{"id":11072,"date":"2017-11-27T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/?p=11072"},"modified":"2017-11-27T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T13:19:08","slug":"perro-masks-from-cuanajo-michoacan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/?p=11072","title":{"rendered":"Perro Masks From Cuanajo, Michoacan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, in my continuing series of posts about dance masks from the Mexican state of Michoac\u00e1n, I will present Perro<\/em> (dog) masks from Cuanajo, a Pur\u00e9pecha town near Patzcuaro, Michoac\u00e1n. In that town there was a local tradition in the mid-20th century of dancers wearing dog masks during Carnaval<\/em> (Mardi Gras). This was apparently a custom that later died out, because contemporary YouTube\u2122 videos of Carnaval there don’t seem to reveal any dancers portraying dogs. In her book, Tigers, Devils, and the Dance of Life: Masks of Mexico (1999, page 88),<\/em> Barbara Mauldin included a photo of two of these Perro<\/em> masks from Cuanajo that date to about 1965. I will show you three more from my collection.<\/p>\n

I purchased this mask and the next from Robin and Barbara Cleaver, of Santa Fe, in 1987. Indeed, these were among my very first Mexican masks.<\/p>\n

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A distinctive design aspect of the Cuanajo dogs is their ears. These three also have virtually the same dimensions.<\/p>\n

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There is greater variation in the design of their eyes.<\/p>\n

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The right side of the mouth is broken.<\/p>\n

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This mask is 10 inches tall, 6 inches wide, and 3\u00bd inches deep.<\/p>\n

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The back is heavily stained from use.<\/p>\n

Here is the second Perro that I purchased in 1987.<\/p>\n

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This one had split in two and was glued back together.<\/p>\n

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The wooden teeth give this dog a mean expression.<\/p>\n

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This mask is 9 inches tall, 6 inches wide, and 3\u00bd inches deep.<\/p>\n

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On an ancient piece of masking tape are these words\u2014”Perros\/ Cuanajo\/Mich.). This mask was lightly danced. When this mask was split or shattered, the chin was not fully repaired.<\/p>\n

With these two masks displayed on the walls of my house, I quickly recognized the next mask when it was offered without provenance\u00a0 on EBay\u2122 in 2003\u2014another Perro from Cuanajo, Michoac\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

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There is so much to like about this vivid mask. I really admire the striped eyes and the toothy mouth.<\/p>\n

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This mask is 9 inches tall, 6\u00bd inches wide, and 3\u00bc inches deep.<\/p>\n

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This mask too is heavily stained from use.<\/p>\n

I hope that you enjoyed seeing these now uncommon masks. Next week I will shift from Michoac\u00e1n back to Guanajuato, to resume discussion of the Torito dance. While today’s post was brief, next week’s will be lengthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, in my continuing series of posts about dance masks from the Mexican state of Michoac\u00e1n, I will present Perro (dog) masks from Cuanajo, a Pur\u00e9pecha town near Patzcuaro, Michoac\u00e1n. In that town there was a local tradition in the … Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11072"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11346,"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11072\/revisions\/11346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexicandancemasks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}