Huayacocotla (sometimes alternatively spelled as Guayacocotla) is a town in a rural area of Veracruz, near the Hidalgo border. Carpinteros, Hidalgo is just a few miles up the road. Although these two towns are so close, they have distinctly different masks. Today I will introduce you to some masks by a wonderful carver —Modesto Sanchez, who I understand lived and worked in Huayacocotla, Veracruz. These masks are unusually large and they have remarkable exaggerated features.

Hundreds of miles north of Huayacocotla is the major city of Tempoal, Veracruz. Some of the masks that I attribute to Modesto were found there, raising the question of whether this carver might have lived in Tempoal, but I think that they were simply brought to that larger market by pickers, after use in rural towns.

The first of these was collected in Huayacocotla by Jaled Muyaes and his wife Estela Ogazón. It is my understanding that they met Modesto there. This mask has a woman’s hairline, and  she danced during Carnaval (Mardi Gras). I obtained this mask in 2001.

She has a jolly expression and exaggerated features, which will be even more apparent and impressive in the side view.

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Sorting through my masks, I collected an assortment of “loose ends,” masks that are more or less closely related to others featured in recent posts.  I will draw from this collection for a few posts over the coming weeks, while the previous related masks are still fresh in our minds. Today the emphasis will be on Diablo masks from Veracruz.

I bought the first of these from René Bustamante in 1996. I liked it because it looked so much like an oversized Carnival Moor that had been fitted out with horns. Ironically, as I was gathering this assortment of masks I found an attractive Carnival Moor that I had overlooked when I did the post about those masks (February 8, 2016), so I will use that mask to compare the two styles. Here they are, side by side.

The Diablo is about 1½ times the size of the Moor mask.

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This is the next in a group of posts about interesting and unusual masks that seemed related to others in recent postings. Today I will discuss a pair of Santiaguero masks from an unknown part of Veracruz and an additional “Negrito” mask from what I view as a Santiagos or Santiagueros dance in Naolinco.

The first two Santiaguero masks were said to be from El Nanclola, Veracruz. I had the impression that this was a place in the Huasteca area, but I have not found it on any map. I pulled out these two masks because of their long noses, wondering if these represented an additional style of Azteca mask. However, my notes indicated that they had been sold to me as Santiaguero masks and I realized that their long slender noses were very similar to those of the Hormega masks (a Santiaguero variant) in the Sierra de Puebla of Puebla and Veracruz. The first, with a cross on the forehead, is certainly not a Diablo or an Azteca mask.

According to the Urmstons, those they met in the Huasteca called masks like this “mosquitos,” but this was a nonspecific term used for any mask with a long nose.

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Sorting through my masks to prepare the last few posts, I collected an assortment of related material. I will draw from this collection for the present post and a few others over the coming weeks, while the previous related masks are still fresh in our minds. I will begin with a very attractive mystery mask that I bought from Spencer Throckmorton in 1996, along with with three carved wooden wands that would have been carried by the dancers. The mask was said to be from the Mexican state of Hidalgo, and came with no other information. I have never seen a mask exactly like this in any other collection or in any book, although it vaguely resembles the Carnival Moor masks in recent posts. Because I have seen Matachines dancers elsewhere who carried characteristic dance wands, I wondered if this mask had been worn by a Matachin dancer. Here is the mask.

All of the decorative elements on the mask, as well as those on the dance wands, were created with shiny cut paper.

Looking at the mask with fresh eyes after it lay protected in a box for the past twenty years, I was most interested to notice that the face is divided into two halves—one side stained reddish brown and the other side painted black. This alerted me to the probability that this was the face of a supernatural being, and one that straddled some polarity such as life and death (the living dead who appear during Todos Santos or Semana Santa) or good and evil (such as Diablos).

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Last week I displayed four classic Azteca masks. I noted that these were considered to be masks suitable for La Danza de la Conquista (the Conquest Dance), but they actually dance during Carnaval (Carnival/ Mardi Gras). I included several videos that showed these masks in Carnival dances in two towns in Veracruz—Cruz de Ataque and Zacualpan.

Recently when I examined the masks in the James and Jane Urmston collection, I noticed two masks which had striking noses, but neither looked like these classic Azteca masks. The Urmstons, who had collected these masks during a period of years when they were living in Mexico, had the impression that these were also Azteca masks. Where these masks had performed was undocumented. These masks have been sold by the Urmstons, but they gave me permission to publish their photos. I was particularly interested because I had a group of masks that resembled one or the other of these; were they also Azteca masks? To cut to the chase, I ended up with the impression that the two Urmston masks and my similar examples were more likely to be masks from the Santiagos or Santiagueros dance, although they did share with the Azteca masks the trait of large and dramatic noses.

Here is one of the masks from the Urmston Collection. Isn’t it remarkable?

This mask was collected by the Urmstons in the Mexican state of Puebla, in 1980.

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One of the goals during my recent review of the Urmston collection was to learn from masks that were relatively unfamiliar to me. One  discovery was that the class of Azteca masks may be broader than I had imagined. Briefly, Azteca masks are but one specialized subset of masks from the Danza de la Conquista. You have seen other varieties of masks from the Conquest dance in recent posts.

Azteca masks have been presented or described in popular books, such as Mexican Masks (Donald Cordry 1981, page 51, Plate 66), Máscaras (Estela Ogazón 1981, page 89) and Tigers, Devils, And the Dance of Life: Masks of Mexico (Barbara Mauldin 1999). These masks portray a Spanish (Caucasian) face that is in contact with a symbolic representation of an Indian enemy; the wearer essentially personifies both sides of the conflict between Nahua (Aztec) Indians and Spanish Conquistadors. In the most usual style, which I will soon illustrate, the tongue of the mask cradles an opposing Indian warrior, but there may be an animal or what appears to be a map of an enemy territory instead.  Cordry believed that these masks came from the Mexican State of Hidalgo. Here is a link that shows the photo of two of these masks in Cordry’s book, for the benefit of those who don’t have that book. I am sorry that this image of the Azteca masks (on the lower right) is so small.

http://pictures.abebooks.com/FLAMINGOBOOKSEPHEMERA/md/md15792885323_5.jpg

Barbara Mauldin consulted Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazón and repeated their report that these were masks from Veracruz. She included a dance photo taken by Estela Ogazón in 1991, in  Atistace, Veracruz, with this caption—”Conquista masqueraders participating in Carnival celebrations.”  That photo (on page 33) shows two dancers, one wearing what appears to be a conventional Azteca mask of a Conquistador encountering an Indian while the other wears a truly unusual Azteca mask. As you will see, the latter is a wickedly amusing example in which the mask’s tongue appears to support a Mermaid’s breast! I had purchased that mask from Kelly Mecheling of New Orleans in 1995, several years before it appeared in Mauldin’s book, and Kelly had obtained the mask from Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazón. I might as well begin with that mask.

Isn’t this a shocking motif for a dance mask, even though almost anything goes during Carnival. One is tempted to think that this is a fantasy creation, with no connection to an actual performance, but the photo in Mauldin’s book shows it in action. In the photo, the mermaid’s tail appears to be intact, but at some point in the interim it had split and required repair.

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Having discussed Alta Lucero Bull and sheep masks from the Urmston collection in an earlier post, I will present additional examples from my collection. These masks dance during Carnaval (Carnival or Mardi Gras).

I had purchased my first Alta Lucero Torito mask from Robin and Barbara Cleaver in June, 1988. Like a number of the Urmston masks, this one was decorated with painted words—”El Demonio”—El on one horn and Demonio on the other. Here is that mask.

I was drawn by the use of such vivid colors, yellow and purple. Also I like the recessed star on the forehead.

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This week I will present one more group of Mojíca masks from my collection.

The first Mojíca has a modern appearance that again reminds one of the practice of organizing the human face into planes, as one sees in Cubism. I am referring to the carved arcs over the eyes and the severe shaping of the nose. I bought this from the Mano Mágica Gallery in the city of Oaxaca in March, 2001. It was originally collected in the field by Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazón.

We see again these little teeth.

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Last week I provided an introduction to the Mojíca masks found in Veracruz. This week I will show further examples of these female clown masks.

I purchased the first of these Mojíca masks on EBay™ in 2005. It had been repainted badly and the most recent paint was separating from an earlier coat, but I liked the quality of the carving. I was able to gently flake off the loose paint. This then became one of my favorite masks, because the sculpting of the face is so dynamic. This complexity of facial planes is only found on some of these masks, perhaps all by the same carver? I wish I knew more.

A picture is worth a thousand words!

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Having introduced you to Mojíca masks in my discussion of the Urmston Collection, I decided to do further posts on those masks, drawing on my collection (none of the masks in today’s post are for sale).

I will start with a pair of Mojíca masks that I bought from René Bustamante in 1993. They were said to be from Bolaños, Veracruz, a place that I have been unable to locate. Based on their style, I feel confident that they are from Veracruz. According to René, the first represents Hernán Cortez and the second is his consort, Malinche.  Here is the male mask—Hernán Cortéz.

This mask has a number of notable features, including the hairline in high relief, the vision slits within the eyebrows, and the elegant mustache.

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