Luis Miguel Mendoza Lopez: Another animal represented in San Andrés Tzicuilan´s festivity is the mysterious snake. At first, we have to remember that God Quetzalcoatl in the Pre-Hispanic past of Mexico was a feathered serpent. The meaning of Quetzalcoatl is Quetzal that means beauty and coatl which means snake and it represents duality such as good and bad, day and night, black and white, the sun and the moon, fire and water and so on. For that reason, Quetzalcoatl was a main god in Mesoamerican culture. In fact, snakes are respected in the everyday life in Tzicuilan. If you are kind with a viper it also treats you right and it will never bite you, that means that a well-treated snake can take care of your land. The respect rises when people believe the rattle of a viper can heal health of people; furthermore, the bell can be used as an amulet for good luck. On the other hand, a viper can be used to make someone witchcraft and cause death. Indeed, the tradition says snakes could bite if negrito´s dancers do not fulfill their promise to discharge the hornpipe for seven years consecutively. That´s why, every person who decide to enter the group, has to keep the promise at the expense of whatever. Before the holidays, the Teniente[2] visits the house of each dancer to invite them to participate and make sure they attend. Entire families make an effort to make nobody miss the vow; as an illustration, they cooperate to prepare the raiment, the shoes or the hat. Anything can happen except missing the presentation of the Negritos as an offering to the viper. Every end of the year, at the courtyard of the main temple in San Andrés Tzicuilan, the representation of a snake is brought to be killed in an interesting ritual. The Legend says: “a gang of people brought from Africa were crossing the Totonacapan[3], as the crew leader saw a snake, it did not let them pass by its territory. Consecutively, this snake bites him and the others had to remedy him. As a consequence, they offered a dance to it and teas to the leader until he was relieved. This is the story of the ritual and is presented and re-presented annually in one of the most important vent in the community life. All in all, remember Quetzalcoatl was a feathered snake decorated with Quetzal feathers; that is why, the Quetzales and voladores –flyer men as birds- are another so important dance in this little town. saulmirandaramos.blogspot.mx/2013/01/animals-as-center-of-festivity-in-san.html
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 22:06:51 +0000
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