic and early colonial period function as a place to collect tribute such as crops and handcrafted items from the area which is now eastern Morelos state. During the early colonial period, this plaza was part of the monastery complex and continued its tribute collecting function.^[6] (forteleza) While the San Juan Bautista Church dominates both the town of Yecapixtla as well as the surrounding municipality, there are a number of other churches such as San Sebastián Mártir, Santiago Apóstol, de la Virgen de Guadalupe, Santo Tomás Apóstol, San Agustín, Nuestro Padre Jesús, Santa Lucía, San Nicolás, San Miguel, Los Reyes, San Marcos, La Santa Cruz, San Pablo, Santa Mónica, La Inmaculada Concepción, Santa Cruz Ecatepec and San Francisco Calapa.^[6]

Historically, Yecapixtla has been a regional commercial and governmental center since pre-Hispanic times. In addition to its function as a tribute collection center in the pre-Hispanic and early colonial times, it was also a major crossroads for migrations and other traffic between the Valley of Mexico and points south. The town continues to function as a commercial center, with a weekly regional tianguis (open air market) on Thursday.^[9] There is also a weekly market on Mondays dedicated solely to cattle.^[10] However, the largest market of the year occurs the last Thursday of October. This market has its origins in the pre-Hispanic festival honoring the birth of Yacapitzauac, a deity which acted as a guide for travelers and protector of merchants. Records indicate that this festival/market has been observed in one form or another since the 1330s.^[11] Today, the highlights of this event includes the dance of the Chinelos, and a ballroom dance with features orchestra and popular music.^[9] The Feria de Cecina or Cecina Fair is also held on this date, promoting the town and municipality's regional specialty of beef cecina as well as dairy products such as cream and cheese.^[8] These joint events together are even larger than that of the patron saint, John the Baptist, on 24 June. This event is celebrated for two days with fireworks on frames called "toritos" (little bulls) and "castillos" (small castles), bands playing wind instruments and folk/regional dances from various parts of Morelos and neighboring State of Mexico.^[8][9] Another annual event is the Feria y Exposición Ganadera or Cattle Expo and Fair. In addition to the showing of animals, there are charreada events, bullfights and number of cultural attractions.^[9] Today, Yecapixtla still has a large number of religious festivals and other events. Some of the most important occur on New Year's Day, Candlemas, Holy Week, especially Maundy Thursday, Day of the Holy Cross (May 3), feast of John the Baptist on 24 June, Day of the Dead and the posadas leading up to Christmas.^[7] On the last day of Holy Week, the folk dancers enter the San Juan Bautista Church, make the sign of penitence and then move into the atrium for a day of dancing. Maintaining order during the event are people dressed as Roman soldiers.^[9]

In addition to the monastery complex, Yecapixtla is best known for the making and sale of beef cecina, which is a kind of marinated beef.^[12] Cecina does not have its origin in Yecapixtla, but it is the area most famous for its production in Mexico.^[13] This beef is prepared in large thin sheets of meat, which is then cut and quickly grilled. The favored kind of cecina is a marinated beef, but the pork version coated with chili pepper is consumed also. Yecapixtla calls itself the "World Capital of Cecina." Traditionally, cecina is eaten with cream and/or cheese from the community of Achichipico.^[12]

The site of the church and former monastery of San Juan Bautista was a teocalli, or sacred precinct, dedicated to a god of commerce called Yacapitzauac. This teocalli was destroyed by the Spanish under Gonzalo de Sandoval when he captured and sacked the settlement in 1521. This teocalli and god were the center of the pre-Hispanic community.^[11] The Franciscans were the first to arrive in the 1520s to evangelize the local population and they built a small church on the site. However, this church was destroyed in a fire.^[13] The Augustinians took over evangelization in the 1530s and formally established the monastery, dedicated to John the Baptist. This figure was chosen because Yacapitzauac was depicted with a staff as a sign of his authority, and John the Baptist is often depicted with a staff.^[7][8] Most of the monastery was constructed between 1535 and 1540. At that time, there was sufficient income to the order to not only finish much of the monastery in a short time, but also to add a number of fine details.^[6] Construction of a number of smaller elements continued until 1586.^[8] The complex presents similarities with others built by the Augustinians in eastern Morelos at this time, such as a stone wall around the perimeter and the use of merlons, which give these monasteries the look of a medieval castle.^[11] Due to the diminishing importance of Yecapixtla, the monastery was mostly abandoned by the 17th century, with the Augustinians losing formal control of the church and community in the mid 18th century.^[7] The complex remained mostly untouched until the late 19th century when Father José Pilar Sandoval did some remodeling work in the main nave of the church. More restoration work was undertaken by Father Evaristo Nava in the early 20th century, which included the addition of an organ and changing the sacristy into a tabernacle. In 1994, the complex became part of the Monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl World Heritage Site.^[11]

As common to monasteries of the time, the complex is fronted by a very large atrium. This atrium is surrounded by a stone wall topped with merlons. The main entrance to the atrium from the street has merlons, as well as the chapels found on each of the wall's four corners. From the main entrance to the church, there is a volcanic stone walkway, divided by an atrium cross, which has a heart, a chalice and a depiction of the Host in low relief.^[8] The atrium cross is not the original. The original was broken by a child in 1961 when he was trying to climb onto its base. The cross fell onto the child killing him.^[11] Along the atrium walls on the inside, there are a number of empty niches that remain, which probably held images related to the Stations of the Cross. Access to the chapels in the corners, called capillas posas, is in the atrium. These chapels’ primary function was the house the Host during processions on Corpus Christi.^[11]

At the back of the atrium is the complex which consists of a large church and cloister. The front of the church has a very tall facade, which is mostly undecorated, flanked by two corner buttresses and topped by a small recessed tower. Along the top of the facade and on this tower, there are merlons.^[8][13] The church also has a bell tower, but it is somewhat recessed from the facade and is also topped with merlons.^[8] Under the cornice, there is a frieze which divides into two parts. On the right-hand side, there is the date of 1526 depicted in Aztec style, when the Franciscans arrived, accompanied by the coat of arms of that order. On the left is the year in which the pre-Hispanic teocalli was destroyed.^[11]

Between the merlons and the main portal, there is a Gothic rose window and below this is the main portal with subtle design work. The rose window stands out most. It is a circular stone which was cut in a floral-like pattern to let in light, surrounded by a frame with elaborate ornamentation. It is one of very few rose windows in Mexico from this time period.^[8] While the overall style of the window is Plateresque Gothic, it was fashioned by indigenous hands. It contains indigenous elements as well. The "flower" in the center indicates the four cardinal directions and the twenty cherubs in the frame surrounding it represents the days of the month of the Aztec calendar. This frame also contains the bust of a bound woman who probably represents the mother of Huitzilopochtli.^[11]

The portal is a simple arch with subtle reliefs with small angels, cherubs and vegetative motifs on the archivolt as well as portraits of saints and friars. One of these portraits may be Jorge de Avile y Ro, the founder of the monastery. On the left side there is a portrait of a layperson with a Roman-style haircut, who was probably the architect. The wooden doorjambs are decorated with the heads of angels and rose patterns as well as vegetative motifs.^[8] The bars on the main doors were added in 1910 by Father Evaristo Nava, who also donated the clock that can be seen on the complex's back tower.^[11] Around the arch and the doors, the portal is sculpted in both a detailed and subtle way. To the side of the doorway, there are two pairs of pilasters.^[8] These are in Renaissance style while the rest of the portal mixes Gothic and Plateresque. However, the columns also have channels which are more often associated with the later Churrigueresque. At the base of the columns there are busts of Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan and Cicero, who was an influence on the philosophy of Saint Augustine.^[11] The pilasters are topped with capitals, which support a frieze that contains reliefs of small angels flying with a cross in the center. Above the frieze, there is a panel with a niche, today empty, flanked by the coats of arms of the Augustinians and the Franciscans. Underneath the coats of arms, there is an angel riding a dragon. Topping this is a pediment.^[8][11]

The northeast side of the church is marked by a long wall with three Gothic windows and the side portal in Renaissance style.^[8] This is the portal most often used by parishioners as it is closest to what is now the main plaza of the town.^[11] This portal has a barrel arch flanked by two sets of pilasters. Between the sets, there are very worn decorative details, including two medallions. These are notable because they depict a man and a woman in civil attire with no religious aspect. The archivolt of the arch contains bundles of spears tied with different elements. In the center of one of these bundles, there is a heart, a symbol of the Augustinians. A cornice encloses the area.^[8]

The main entrance of the church leads into space under the choir area, which is covered by a Gothic vault with nerves that form the shape of a star. The highly stylized murals painted in black on the side walls have been retouched. They consist of bands of decorations with contains elements such as letters, niches, and coats of arms. This entrance area ends with an arch that opens into the main nave.^[8] This area serves as the baptistery and contains three monolithic pieces, which originally were part of the teocalli.^[11] The first two are used for baptisms. The first is the large basin to hold water for baptism. The second, called a "piscina" is meant to receive the water that pours off the head of the one being baptized. On the outside of the main basin, there are the heads of animals and humans, which may indicate that the bowl was originally part of a fountain, readapted to its current function. The heads that protrude indicate the duality of life with the masculine represented by a jaguar and the feminine represented by a woman. The use of a jaguar symbol indicates Olmec influence. Next to these two, there is a small pillar with worn, unidentifiable designs, whose purpose are unknown.^[8][11]

A small door in the entrance area covers a stairway that leads to the choir area above. This choir area contains medieval style murals and a balustrade with a crest of Fleur-de-lis sculpted of sandstone.^[8] It also contains an organ similar to the ones used in medieval European cathedrals, and is the only one of its kind in the Augustinian monasteries of the region. The only other one in the region is in the originally Franciscan cathedral of Cuernavaca. It was donated by Evaristo Nava in 1915, using the money he was saving to go to the Holy Land.^[11]

The main nave is enormous and very tall. At the front is an apse, which like the area under the choir has a vault with Gothic nerves which form a star pattern.^[8][11] The current main altar found here is not the original. The original altar was Baroque which contained twelve paintings with each of the Apostles as well as one of John the Baptist and Saint Augustine.^[11] These paintings have since been moved to the pinacotheca of the Cuernavaca cathedral. The current altar is a large white 19th century Neoclassical style piece, inspired by a Roman mausoleum. It has two levels on a circular base with a Corinthian-style capital. It features an image of John the Baptist.^[8][13]

Most of the original mural work that covered the walls and ceilings are deteriorated or lost, but reconstructed murals have been added to parts, especially in the spaces between the nerves of the vaults. These murals contain soft colors which form lines, geometrical shapes and floral shapes reminiscent of ironwork. These probably date to the last third of the 19th century but this is mostly conjecture. The side walls contain faded remnants of narrative scenes, which have not been dated either.^[8] One of the best-conserved elements inside the church is the 16th-century pulpit, made of sandstone sculpted with fine Gothic style designs. In each of the faces of the design, anagrams of the name of Christ or the coat of arms of the Augustinians appear. There is none like it from all of the Mexican colonial period.^[8] The original confession booths are built into the wall on the right side of the nave, separating the church and the cloister, with the priest entering one side and the confessor entering through the other. They were covered up for much of the church's history until 1954 when Father Jose Maria Mendez moved the altars on this wall to reveal them. Between them and the baptistery area, there is a large door that leads to the cloister of the former monastery. In colonial times, this door was only opened for Mass on major festivals.^[11]

The facade of the cloister has two levels and is fronted by an arched porch area, called a portería. Above the portería, there are two windows, and the remains of the pilasters of an arch that corresponds to the open chapel, which was like a balcony. However, this balcony area was eventually walled in to make more interior space. The portería contains two arches and a frieze adorned with round forms which protrude. The portería contains the main entrance to the cloister area, above which is a crucifix set on top of a skull, which represents Calvary.^[8] The foyer of this entrance used to serve as a baptistery in the late 19th and early 20th century. The paintings here are from that era. They depict stories about the Virgin Mary who is shown with the infant Jesus in her arms and symbols of the Trinity around them.^[11]

Inside, the cloister has only one floor that surrounds a central courtyard, separated by sixteen simple arches which have buttresses. On the interior of each arch, there are dark red circles, which are all that remain of medallions which probably had religious anagrams. In the center of the courtyard, there is a fountain and a sundial etched onto a pillar.^[8][11] There are two main interior portals, one that leads to the refectory and the other that leads to the current priest's quarters. Like other cloisters of this area and time, there are remnants of mural work. Near the large doorway to the church, there is a group of four saints done in black and white, which look upon a scene which has since been lost. There are areas that conserve parts of friezes with images drawn in white over a black background, especially in the upper parts of the walls. Images of saints appear on the spaces between the arches, which are drawn to simulate sculptures contained in niches with Plateresque columns and topped with shells. In one corner, there is a seated figure of a sainted pope, whose face and eyes are well done. Most of the rest of the paintings are narratives, but most of the work has been partially or fully lost, and those that remain are not in good condition. One exception is a depiction of the road to Calvary and the Crucifixion. The vaults of the passageways are decorated with coffers, some of which are hexagons, which may indicate the influence of Italian architect Sebastian Serlio. The Sala de Profundis, or meditation room, contains well-preserved multichromatic murals which depict a large number of saints including a series of martyrs and a depiction of Saint Augustine. These images are in the process of restoration by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.^[8] In the south wing of the cloister there is an entrance to an underground area, which tradition says used to lead to Hernán Cortés’ house, but since destroyed.^[6] There is also a door that leads to the garden area, which grew food for the monks. Fruit trees bearing mangos, guavas, coffee, limes, oranges and plums and more still grow here.^[11] It is one of the few monasteries which still has its garden area, although it is greatly diminished.^[6]

Missing from the view are the kitchen area and latrines. It is thought that the Chapel of San José, now opening into the church, was originally the kitchen of the monastery. This chapel is known to have existed in this form at least since the 19th century. The monastery has an archive which dates back to the year 1600, which mostly records baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths of the local population. During the Mexican Revolution, this archive was sealed behind a wall in order to avoid its destruction.^[11]