In the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, there are dancers who are variously called los Diablos, los Judíos, or los Fariseos. These dancers may wear many many different masks—devils, other menacing or evil characters, skulls, animals, and human faces. As noted in previous posts, they  imitate the persecutors of Christ. Today’s post will introduce the devil masks, along with a few that seem closely related to diablos. You can see photos of such characters and masks in action in Tancanhuitz, San Luis Potosí (circa 1960s), on pages 576 and 577 of the extraordinary book—Lo Efímero y Eterno del Arte Popular Mexicano, Tomo II or The Ephemeral and the Eternal of Mexican Folk Art, Volume 2 (there is a Spanish edition and an English edition).

This is a mask of Luzbel (Lucifer), from Tancanhuitz, San Luis Potosí (SLP) that I obtained from René Bustamante in the 1990s.

This mask is 18 inches tall, 8 inches wide between the tips of the horns, and 5 inches deep.

Continue Reading →

In March of 2001 I made one of many visits to Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazon in Mexico City. I discovered that they had some masks for sale that had obsolete Mexican coins glued to their faces. Jaled told me that the money on the masks represented the thirty pieces of silver that were paid to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Christ. On that occasion I purchased three of these masks—a human faced mask with a droll smile, a jaguar, and a third with a primitive human face. I had initially thought that these were used in the Tlacololeros dance.

Here is the large human faced mask with the droll smile. I was particularly drawn to this mask.

This mask is 9½ inches in height, 7½ inches wide, and 6 inches deep.

Continue Reading →

Two weeks ago I had introduced the subject of Judas and related dancers who perform during Semana Santa (Holy Week) throughout Mexico. That post focused on the Judas dancers in Michoacán. Last week I discussed additional dancers of this type who dance as Fariseos; those masks were from Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Queretero. Next week I will introduce you to Judas masks from Guerrero that carry coins on their faces to mark their identity and in subsequent weeks I will tell you about the remarkable Judio masks used in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí.

This week we will consider masks worn by Roman soldier figures during the Holy Week drama—Centurian masks from Chiapas and the State of Mexico and a Robeno (Roman) mask from the state of Hidalgo—along with hand made tin helmets worn by unmasked legionnaires in the State of Mexico and a very rare mask worn by the performer who portrays Christ. Usually the Christ impersonator does not wear a mask, but simply period clothing and a crown of thorns, but this mask from the State of Mexico even includes those thorns.

I will begin with the Robeno mask from Hidalgo.

Continue Reading →

Last week I showed masks associated with Holy Week in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Today I will follow up by presenting Fariseo masks from some of the  other states of Mexico—Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Queretero.

As I previously explained, the characters who threaten Christ in these passion plays can go by a number of different names, including Fariseos, Judios, Judas dancers, Centurions, Robenos (Romans), and Soldados. In next week’s post I will discuss Centurians, Robenos, and unmasked Roman soldiers wearing tin helmets. Several posts will follow about the Judas dancers from Guerrero and San Luis Potosí to further explore this subject.

Today’s first mask is a Fariseo from the state of Jalisco. I obtained this mask from the collection of Robert Lauter in 1988. Gesso (plaster of paris) had been applied to form the hair and sideburns. In contrast, the eyes and the mustache were carved in relief. The chin was painted blue to indicate a “5 o:clock shadow,” a stylistic detail that one sees more typically in masks from the Mexican state of Chiapas and from Guatemala. This mask has marked patina, as if it is 50 or 75 years old, but it came with no documentation about its age.

This mask is 8¼ inches in height, 6¼ inches in width, and  3¾inches in depth.

Continue Reading →

From time to time I have used a mask found on EBay™ as the starting point for a post, to illustrate that one can find amazing or interesting masks in unexpected places. Such finds are not without peril; one requires luck, knowledge and experience to sort out the Mexican masks offered on EBay, as these tend to be a mixed lot, with many reproductions that have been falsely aged, along with just an occasional gem. Nevertheless, I have occasionally bought something there due to curiosity alone, in the absence of any sure knowledge, to later wonder whether I have been either lucky or unlucky in this purchase. In fact this is often how one learns about such things, by taking risks and then engaging in a process of research and evaluation to assess the “damage.” Today I will discuss a trio of interesting masks that curiosity alone prompted me to purchase on EBay in 2006. In preparing this post I have developed greater insight about them, particularly due to the recent appearance of Mexican fiesta videos on YouTube™ that broaden one’s knowledge.

In order to set the stage for the trio of EBay masks, I will start with a mask and headdress (or cap) from Naranja, Michoacán. It was labeled as a Fariseo (pharisee) mask for use during Semana Santa (Holy Week/ Easter). According to an exceedingly useful book, Purépecha Masks: 2002 Catalogue, this can also be called a Judas mask. A duplicate in the Catalogue was carved by Eufemio Maya Zavala (of Naranja, Michoacan).  In other communities we find a range of similar terms for the masks used during Holy Week—such as Judios (Jews) in San Luis Potosí and Fariseos in Yaqui and Mayo performances. The Fariseos in the latter communities are also said to be the “Soldiers of Rome,” and there are still other communities in Mexico where this sort of language dominates during Holy Week—for example Robenos (Romans) and  Centurions.

When I acquired this mask in 1989 it was in excellent condition. Much later it began to shed fine sawdust, indicating that an infestation with boring insects had reactivated. The insects tunneled extensively within the walls of the mask, and although they did not cause significant external damage, the surface of the mask was weakened in spots, So, for example, the tip of the nose became fragile. I treated the infestation with freezing and thawing, which seemed to stabilize the mask. The openings for the eyes are covered with glass on the inside edge, and behind the glass painted paper supplies the images of irises.

Continue Reading →

Last week I introduced the Tastoanes dance and showed traditional leather Tastoanes masks. Today I will share wooden masks for this dance from the Mexican states of Jalisco and Zacatecas. The main point of this week’s post and the last is to demonstrate the wide variation in the styles of masks used for this dance. They can be made of leather or wood. Some of them have horns, as if they are diablo masks; unlike diablos, they have attached wigs and they are not necessarily painted black. One in today’s post even has a cross painted on the face. On the other hand, a leather mask in last week’s post was painted black, had horns, and could probably have danced as a diablo or in the Tastoanes dance.

I will begin with a wooden Tastoanes mask that was found in 1989 in Guadalajara, in the Mexican state of Jalisco. It has an attached wig, of sisal.

The wooden face of this mask is 10 inches tall, 6 inches wide (but 22 inches between the tips of the horns), and 9 inches deep, not counting the leather tongue or the headdress/wig.

This Tastoane mask is decorated with snakes and bugs.

Continue Reading →

In my recent series of posts about La Danza de los Santiagueros I demonstrated how the Indians of Mexico had managed to insert hidden meanings into public dance performances. As James Scott explained in his book, Domination and the Arts of Resistance (Yale University Press, 1990, 1-16), it is common for the less powerful in any society to search for ways to safely complain about felt mistreatment by the more powerful; one solution has been to present the grievance in a disguised form. He calls such a disguised complaint a “hidden transcript.”  One of the best documented examples of a Mexican dance drama with a hidden transcript is La Danza de los Tastoanes. Although it is usually rare to find detailed explanations of Mexican Indian dances in English, one can learn a great deal about the Tastoanes dance from the books and articles listed at the end of this post.

In light of what I have just written, here is a riddle—”When does a Mexican mask not represent what it appears to be?” The short answer—”frequently.” A slightly more precise answer is— “when it cloaks a hidden transcript.” In la Danza de los Tastoanes the same dancers wear the same masks in a two act performance, yet they probably portray two different groups of characters, one in each act.

Here is a link to a YouTube™ video of the Tastoanes dance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdmnpBErj7g

And here is another link, this one about how these leather Tastoane masks are made in Jocotán, Jalisco.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2neuiXeMkE

In this post I will begin with two traditional Tastoanes masks from San Juan Ocotán (Ocotán and Jocotán are neighboring villages), a town in the Municipio (county) of Zapopan, Jalisco, that I obtained from Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazon in 1997 . These are made from leather with attached wooden features and wigs of animal hair. Here is the first of these masks.

This Tastoane mask has the face of a dog. The mask is made of leather, and a carved wooden element provides the dog’s nose and open mouth. This is the standard method for the construction of such masks in villages near Guadalajara such as Jocotán and Ocotán. The hair appears to be horse tail.

Pan Bimbo™ (Bimbo Bread) is a popular brand of mass produced bread in Mexico. On the right side of this mask the dancer has personalized his mask with a small copy of the logo for that bakery, a comic figure wearing a baker’s hat. At the top one sees another such comic element, a pair of footprints.

Continue Reading →

Now that I have told you so much about La Danza de los Santiagueros, this would seem a good time to discuss the helmets worn by Santiago in this dance. They are varied, attractive, and interesting.

In previous posts you may recall dance photos of Santiago. Let’s review those photos, because they will orient us to some of the helmets to follow. Here is the photo of Santiago dancing at Cauahtapanaloyan, Puebla in December 2008. He is wearing a woven straw hat, but what I want to point out is the characteristic decorative design of bristles and paper flowers arranged in an arc over the crown of of the hat. This is one of the standard variations for Santiago’s helmet. Also note the painted lines on the bottom edge of the brim; these probably represent the rays of the sun, as is also the likely symbolism of the colored bristles. In focusing on this wonderful Santiago figure, I failed to notice that I was also tracking the retreating form of Carlos Moreno Vásquez.

Continue Reading →

Last week I showed you Santiaguero and Pilato masks by Narciso Iturbide Charo, a wonderful carver from San Antonio Rayón, Puebla who died in 1996. Today I will feature four of his three faced Santiaguero masks. These are probably extremely rare; approximately 17 of these were initially collected in the field in the early 1980s and I am not aware that any more have turned up in recent years. It seems that no two of them were the same.

In about 1980 my friend Robin Cleaver found an unusual mask in the city of Puebla; the folk art dealer who owned the mask was in the process of stripping off the “ugly red paint.” The mask was very unusual because it had three faces. I will call this the index mask. Robin purchased the mask and learned  the name of the place where it had been found. In a partnership with Jaled Muyaes and Estela Ogazon, Robin and his wife Barbara sent a runner to that town with a camera, and although the camera stopped working during the trip, there was one clear photo on the film roll. This showed Santiaguero dancers in action, wearing traditional costumes, Morion headdresses or paper crowns, and masks with three faces. In this local variant, the morion headress is worn by a Santiaguero and the crowns by  Pilatos, yet all wear three faced masks of the same color. A set of about 16 masks was brought out on the backs of mules over mountain trails, as there were no roads to this community at that time. Here is the dance photo that accompanied the masks. According to Manuel Antonio Castañeda, the dancer wearing the green Morion headdress and the apron of bells is Narciso Iturbide Charo himself. Later I will show you his mask.

Continue Reading →

In the last three posts I have provided a comprehensive overview of the Santiagueros dance. Today I will focus on Santiaguero and Pilato masks by a single carver, Narciso Iturbide Charo, of San Antonio Rayón, Puebla. In an older post that compared decorative (meaning invented, non-traditional, and falsely presented) masks with somewhat similar masks that are traditional and authentic, I included one of the three-faced Santiaguero masks that was carved by Narciso (see my post of August 25, 2014). Those three-faced masks will be the subject of next week’s post.

Narciso Iturbide Charo was born on August 6, 1921 and died on March 18, 1996, at the age of 74. He lived and worked in the mountain town of San Antonio Rayón, Puebla. He not only carved masks for La Danza de los Santiagueros, but he also performed as one of the dancers. His friend and fellow carver, Manuel Antonio Castañeda, whom you met in last week’s post, was a musician for those dances; he played the flute. Narciso’s carving style was highly distinctive, so that after I saw masks of his that had been preserved by one of his sons I was able to reliably identify many others that had been undocumented. It helped that Narciso had developed his own ear design, a practice that was frequent among his generation of carvers.

An unusual aspect of Narciso’s masks had to do with their size or scale. One finds two populations of Santiaguero masks by this carver, one group of oversized masks and another group that are closer to the size of most Santiaguero masks by other carvers from this region. The three-faced masks that will appear next week are of the larger size.

I will begin with the pair of over-sized Santiaguero masks by this carver that I purchased in 1987, just as I was beginning to collect Mexican masks. I didn’t learn that Narciso was their carver until about 20 years later.

This mask measures 13½ inches in height,  8inches wide, and 4¾ inches in depth. The toothy grin is a prominent feature of the masks by this carver.

Continue Reading →