JANUARY 1 CIRCUMCISION

For two years we have gone to Purepecha villages to witness celebration and dancing. One might think this is just a celebration of the New Year but for the Purepecha the new year begins on February 1, their calendar being set by the motions of Orion. Also, there are often images of Santo Niño on this day. This is perhaps understandable since the day is close to Christmas but it doesn’t really make sense.
A little research uncovered two things that might makemore sense of the celebrations on this day. First, according to Jewish tradition baby boys are circumcised 8 days after birth. If you count December 25, this means Jesus was circumcised on Jan. 1. So what is the deal? Catholics were encouraged to see this circumcision in a non-Jewish framework so saw this drawing of blood as the first indication of the crucifixion and the blood shed to save each of us. In addition, this day was when Jesus would have received his name - the first day he was called Jesus. Until 1960 this day was part of the Catholic calendar but has been removed and replaced with another celebration. The indigenous peoples of Mexico, however, may have hung on to this earlier tradition as it had become linked to fiestas and dances.

Or, here is another take: I have been reading further writings of Max Harris on the “feast of Fools”, a much misunderstood festival present in the medieval Catholic church and silenced by later religious authorities. The event was part of a sequence of nativity festivals and occurred on December 28 (the festival of innocents, what we are now told is similar to April fools day). This festival involved an element of revelry and practices which can easily be misinterpreted as pagan or inappropriate. For example, the ass was welcomed into the church, there was cross-dressing even among the clergy, the lower clergy played the parts of the higher clergy, and so on. Harris reinterprets these events within a religious (rather than pagan) framework and begins with the observation that all religious drama should be seen as having the intent of making the invisible incarnate. Complex theological narratives were made clear through theater, drama, and performance and the feast of fools was just another of these dramas. He then reminds us of one of the most peculiar aspects of the Christian narrative - Jesus was born in a manger among the animals and his mother was carried to her delivery by an ass. Further, the first to be told of the birth were the shepherds and the animal world. In short, Christianity is presented as beginning with the lowly and the humble and not the kings or religious authorities. The feast of fools appears to celebrate this aspect of the Christian narrative. Finally, the bible tells us that the world will be turned upside down - the lowly shall inherit the earth, etc. This is what we see in the cross-dressing and the lower clergy acting above their station and so on - things are turned upside down.

Now, although this festival was discontinued 500 years ago and it is not clear from Harris if the festival also occurred in Spain, one does wonder if the festival in Michoacan on January 1 are remnants of this festival of fools. The cross dressing on January 1, for example, would make sense in this context.

LOS NEGRITOS, OR THE BLACK DANCERS

I have already talked a little about the dance of the negritos and the importance of the negrito in the Purépecha culture. Now I am going to describe the negritos of San Lorenzo. This dance is described in some depth by Essler (1988) and you might want to read that as well.
The dance occurs on January 1 and is primarily about the transfer of care of the image of baby Jesus to a new carguero. The cargueros not only care for the image but they must organize the dance and transfer responsibility in the next year. For this reason it is perhaps the biggest event in the community and being associated with the image and the black dancers appears to bring status to community members. The dance itself is substantial with perhaps 50 male dancers with masks and costumes and a few women without masks but in fine clothing and hats of rancheras. The smallest contingent of dancers were the maranguillas ( who I believe represent Mary) wearing pink masks that were very feminine and included earrings and a few short ribbons hanging part way down their backs. They also wore bright skirts and wide brimmed hats with four artificial tulips standing on top. The next group of dancers continue to confuse me. Essler claims these dancers were viejitos but the masks were pink and very feminine, some had earrings and had finely embroidered aprons that looked a little like skirts and all if not most wore blond wigs. All wore cowboy boots and jeans and carried something which looked like a short whip. All had a few colourful ribbons attached to their heads which came a short ways down their back. Perhaps all of these dancers were maranguillas. There was one dancer who wore a mask that may have represented a viejito with a mustache but the mask gave no indication of old age. These two groups were the first to appear and performed a very typical two step and on occasion danced with members of the audience. This was clearly the preliminary act.

The negritos arrived to great fanfare. They wore beautiful black masks with flowers on top of their head and colorful ribbons hanging from the head almost to the ground. They wore traditional white pants and shirts. There were only five or six of these dancers and it was obvious that they were important from the crowd, almost entirely mature men, that pushed around them. These dancers made only a brief appearance in the courtyard before everyone took to the street to begin the procession through town. Although the negritos lead the procession they were not at first visible perhaps having withdrawn to a house until the procession arrived there. The other dancers were second in the procession followed by young women in beautiful traditional clothing carrying nine alters (four women to each alter) with images of the Virgin surrounded by flowers. These were followed by community members.

When the negritos appeared at the head of the procession it was clear they were honored, not only because one of them carried the baby Jesus but because they were in direct contact with the cargueros. The negritos carried a bottle of tequilla and a basket of sweets as gifts for the carguero. The negritos had linked arms with what I took to be the chief carguero as he carried a wand representing his authority (perhaps this was this the new carguero). Another carguero was always in front giving instructions on how to make the procession and the day the best possible (was this the old carguero?). To increase the number of negritos in the procession perhaps, two or three of the other dancers put on black masks in order to be close the cargueros.

Once the procession returned to the courtyard the negritos again were absent, arriving sometime later to great fanfare. As they had through out the procession the negritos clapped their hands rhythmically as if imitating a version of African rhythm. Upon entering , continuing to be surrounds by mature men, the negritos gathered in the centre of the yard where they appeared to have a contest of rapid dancing, usually in sets of two. On occasion the carguero would invite another dancer into the group but they donned a black mask before taking on the challenge of dancing with the negritos.

A wonderful introduction to the negritos in Purépecha culture but leaving a lot mystery as to what was really happening.