City Anniversary: The Call of the Bells
Each year, on March 31st, San Cristóbal de Las Casas commemorates its founding anniversary with “El Llamado de las Campanas” (The Call of the Bells), a ceremony that transforms the historic center into a space of living silence and spiritual resonance. At 8:00 p.m., the city comes to a halt: the noise fades, traffic stops, and attendees observe twenty minutes of complete silence, creating an atmosphere of deep focus and collective stillness.
From the Plaza de la Paz to the summit of El Cerrito, more than 30 bell towers, coordinated by GPS, ring in harmony at precise intervals, following a score composed by Bryan R. Banks. Participating churches—some with a single bell, others with up to five—resound like a choral orchestra, evoking the city’s history, faith, and enduring hope. The piece is orchestrated under the direction of Leobardo Cancino Bermúdez, who envisions this sonic synchronicity as a moment when the city’s urban rhythms merge into a single pulse of collective memory.
An audience made up of families, youth, elders, and visitors gathers to listen to the echo from the plaza and the steps of El Cerrito, uniting generations in a powerful sensory and emotional experience. The bells seem to call for reflection, to mend the social fabric, and to awaken a shared longing for peace and communal harmony. In this moment of quiet reverence, the ceremony becomes a symbol of unity and consensus—a resounding response to the everyday noise.
Free and open to all, the event has become a cornerstone of the city’s cultural and heritage celebrations. It is not just a religious or cultural act—it is a bridge between generations and a gentle, persistent call for urban harmony.
“El Llamado” is not just sound; it is living memory, social cohesion, and a collective manifesto that echoes through every cobblestone street and every heart in San Cristóbal.
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