MATACHINES OR MATLACHINES

This post began while watching the festivities surrounding “el dia de conquista” in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The Aztec dancers were the centre of attraction as noted in a previous post , but there were two groups of dancers who seemed to be attached to churches outside the city of San Miguel and their banners declared them as dancers celebrating the conquest. Later in the day I happened to see one of these groups getting on their bus and noted the sign on the back of the bus stating that they were “Matlachines”. So who are the Matlachines?

To complicate matters dance groups referred to as Matlachines are called Matachines in nothern Mexico and the southern USA where they have been heavily studied. According to Max Harris the term matachines appeared in Italy prior to the conquest of New Spain were it referred to groups of entertainers performing acrobatic acts and dance. If this is so, the term may have been brought to Mexico by the Spanish but the dance the term refers to was originally a form of the dance of the Moors and Christians, a dance of conquest and conversion. However, shortly after the Spanish conquest they took Aztec dancers to Spain and perhaps it was there that they took on the name of Matachines. The sequence of events and the naming are difficult to understand clearly. The Moors are apparent in current dances in New Mexico among pueblo Indians but the primary roles are a young girl playing Malinche and a man playing Motecuzoma, the Aztec emperor (there are also two men dressed as women referred to as “abuelas” (grandmothers) but playing a role similar to that of clowns). Malinche is commonly known as the mistress of Cortes who played a role in the Spanish conquest through her work as interpreter. But in this dance Malinche is the wife or daughter of Motecuzoma. According to Harris the term Malinche may well be a version of Maria (Mary, mother of Jesus) in the native language and her role is to encourage Motecuzoma to convert to Christianity and to return from the dead to reconquer the country. In this reading the dance is one of subversion and driving out the foreigners who are represented by a toro who in the end is castrated. In all of the dances I believe the majority of the dancers represent soldiers, but not Spanish soldiers. They represent Aztec soldiers or native soldiers and they represent the possibility of reconquest.
In the Pueblo Indian communities that dance makes no reference to Christianity or to conversion but it entirely focused on resistance against the foreigner, in this case the Mexicans who now share their land. Although the same dance is performed in Mexican communities the focus is much more on Christianity and conversion with little or no elements of subversion. While this may be true I am unclear as to why the Mexican communities would not be more like the Pueblo Indian communities - they have both suffered conquest, intrusion and dominance and the loss of an earlier heritage. Why would the Mexicans so innocently accept their conversion? Harris himself shows that in other dances the Mexican communities do show subversion and resistance.

In Central Mexico the dance is referred to as “Matlachines” and again according to Harris this name appears in a pre-conquest Aztec combat dance celebrating their victory over a group called Matlatzinca. One can image that it was easy for the Spanish to attach their dances of defeat of the Moors on to a dance like this and for some people to retain the original name.
Now back to what I did see. In San Miguel both groups of Matlachines wore feathered headresses which looked like they were using feather dusters as the materials. Their faces were uncovered and they wore beaded clothing, making them look quite “Indian”. The dance was clearly a half conquest dance although there were elements of combat. The 12-15 dancers arranged themselves in two lines and did some weaving in and out and moving in two elipses with each line returning to its original position. They each carried machetes in one dance and performed a mock battle at times. I saw no evidence of other role players however. The second group did not use machetes but carried a small bow and arrow in one hand and a rattle in the other. Their banners identified their home church, an image of Guadalupe as well as a statement about the day of conquest.

I have seen other dances which reveal some similar elements. In Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacan, on the return of the black Jesus images from a long pilgrimage the “Arqueros” perform for the fiesta. These dances have large Indian headresses sewn onto their capes, carry small bows and arrows, small crowns with coloured feathers and dance in a very rapid and highly choreographed fashion. While there are leaders for each line of dancers there do not seem to be other roles, except perhaps for young boys dressed as skeletons or devils playing the role of entertainer or crowd control. A friend also showed videos taken in La Penita on the west coast at a festival for St. Patrick in which there were lines of dancers dressed like Indians, with a different group coming from surrounding communities each day. I have also seen a group of performers engaged as entertainers in brightly coloured costumes including bright feathered headress and matching tunics and skirt with long pieces of plastic bead hanging from the edges of clothing.
Unfortunately the Matachines dances of New Mexico have more thoroughly studied that those in central Mexico where, according to Harris, the dance began before traveling north.

DANZAS AZTECAS

For the second time in three years we visited San Miguel de Allende for the dance of the conquest (el dia de conquista) which features about 200 hundred Aztec dancers and a few Matlachines. This is the only Aztec dance that I have actually seen (although a small group dances annually in Patzcuaro and I have seen 3-4 dancers in Cucucho. Historically earlier, and of more interest, are those dances depicting the conquest of the Aztecs by Cortez and the Spanish as well as a similar dances referred to as the Malinches or Matlachines performed as often in southwest USA as in Mexico, la danza de los Moros and Cristianos and la danza de la pluma. This group of dances depict combat and conquest and with role playing there is a great deal of room for symbolism and hidden messages. Max Harris provides some exceptional examples of acts of resistance in these dances and I will return to this in a subsequent post. However, more often the Aztecs, Matachines and Moros have been lifted from these combat dances and perform on their own at events honouring a patron saint or celebrations of conquest. These dances with only one side participating so to speak are referred to as “media conquista” (half conquest). One wonders how these groups became isolated from the larger dance and I at least speculate that the church had some influence on this as the full dances often carried an undertone of resistance to the conquest, even after 500 years. What has puzzled me in watching the “media conquista” dances is the celebration of Christian conquest of Mexico. But, if one sees this against the full dance, although seldom performed in most parts of the nation, there is the possibility that in the minds of the dancers they are presenting a tribal view of the world as well as the “hidden transcripts” which are implied by the full dance. The past rector of the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City was born in Quiroga, Michoacan and for at least 5 years returned to participate in the dance of the Moors (the half dance) on the day of the town’s patron Saint. His account is of interest: he returned each year because he saw the dance as a way to bridge the conflict between the Indian part of the community and the mestizo part. This would seem to be an excellent occasion for the Indian community to show resistance but if there is any it is not apparent, perhaps drowned out by the shear number of participants or by respect for the rector. Also, one can imagine that it is the mestizo community that organizes events and occupies important positions.

Now, however, let’s turn briefly to the Aztecas. Harris distinguishes between Los Aztecas and Los Concheros along class lines - the Concheros typically being dancers of a lower class and putting the concha shell (actually in the form of a guitar made from the shell of an armadillo) more at the centre of the dance. Los Aztecs by contrast are more middle class and give no significance to the concha and place the drum at the centre of the dance. Los Aztecas can be found on almost any day in the Zocalo of Mexico City where drumming goes on for hours and people dance with or without costume. The costumes consist of men in loin cloths and vests and with enough feathers in their head gear to frighten birds for miles. All fabrics are embroidered with what one immediately imagines as Aztec designs. They wear small bells on their feet and to the deafening rhythm of the drums dance for hours at a time. Although billed as el dia de conquista, what is really going on here?

Max Harris provides some useful insights based on his observations of the dance in Mexico City.
“The danzas aztecas are self-conscious attempts, as many participants told me, to revive ‘the dances of our [Aztec] ancestors’. They are far from authentic. .. The urban mestizo’s ideas abut his Aztec ancestors are culled as much from popular films, posters, newspapers, and magazines - and from Hollywood representations of Native Americans - as they are from the ancient codices and subsequent scholarship. To put it unkindly, the danzas aztecas resemble a cross between a Plains Indians powwow and the gaudy fantasies of a Las Vegas costume designer. The performers are not living tradition bearers but escapees from the alienation of daily routine to a world of ‘invented ethnicity’”. (Carnival and other Christian Festivals. 2003: 54-55)


Unkind indeed, but Harris goes further. Commenting on the fact that the danzas aztecas take up much performance space and make a great deal of noise, they attract large audiences and drown out the indigenous dancers often present at public events. He says the following:
Urban Mexican contempt for the cultural products of unsophisticated rural Indians marginalized real Indians in the name of a romantic, middle-class vision of Mexico’s indigenous past. ... In the danzas aztecas, urban mestizos defiantly assert the value of a native heritage they despise in the flesh of their Indian neighbors. (2003:55)

This is rather blunt but after being a witness to a large scale dance, I believe there are elements of truth in his claims. Many of the dancers carry a very obvious urban “paunch” and one worries about their health during the vigorous dancing. Further, the smaller groups of dancers who look more “indian” are relegated to small corners of the pubic plaza.

Please see my post for February 2012 in which I re-describe the Aztec dance for an improved interpretation.  Click here for my most recent words on this.