This series of posts about Yoeme (Yaqui) Pascola masks began on July 4, 2016.

When I began attending the Yaqui Easter fiesta in Tucson, Arizona, beginning in 1989 and continuing over the next 25 years or so, I quickly discovered another Yoeme carver—Antonio Bacasewa. Although Antonio lived in Vicam, Sonora and he did not often travel to Tucson, his masks were widely available in Indian arts stores there, because they were being brought up from Sonora by some important Indian traders, Barney Burns and Mahina Drees. I will tell much more about that couple in a future post.

Antonio Bacasewa’s masks are notable because, although they were made for sale to whomever might want them, they were carved creatively in traditional designs from the usual wood—raíz de Álamo (cottonwood root). Furthermore they were smoothly finished and of normal size. That is, they were perfectly appropriate for dancing, and dancers frequently did buy these masks for their own ceremonial use. Yet Antonio’s masks were also inexpensive and interesting enough to attract tourists and collectors. While some other carvers made different styles of masks for these two potential markets, as I will vividly demonstrate in future posts, Antonio produced a uniform product that was suitable for both. I view Antonio as an important and innovative folk artist. He died in 1991.

Here is one of those undanced masks that I purchased from an Indian arts store in Tucson. I liked them so much that I bought many of them, over the years.

Note the graceful line of the cheek. I suppose that the animal painted on the side of the mask is a scorpion, or maybe this is just a lizard. From this angle the design of the mouth is interesting, even if anatomically doubtful. I cannot look at this mask without imagining a character with this face in the rain, catching raindrops with his extended lower lip. This is of course my own idiosyncratic idea, but it is grounded in the knowledge that the Yoemem (Yaquis) consider rain to be a sacred gift from the Sea Ania (the Flower World).

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Today I want to show you three more Yaqui Pascola masks that were carved by Alejandro Reyes Alegria. All three are from the collection of David West, the owner of Gallery West in Tucson Arizona. David had kindly given me permission to photograph and publish these masks.

The first is another human faced Pascola mask by Alejandro. This one was collected directly from the carver by Richard Felger in 1984.

I particularly like this mask’s frowning mouth.

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In June, 1988 I bought several Yoeme (Yaqui) Pascola masks from the Folklórico gallery in Santa Fe, owned by Robin and Barbara Cleaver. I will introduce today’s post with one from that group that has a goat’s face. Like the mask that introduced last week’s post, this Goat Pascola mask came without any identified carver. However it had such distinctive design details that it proved relatively easy to identify, as I will now explain.

To begin with, I met a botanist in Tucson, Arizona, Richard Felger, who had known the carver, and my friend Tom Kolaz was also familiar with his work. Both agreed that my Goat faced mask was the work of a man some called Alejandro Reyes and others called Rexes Alegria (in an instance where the x is silent), as his full name was Alejandro Reyes Alegria. He was a carver and dancer from Potam, Sonora and he often traveled to Tucson to dance at Yaqui fiestas there. Richard Felger recalled that Reyes died mysteriously; convinced that his death was imminent, Reyes seemed resigned to this probability, sought no medical care, and soon he was dead. Here is this mask.

In this frontal photo one can see many typical features of this carver’s work. To begin with, here is his typical forehead cross, which one could describe as four triangles with parallel edges or as a square that has been subdivided by diagonal lines. Also typical are the triangles under the eyes, marked with vertical black painted lines. The painted lizards on the cheeks are also characteristic. He usually used this rim design, but that is a generic design that does not distinguish one carver from another.

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I published the opening post of this blog on July 7, 2014. Since then it has appeared weekly for two years, for a total of 104 postings (plus one more by a guest). Over that period of time I have had 12,000 individual visitors. Today’s post opens year three. For curious readers who are discovering my site at this late date, such a backlog of articles might seem overwhelming. I myself can generally recall what I have written about, but I am constantly surprised that it was so long ago! For our mutual benefit I have replaced the Index with a “Week by Week” summary that you may access with the Index pull down at the top of this page. You can readily shift to any desired month in the blog by clicking on that month in the Archives on the right side of the home page or on the Index page; there you can scroll through the introductory remarks for the four or five posts that appeared during that month, opening one or another as you please and then backing out to look at the rest. Thank you for visiting and if all this is new to you, welcome to the community of Mexican Mask enthusiasts.

I became interested in Yaqui and Mayo Pascola masks during my first year of collecting Mexican masks (1987-88). For many years I have been intensely studying masks like those I have collected, curious to know about the carvers, the dances, and the masked characters. In the case of the Pascola masks, I have repeatedly visited Yaqui fiestas in Tucson Arizona, I have amassed a library of out of print books on the subject, visited museums, and documented the masks in various private collections. I am working on one or more books about these masks. Today I begin with Yaqui Pascola masks, initiating a series of posts about what I have learned.

The Yaqui Indians, who have lived in the Mexican state of Sonora for thousands of years, call themselves the Yoeme (the People). The plural form is Yoemem. Out of respect, I will frequently refer to them with these names in their language. The Mayo Indians, who speak a nearly identical language, call themselves the Yoreme. In June of 1988 I purchased several Yoeme Pascola masks from Folklórico, a folk art gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico that was owned by Robin and Barbara Cleaver. Here is one of those masks.

I bought this as an anonymous mask, choosing it because I liked its design and patina. I particularly liked the swirling white lines that made up the rim design (the painted elements circling the rim of the mask).

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This is the last in a series of posts about masks from the Huasteca area of Mexico, and more specifically masks from parts of the Huasteca within the Mexican states of Hidalgo and Veracruz. Today we will look at Macho Cabrillo (“billy goat”) masks from Hidalgo.

For many years I knew about these masks, but only recently did I learn that they could be worn by flyers (Voladores), the dancers who sail down from the top of a tall wooden pole on gradually unwinding and  lengthening ropes. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any further documentation  or video to expand our knowledge on this aspect. Here is a Macho Cabrillo mask from San Bartolo Tutotepec, Hidalgo, an Otomí village. I bought this mask from Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazon in 1998.

These masks are interesting due to two distinctive features—they have twisted noses and their mouths are contorted in extreme grins. They usually have attached beards made from animal hair (probably goat hair) and of course they have goat horns attached with heavy nails. Colored ribbons dangle from a wire that stretches between the tips of the horns.

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As you may recall, in recent weeks I have rooted out a number of attractive masks from the part of the Huasteca that lies in the Mexican states of Hidalgo and Vercruz. These masks are certainly interesting for themselves, but more interesting in clusters of similar or related styles or dances. So I have been grouping them as I can. Today’s assortment is admittedly a somewhat heterogeneous group.

The first of these is a mask that depicts a Pajaro Real (a peacock). In my June 6 post I had included a related mask, a Pito Real (Green Woodpecker) from Carpinteros. Today’s mask, which is probably not from Carpinteros, looks quite different from that one. In Mascaras, the book by Estela Ogazon (with the assistance of Jaled Muyaes, behind the scenes) that accompanied a mask show at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in 1981, mask #13 is another Pajaro Real mask, but that one has a leather face with an applied wooden nose. Unfortunately that book says nothing about the dance. If you compare the two examples, what they have in common is a dramatically phallic nose. Here is the one from my collection, which was found in “the Huasteca.” I got it from Robin and Barbara Cleaver in 1988, but I know that it was originally collected by Jaled and Estela.

The nose is nailed to the wooden face of the mask. This is difficult to see, but the relief carved edges of the sideburns swing over the eyes to the edges of the nose (or bill), while the hairline continues as a painted feature. The chin has an ambiguous color because the paint there is layered—translucent black over the turquoise. The mask in the Mascaras book is of natural leather and with an unpainted wooden nose. Each of these masks has a similar mustache, but the leather mask doesn’t appear to have a beard.

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Last week I discussed a set of five masks from the area of Carpinteros, Veracruz—three birds, a rat, and a tejon (badger), illustrating two contrasting eye and vision slit styles that were very typical of that area in the mid to late 20th century. Today I will continue this discussion with five more masks from the same area: a Zorrillo (little fox), two Perros (dogs), a Torito (bull), and a Venadito (little deer).  I bought the bull and one of the dogs from Robin and Barbara Cleaver in 1994, and the other three from Rene Bustamante in 1993 and 1994.

I will start with the little fox. In this example the crescent shaped vision slits lie below the carved and painted eyes.

It has a fox’s sharp little nose. This is another mask carved by Manuel Cortez.

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In last week’s post and in the next two that follow, I will focus on an area of Northern Veracruz centering on two neighboring towns— Huayacocotla Veracruz and Carpinteros Veracruz. Huayacotola lies just inside the Border between the Mexican states of Hidalgo and Veracruz, on the Veracruz side, while Carpinteros literally straddles the border; these communities are connected by a small paved road. They are so close together that I mention both, although the tags all focus on Carpinteros and its related community of Miahualco. If one consults modern satellite maps, the official location of Carpinteros is within the state of Hidalgo, although there is a small unnamed community directly adjacent, on the Veracruz side. In the face of this evidence, it is a fact that Jaled Muyaes, Rene Bustamante, and Dinah Gaston describe it as a place in Veracruz. Dinah even spoke of being in Hidalgo and looking across the border at the lights of Carpinteros on the Veracruz side. So I have followed convention and called it Carpinteros, Veracruz. The state line is actually irrelevant; the important geographic detail is that both towns are in an important culture area called the Huasteca.

Today I will present five masks with the faces of animals or birds that are said to be from either Carpinteros Veracuz or from a nearby town, Miahualco Veracruz; the latter does not even show up on a satellite map. But first I will begin with a riddle that relates to the masks in last week’s post. I bought this mask of Malinche, used in the Danza de los Arquereos (Archers, a variant of the Conquest dance), from Rene Bustamante in 1993. Rene described it as from either Zurita, Veracruz or perhaps it was a rare mask from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas (Zurita is yet another place that is not to be found on available maps). Over the years I found the Tamaulipas theory appealing, but gave this little thought. Today I invite you to compare this mask to last week’s crop, in order to build a case for or against either of the two possible places of origin. This mask is 11 inches tall, 5¾ inches wide, and 3 inches deep. I will show the photos without any further remarks, and then at the end of this post I will comment.

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There is a style of Mexican mask that collectors are prone to call Moros. Indeed this name tends to be a generic label for masks from various dances, particularly in Northern Veracruz, but also in other states. My goal is to underscore some design elements that are so typical for this area that, when you see them, you realize that you are looking at a carving from the Huayacocotla/ Carpinteros area. I would certainly begin with an actual Moor, but ironically, of the five masks that encouraged me to write about this subject, none are actually Moors or Christians. However, all five represent Spaniards, four Soldiers and one Cowboy. I will start with an Español (Spaniard) that was used in Carnaval.

I obtained this mask from the Indigo Gallery, in Philadelphia, in 1996. It had been originally collected in the field by Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazon in about 1990, in Cruz de Ataque, a place near Huayacocotla. It was viewed as being much older, perhaps as old as the 1920s. Note the blue color around the eyes, meant to indicate that this mask depicts a Caucasian or a Christian.

The patina is impressive. The iron staple in the forehead is a typical marker from this area. We saw this feature on the Mojica masks, for example. The red spots on the cheeks confirm the identity of this dancer as a Spaniard. Because of his light skin he has sunburn.

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Today I will show a group of five masks that I bought from Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazón on January 11, 1998. All of them were originally from Huayacocotla, Veracruz, although one had been found in Tempoal, Veracruz. All are unusually large, which seems to be typical for Huayacocotla masks. Jaled informed me that the first two of these masks were carved by the same carver. As you will soon see, the last three are clearly by another hand.

The first of these represents a Werewolf; it is a striking mask. This is the mask that was found by Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazón in Tempoal, Veracruz. When I show the side view it will be readily apparent from the size and the curving back edge that this is yet another mask by Modesto Sanchez. This mask was used during Carnaval.

If the teeth don’t get you then the fangs will!

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