Copyright
© Candice Hughes 2004
The carnival dances of Tlaxcala are some of Mexico’s most flamboyant.
They are performed in scores of villages scattered across this tiny, central
state on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Like many
Mexican traditions, they have their roots in the pre-Hispanic past. Although
Mexico’s Spanish conquerors banned many pagan practices, vestiges survived
to blend with new, European customs. Tlaxcala’s carnival dances, with
their echoes of ancient communal festivals, are a vivid example. The dances
one sees today date back to the 17th and 18th centuries, the era of the
great haciendas owned by wealthy Spanish landowners. The dances, with their
elaborate costumes and striking masks, were the common person’s chance
to mock the fair-skinned rich, their alien customs, their music and their
lavish lifestyles. One of the most spectacular dances is “Los Charros.”
The masked dancers wear immense hats adorned with huge feathered plumes
and sequined capes. They crack long whips as they prance and caper to rustic
tunes.
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