the tastuan ritual combines past and present decked in a fine sombrero and red velvet cape leads tastuanes back to the village after church in Juchipila Tastuanes' veneration of Santo Santiago has its roots in 9th-century Spain when the apostle's mythical support of Christian Spaniards' war to expel the Muslim Moors was memorialized in dance “Beneath the religious story, there’s this origin story, and it’s very painful,” says Ramiro Durán Rentería a photojournalist who captured these images of tastuanes in a pueblo only forty minutes from his hometown in Zacatecas became a tool to assimilate the defeated indigenous people: Incorporating aspects of the Caxcanes’ culture into the Catholic festival drove home the message that indigeneity was the “evil” defeated by the “holy” Spaniards the three-day principal ceremony plays out a mix of theatrical dances “When the icon of Santo Santiago first comes out from the church and all of us dancers are there waiting—you feel a different energy,” says dancer and tastuan expert Ismael García Ávila to let out animal noises from behind the mask.” The official Catholic feast day, July 25, sees tastuanes reenact the battle that ended the Mixtón War in which a Spanish army and their Aztecan allies defeated the Caxcanes Mounted on a jingling horse in his red cape and sombrero Santiago wields his sword and wooden cross to represent the Spaniards’ victory—first martial then religious—over the penitent tastuanes whose resistance ends by “paying” the saint with a promise of Christian piety where tastuanes try to steal Santiago's cross as the saint fends them off with a sword The mock violence recalls the very real violence of conquest: “We’ve never accepted what [the Spanish] told us “They said they were the saviors—not at all.” The profane festival of July 26 takes a different tone two tastuanes dress as chinanas—male dancers who wear women’s clothing—and cavort through the streets kissing each crowd member and fighting each other But the other tastuanes—the chinanas’ symbolic children—chase and beat the “elders,” stripping them of their feminine clothing to recall the humiliation suffered by the vanquished Caxcanes It’s just one complicated aspect of a ceremony whose layers of meaning remain unknown even to the dancers, says Durán. [Meet the men who literally dance with scissors.] The ritual itself has a difficult and dangerous duality though women don’t take part: Their role is limited to costume-making as the rigor of being ritually stripped of their clothing (an act so violent that chinanas often sustain real injuries) is considered inappropriate for their gender And though the figure of the tastuan is intrinsically indigenous they’re sometimes interpreted by dancers of mixed descent criollos who don native identities while in wider society native culture is disdained and native languages die out “Santo Santiago isn’t a figure free from contradiction,” says Durán “[The allegory of the tastuanes] continues to be a hypocritical discourse But it’s still a hugely moving manifestation for me For all its thorny implications and hidden meanings the tastuan dance remains a powerful symbol of the region’s culture Tastuanes return from Juchipila's parish church Though the ritual changes from town to town For Durán, the experience was unforgettable. “I forgot time,” he says. “It didn’t matter. There was a sensation of love for what you do, because in doing it you feel all your emotions, all your senses; you feel included in something. Although you’re walking and sweating, you feel serene.” Indigenous elements are present in the ritual's narrative—where Spanish conquistadors defeat the resisting Caxcanes—as well as the pre-Columbian rhythms and movements of the dance itself Dancer Ignacio Reynoso Jiménez puts on his tastuan attire Tastuanes help each other fasten their masks Both masks and costumes vary from town to town; here Tastuanes escort the idol of Santo Santiago from the church of Moyahua Carbon dating revealed that the icon's white horse is over 500 years old brought from Spain's own medieval Santiago venerations; the figure of the saint himself was added later in Michoacán One of the ritual's more complicated aspects is the representation of the indigenous tastuanes as \"evil,\" \"bad,\" or \"animalistic,\" a legacy of Spaniards' use of the dance as an assimilation tactic Young performers gather at La Estrellita Marinera Tastuanes who succeed in stealing Santiago's cross in the corredero can exchange it for a bottle of tequila—for which Santiago will later have to pay Left: Preparations for the July celebration last throughout the year While captains direct the tastuanes' rehearsals Right: A dancer helps another don his mask tastuan dancers are men: The intensely physical sometimes violent ritual is considered inappropriate for women This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page After 15 years of exploration and restoration work the Zacatecas archaeological site Las Ventanas will finally open on August 2 the site was occupied by the Caxcán people from about 100 AD until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century Archaeologists from the National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH) uncovered nine structures during their long exploration of Las Ventanas The name comes from the window-like openings in the stone structures Archaeologists also identified 25 hillocks of varying sizes and shapes which provide evidence that the site was used for religious ceremonies Las Ventanas was scheduled to open towards the end of the previous government’s term but only now is ready to receive visitors Juchipila Mayor Rafael Jiménez told the newspaper Milenio that the inauguration of the site will be the culmination of a years-long dream Restoring the site and preparing it for opening “has been a very big effort,” Jiménez said adding that around 150 people per day are expected to visit The increase in tourism to the municipality located around 130 kilometers northeast of Guadalajara in the south of Zacatecas will provide a boost for the local economy “It’s good luck for us that despite budget cuts we’ve managed to open it The three levels of government will collaborate for the operation [of the site] and security of the area,” Jiménez said an INAH archeologist who led the restoration project between 2012 and 2014 said the region where Las Ventanas is located was conquered later than other parts of the country there was an indigenous uprising that developed into the famous Mixtón war between 1541 and 1542 which is an elevated point with pre-Hispanic structures they [the Caxcán people] entrenched themselves to resist Santos added that excavations at the site uncovered the graves of children “That means that they preferred to sacrifice their children rather than have them fall into the hands of the Spanish,” he said The INAH archaeologist agreed with the Juchipila mayor that the opening of Las Ventanas will boost tourism “It’s a region that needs it because for a long time it’s been under the control of drug cartels The archaeological zone will definitely create a lot of jobs and the peace we all want will resume,” Santos said Las Ventanas will be the newest addition to an archaeological tourism route in Zacatecas Other pre-Hispanic sites in the northern state include the recently-opened Cerro del Teúl Source: Milenio (sp)  ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC is set to unveil the largest statue of Jesus Christ in Latin America the monument will be officially inaugurated on the Cerrito de la Fe on Sunday the colossal figure — named Christ of Peace — will be even larger than the iconic Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) in Rio de Janeiro beating out Brazil’s landmark by a single meter Other giant statues of Christ in Mexico include a 28-meter statue in Aguascalientes a 23-meter statue in Tijuana and a 22-meter statue in Torreón While the statue of Christ the Protector in the town of Encantado claims the title of tallest Jesus statue in the Americas it is standing on top of a significant pedestal The new statue in Zacatecas achieves its full 31 meters without any help at all of the Juchipila Canyon region and of the entire state of Zacatecas,” Tabasco’s mayor Gil Martínez said as he officially led the lighting of the new scenic illuminations at the foot of the statue there will also be a concert by the Zacatecas Symphony Orchestra While the unveiling of the Christ of Peace is making headlines this isn’t Zacatecas’ first enormous religious effigy: in 2019 a 6-meter statue of the baby Jesus was installed in the nearby town of Zóquite With reports from Milenio