Discover Chichicastenango

The market at Chichicastenango has operated on the same central plaza for over 500 years—predating the Spanish conquest and the church built on top of the Maya temple platform that now dominates the square. Before the Spanish arrived, Chichicastenango—then known as Chaviar—was an important K’iche’ Maya trading center where villages from across the highlands exchanged textiles, agricultural goods, medicinal plants, and ceremonial items. The Spanish renamed it from the Nahuatl Tzitzicaztenango (place of nettles), a name given by their Tlaxcalan allied soldiers who recognized the local vegetation.

The market structure today follows the same basic geography it always has: the central plaza is the hub, surrounded by fixed indoor stalls and then by temporary stalls radiating out into the surrounding streets. On Thursday and Sunday market days, hundreds of vendors arrive from highland villages, many walking several hours to reach the town. The 98.5% K’iche’ Maya population of the municipality means the market is a genuinely local institution—not organized for tourism but observed by it. Chichicastenango was placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List in 2002 in recognition of its unique status as a living K’iche’ Maya cultural center.