The festivities that arose in Veracruz during the viceregal period probably began from the year 1521, when the ancient city of Mexico-Tenochtitlán fell into the power of Hernán Cortés's troops, a fact that began the conquest and subsequent colonization of Mexico.
At that time, a particular phenomenon occurs in Veracruz, as in other regions of the "New World", in which three cultures converge: the Spanish, brought by the conquerors and colonizers from Spain, the African, introduced by the slaves brought from the continent. African, and the autochthonous of the original or indigenous peoples.
In this period there was a combination of elements from the three cultures in almost all known areas, such as food, music, popular entertainment, clothing, and even religion.
Religious celebrations
At the time of the viceroyalty, the church resorts to the theater as a means of evangelization. This missionary tradition continues to manifest itself in Holy Week with the Passion of Christ, and with the Pastorelas at Christmas.
The cult of the Saints and the Virgin became patronal celebrations such as the celebration of the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe and La Virgen de Zapopan, which were of great importance and popularity.
To this must be added the aforementioned religious festivals of Holy Week, Easter and even other perhaps more pagan celebrations, such as the Day of the Dead.
One of the most assimilated festivities has undoubtedly been that of the Patron Saints in each town and region of Veracruz.
The celebration of Corpus Christi, the Holy Cross, the Nativity of Christ and even the very Spanish celebration of Three Kings Day came from this time and were imposed among the most popular celebrations.
In the particular case of the Holy Week festivities with the representation of the Passion of Christ, the inhabitants of Veracruz made this a very solemn celebration to which they devoted many weeks and even months to its preparation and representation.
For this they invested a lot of time in rehearsal days until late at night, which even lasted until the next day.
Despite the opposition of the rulers and the church of the time, the indigenous peoples in many cases imposed their religious customs over the traditional ones of the Christian faith.
This happened most frequently in smaller towns and far from large cities.
Influences on music
The musical manifestations that were influenced by the Spanish, indigenous and African cultures, gave shape to the later typical Mexican music, with the different variants and accents that are found in every corner of Veracruz.
Popular celebrations
Another example of a festivity is the popular “cockfights”, a tradition from Spain that was deeply rooted in the customs of Veracruz that were instituted during the Viceroyalty.
In the Viceregal period, both in Veracruz and in almost all of Mexico different festivities and celebrations taken from the indigenous people were assimilated, such as the very autochthonous representation of the Danza de los Voladores de Papantla.
Other popular celebrations were theatrical performances, traditional games, competitions such as horse races, simulation of naval or historical battles, and the very popular bullfights.
As can be seen, the celebrations that arose in Veracruz differ in almost no way from those that took place in the rest of Mexico and even in much of Latin America in the times of the Viceroyalty.
References
- Veracruz (pseudonym). (without date). References of the article "Folklore and Style of Veracruz". Recovered from ourveracruz veracruz.blogspot.com
- hemisphericinstitute.org. (without date). References of the article "RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL AND POPULAR CULTURE". Recovered from hemisphericinstitute.org.
- Gengiskanhg (pseudonym). (February 13, 2005). References of the article "Veracruz". Recovered from es.wikipedia.org.
- Rodriguez, J. (undated). References to the article "Festivities of Veracruz…". Recovered from es.scribd.com.
Vazquez M., M. (undated). Reference of the article "Cortesanas Fiestas". Recovered from hemisphericinstitute.org.