Majestic jewel with a mythical origin
Considered by experts to be one of the most beautiful examples of religious architecture in Yucatan, the church of the Immaculate Conception is the shining crown of Tabi, a village within the municipality of Sotuta, 110 km (68 miles) south-east of Merida.
The historian Miguel A. Bretos notes that Tabi lacked a proper church around 1639, but that the present building was begun some time in the last twenty years of the 17th century, and was concluded on the 24th of July 1700, as evidenced by a date inscribed above the keystone of the arch surrounding the main entrance.
According to the Dictionary of Yucatecan Spanish, the toponym Tabi means “Tab’s place”, Tab being a Mayan name, and i, or il, a suffix indicating possession or ownership. Alternatively, the Mayan scholar Güémez Pineda suggest that the root is táab (rope, cord, strap) from which we get the verb táabal (tie, bind), so that Táabi could mean “bound, deep-rooted”.
The genesis of the present church goes back to a story recounted by the priest Francisco de Cárdenas y Valencia, successor to Diego Velásquez de Arceo, parish priest of Sotuta in the early 1600s, regarding the discovery made by an indigenous woman of a wooden statue of the Virgin, complete with its base, in the cenote next to the old church building.
In his article Of Virgins and apparitions: religious manifestation among the Maya and the popular classes in Yucatan, published in Yucatan, Mayan culture and identity by the UADY, the researcher Luis A. Várguez Pasos offers a variation of the same legend. He states that in 1639 “the Spotless Conception of Our Lady appeared in the village of Tabi” to Rodrigo Alonso García, encomendero of the village, and to other Spaniards accompanying him.
The church at Tabi boasts a superb camarín dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, and a highly ornamental main reredos with striking mural decoration dating to the 17th and early 18th centuries. Both these pieces are considered unique in the State.
Before the Caste War, Tabi was an important place of pilgrimage, comparable to the Marian shrines at Izamal and Tetiz. The old statue of the Virgin disappeared during raids launched by followers of the revolutionary general Salvador Alvarado, in 1915.
Forgotten for decades, the treasures of Tabi rose from the ashes thanks to the repair work and meticulous restoration carried out between 1999 and 2003 under the auspices of the “Adopt an Artwork” organisation, and directed by Dr. Fernando Garcés Fierros.
Thanks to its priceless murals, its splendid reredos, and its unique camerín, experts in religious art class the church at Tabi as one of the most beautiful and striking religious buildings in the Peninsula.
The church at Tabi, which celebrates the feast of its patron saint on the 8th of December, can be visited during opening hours for services.
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