Zunil
Encyclopedia
Zunil is a municipality
in the Quetzaltenango department
of Guatemala
with a surface area of 92 square kilometres (35.5 sq mi). Zunil is located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from the city of Quetzaltenango, on the bank of the Salamá River
. Zunil has an altitude of approximately 2075 metres (6,807.7 ft) above mean sea level
. The population is about 14,000 people, 100% indigenous. The inhabitants speak K'iche'
and Spanish
.
Zunil possesses active worship of San Simón (also known as Maximón
), a life-sized mannequin representing a Maya
god, sitting in a wooden throne, which is moved to a different house every year, and many people visit and leave gifts at his shrine.
There are thermal baths with volcanic water around the town, for example Fuentes Georginas and Almolonga
.
A crater
on Mars
, which may be the source of Mars meteorite
s, is named after the village.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the Quetzaltenango department
Departments of Guatemala
||Guatemala is divided into 22 departments :#Alta Verapaz#Baja Verapaz#Chimaltenango#Chiquimula#Petén#El Progreso#El Quiché#Escuintla#Guatemala#Huehuetenango#Izabal#Jalapa#Jutiapa#Quetzaltenango#Retalhuleu#Sacatepéquez...
of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
with a surface area of 92 square kilometres (35.5 sq mi). Zunil is located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from the city of Quetzaltenango, on the bank of the Salamá River
Salamá River
The Salamá River is a river in Guatemala. The river is fed by a number of streams running down the slopes of the Sierra de las Minas and Sierra de Chuacús and flows in a north-westerly direction through the town of Salamá until it joins the Chixoy River....
. Zunil has an altitude of approximately 2075 metres (6,807.7 ft) above mean sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
. The population is about 14,000 people, 100% indigenous. The inhabitants speak K'iche'
K'iche' language
The K’iche’ language is a part of the Mayan language family. It is spoken by many K'iche' people in the central highlands of Guatemala. With close to a million speakers , it is the second-most widely spoken language in the country after Spanish...
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
Zunil possesses active worship of San Simón (also known as Maximón
Maximón
Maximón is a folk saint venerated in various forms by Maya people of several towns in the highlands of Western Guatemala.The origins of his cult are not very well understood by outsiders to the different Mayan religions, but Maximón is believed to be a form of the pre-Columbian Maya god Mam,...
), a life-sized mannequin representing a Maya
Maya peoples
The Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...
god, sitting in a wooden throne, which is moved to a different house every year, and many people visit and leave gifts at his shrine.
There are thermal baths with volcanic water around the town, for example Fuentes Georginas and Almolonga
Almolonga, Quetzaltenango
Almolonga is a municipality in the Quetzaltenango department of Guatemala, located on a road between Quetzaltenango city and Zunil. The majority of its population is indigenous, speaking the K'iche' language...
.
A crater
Zunil (crater)
Zunil is an impact crater near the Cerberus Fossae on Mars, with a diameter of . It is named after a town in Guatemala. Visible in images from the Viking 1 and Viking 2 Mars orbiters in the 1970s, Zunil was subsequently imaged at higher resolution for the first time by the Mars Global Surveyor ...
on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, which may be the source of Mars meteorite
Mars meteorite
A martian meteorite is a rock that formed on the planet Mars, was ejected from Mars by the impact of an asteroid or comet, and landed on the Earth. Of over 53000 meteorites that have been found on Earth, 99 are martian...
s, is named after the village.