Azteca Dancers #2
by John Bartosik
Title
Azteca Dancers #2
Artist
John Bartosik
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Two of hundreds of Azteca dancers commemorating the birth and death of the Aztec's last emperor Chuahtemoc at his birthplace in Ixcateopan, Guerrero, Mexico; during an annual pilgrimage. They come from afar to a remote mountain indigenous community with a population of 6000 with no hotels. Lasting several days in a few locations around the village square including the parish church (now a shrine) where Chauhtemoc's bones were exhumed and on display in the ossuary they pay homage with offerings of respect and honour while dancing the famous ritualized Conchero or Azteca dance. With hundreds of dancers, to the beat of several drums, their anckled bracelets of ayoyote seeds, the blowing of conch shells and the stomping of their feet in unison one can truly feel the energy vibrating in the ground and attached structures . A spellbinding phenomenom to witness the dance of so many in such elaborate costumes, is a multilayered phenomenon with both religious, cultural and political meanings. Cuauhtemoc has become a symbol of Mexican cultural identity and for many dancers who come here to celebrate, a symbol of their modern identity. Cuauhtémoc has become a symbol of ethnocultural identity, nationalism and resistance, and this place brings indigenous people from all over Mexico and other nations in the Americas to lay offerings, dance and sing in many different languages.
Uploaded
January 13th, 2022
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