The Danza de los Tastoanes, an intriguing spectacle that weaves together history, legend, age-old tradition and contemporary folk art, comes to Ajijic Sunday, February 22 for an extraordinary free presentation sponsored by the Instituto de la Artesania Jalisciense.
The event will feature ritual dancers from Tonala performing a dazzling representation of the mythical battle between Spanish Conquistadores and indigenous tribes of west-central Mexico who rose up against military and spiritual subjugation.
The program opens with a parade of the Axkakemah company of Tastoan warriors and Santo Santiago (Saint James the Apostle), starting out at noon from the corner of Guadalupe Victoria and Marcos Castellanos, just above the village church, continuing east to the grounds of the Casa de Artesanias craft store located next to the Auditorio de la Ribera.
Once there, master Tastoan mask-maker Jesus Delgado will offer an introduction to the meaning, key characters and different aspects of the ritual dance. It will be followed by sequences of the gathering of the warriors; the ceremony of asking permission from the four cardinal points and calling of the tribes; recitation of th
e traditional dialogues of the four warriors; the main battle scene between the Tastoanes and Santo Santiago, leader of the Spanish forces; the slaughter and submission of the Tastoanes; a poem dedicated to the Tastoanes; and finally, reverence to the monarch Cihualpilli and the resuscitation of the evangelized warriors.
Legend of the Conquest
The Spanish Conquest has inspired diverse ritual dances in different regions of Mexico. The Danza de los Tastoanes, associated with the July 25 feast of Santo Santiago, is a version that is unique to communities in the states of Jalisco and Zacatecas.
According to legend, Nuño de Guzman, the blood-thirsty governor of Nueva Galicia, commanded an army of 300 Spanish soldiers who arrived on March 25, 1530 to vanquish Tonallan, the native realm governed by female ruler Cihualpilli. While the monarch embraced the Spaniards and their Christian faith, fierce Caxcan tribesmen rebelled against the foreign incursion, forcing the enemy into battle. The native warriors held the advantage in the fight until sword-wielding Santo Santiago and his magnificent white stallion miraculously appeared on the battle field.
Santo Santiago, the mythological Moor-Slayer who helped the Spaniards drive Muslim rulers out of the Iberian peninsula, was adopted as the spiritual patron of the Conquistadores in their mission to eradicate pagan beliefs and practices in the New World.
The bizarre masks worn by Tastoan dancers symbolize their heathen way of life. Crafted on a facial form made of leather, wood or clay, they are shaped to look like phantasmagoric monsters, painted in garish colors and embellished with grotesque decorative details such as snakes, spiders, real cattle teeth, scars and pock marks, topped off with unkempt mops of hair made out of horse hair, cow tails or ixtle fiber extracted from maguey cacti.
In conjunction with the Sunday performance, a selection of Tastoan masks created by Tonala’s leading craftsmen will be put on display at the local Casa de Artesanias.