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Mam (Lucas) Mask

TITLE: Mam (Lucas) Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Baja Verapaz
ETHNICITY: Mayan (Achí)
DESCRIPTION: Mam (Old Man) Mask of Lucas
CATALOG #: LAGT010
MAKER: Juan Chen Ordóñez (Rabinal, 1926-2017)
CEREMONY: Baile de los Costeños (Baile del Costeño)
AGE: 1990
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: dyed agave fiber hair; oil-based paint

Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, has numerous masked folk dances. Among them is the Baile del Costeño, sometimes called the Baile de los Costeños (Dance of the Coastal People), which is an early colonial dance-drama. The dance usually has 12 characters, divided into four buyers have come inland to exchange cocoa for cattle (maxeños, or cargadores), and six sellers of cattle, who are cowboys. The buyers are Cristóbal (the boss), Pablo (1st buyer, in a red mask), Ratón (2nd buyer, in a black mask), Mundo (3rd buyer). The vaqueros are Pascual (the boss), Tomás, Gaspar, Juan, Lucas (Mam, in a red mask with whiskers), and El Torito. Except for Lucas, the vaqueros wear flesh-colored masks with blue chins and gold eyebrows. There are also three more characters: La Panchita (wife of Lucas), El Torito, and El Miquito.  Several of these names are evocative of comical characteristics of the dances. Ratón means “Mouse,” Mundo means World, La Panchita means “The Little Stomach.” The dancers are accompanied by music from three marimba players.

In the drama, the sellers arrive in Rabinal during a holiday to unload their cattle for cocoa. They bring with them a beautiful woman, La Panchita, who is the wife of Lucas (represented by this mask), an old man. The cowboys have brought with them a little bull (El Torito) and the buyers have a little monkey (El Miquito), and together they have a mock bullfight for fun. Meanwhile, La Panchita has prepared food for the group, and soon the buyers, who have become drunk, start bothering La Panchita. Lucas then fights them off with a whip (chilío). Nonetheless, La Panchita shows some favor to the third buyer (Mundo), who has the group’s money. The dance ends when the leaders of each group, Cristóbal and Pascual, bargain to exchange the cocoa and cattle (symbolized by El Torito). The bull is branded by the buyers, and then they return to having a bullfight. At this point, they tell the story they have enacted in speeches, and then take their leave of the marimba players, thus ending the dance-drama. The whole proceeding takes about two to two-and-a-half hours.

For more on Guatemalan masks, see Jim Pieper, Guatemala’s Masks and Drama (University of New Mexico Press, 2006).

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Quiché Achí Mask

TITLE: Quiché Achí Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Baja Verapaz
ETHNICITY: Mayan (Achí)
DESCRIPTION: Quiché Achí Mask
CATALOG #: LAGT001
MAKER: Ezequiel Chen Zarpéc (Rabinal, 1950- )
CEREMONY: Xajoj Tun (Rabinal Achí)
AGE: 2021
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil-based paint; elastic straps

The Xajoj Tun (Dance of the Drum), also called the Rabinal Achí, is a dance-drama exclusive to Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. It is performed on January 17-26 every year during the patron saint holiday, and represents a story from pre-Catholic Mayan culture. It begins with a blessing on the dancers, masks, and musical instruments, followed by prayer to the ancestors and characters represented to ask for permission to perform the play. Prayers are also made at local churches. The drama is set in the Mayan Kaiyub’ fortress and relates the tale of a K’iché warrior captured and sentenced to death by the royal court. The play begins with the capture of a K’iché warrior (the Quiché Achí, represented by this mask), whose army has invaded Rabinaleb, by the Rabinal Achí. He is taken to the royal court, where he is sentenced to die as a sacrifice to the gods. The Rabinal Achí tells the prisoner he will be spared death if he prostrates himself, but the Quiché Achí refuses. He makes many requests, all of which are granted, but he also asks for 260 days and nights to say farewell to his K’iché homeland. He receives no response, but leaves anyway. When he returns, the Rabinal Achí ties him to a tree, and eagle and jaguar warriors dance around him and throw spears at him until he dies.

The drama is accompanied by music from two trumpets, a flute, and a wooden drum. In addition, three copper plates are struck at the end of each dialogue.  Nine days after the conclusion of the performance, another ceremony is performed at the house of the director, to give thanks.

For more on Guatemalan masks, see Jim Pieper, Guatemala’s Masks and Drama (University of New Mexico Press, 2006).

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Huehuecho Mask

TITLE: Huehuecho Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Baja Verapaz
ETHNICITY: Mayan (Achí)
DESCRIPTION: Huehuecho (Goiter) mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT012
MAKER: Ezequiel Chen Zarpéc (Rabinal, 1950- )
CEREMONY: Baile de los Huehuechos (Güegüechos)
AGE: 2021
MAIN MATERIAL: wood
OTHER MATERIALS: oil-based paint

The Baile de los Huehuechos (sometimes spelled Güegüechos) is one of several pre-Christian masked dances of the Rabinal region of Baja Verapaz, Guatemala. In the Achí dialect, a güegüecho is a goiter. The dance is also sometimes called the Danza de la Patzca (Dance of the Rags), and it is normally danced in Rabinal during the celebration of Corpus Christi. The dance originally was dedicated to the Mayan god of rain, Jun Toj, to guarantee the conditions for a good harvest. Its characters consist of four men with gigantic goiters (like this mask), four with small goiters carrying pilgrim staves, and a woman named Aj Muy. They frequently cry out “jakorik ka petn chic,” which in Achí means: “May the frost come to me.”

For more on Guatemalan masks, see Jim Pieper, Guatemala’s Masks and Drama (University of New Mexico Press, 2006).

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St. George Mask

TITLE: St. George Mask
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Guatemala
SUBREGION: Rabinal
ETHNICITY: Mayan
DESCRIPTION: San Jorge (St. George) mask
CATALOG ID: LAGT043
MAKER: Unknown maker in Rabinal
CEREMONY: Baile de San Jorge
AGE: early 20th century
MAIN MATERIAL: hardwood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint

This mask was used in the Baile de San Jorge, also known as the Baile de la Serpiente or Baile de la Sierpe, retelling the mythical battle of St. George against a dragon. The story orginates in 9th century Europe (with much older antecedents) and tells of a dragon that extorted tribute from villagers in Cappadocia (translocated in later stories to Libya). When the villagers ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving the dragon a human tribute once a year by lot. When a princess was chosen as the next offering. St. George rescued the princess and killed the dragon.

The dance has special meaning for the cultural conquest of the Mayan Empire by the Spanish Empire, because the “dragon” vanquished by St. George would have represented the Mayan feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl. By depicting a Catholic saint killing a dragon, the Spanish missionaries tried to convert a Mayan ritual into a vehicle for Catholic proselytization. This mask has been repainted several times due to wear to the paint.

For more on Guatemalan masks, see Jim Pieper, Guatemala’s Masks and Drama (University of New Mexico Press, 2006)

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