Tarascan masked dancers, "owner" (left) and "watcher" (right), at the Octava of Corpus Christi; June 8, 1945.
The burlesquing of this day and the preparation of most details of the celebration are the work of the Tarascans from La Vuelta. Basically the activities form a rite designed to ensure bountiful harvests. . . . Through the milpa [field] stalks the velador, the watcher, face hidden behind a grinning wooden mask, wearing a battered straw hat, a long black overcoat, boots, and carrying an ancient muzzle loader. In the milpa are hidden a stuffed opossum and a stuffed fox. With elaborate motions the watcher pours powder into his musket, rams home the wad, and then carefully stalks around the edge looking for the animals. He sights one, falls to his stomach, aims carefully, fires, runs through the stalks and gleefully seizes the opossum by the tail, much to the amusement of the Mestizo onlookers. Meanwhile, a large group of dancers circles the milpa. First comes a masked figure of imposing size and great dignity, a baton of command in his hand. He is the owner of the field. Then follows his "wife," a man wearing a dress and further disguised by a straw hat and a rebozo drawn over his head and face. Finally come a dozen girls of all sizes in indigenous costume, the children of the couple. They dance with a slow jogging step, revolving in place periodically. All show great joy. The milpa is nearly ripe, the crop is good, and the velador has successfully protected the maize from the predations of animal pests (1948).
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