The Origin of The Zancudos
Saint Peter's Story
The story goes that close to 100 years ago, an apparition of Saint Peter appeared before a man in a small village of Zaachila. He asked the man to build a church in his name, to which he refused.
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This continued to happen, until some villagers and the man captured the apparition and locked him in the church, with guards outside of it. The next day they went to check on him, however he was gone. Later that day Saint Peter appeared again, telling the same man that God had sent him to help his village.
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Saint Peter told them that they must prepare to dance on stilts in pairs, on the day of the Feast of Saint Peter. The villagers did so, and after they found heaps of food waiting for them and a picture of Saint Peter's apparition.
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La Danza de los Zancudos
The Meaning of the Phrase
The phrase "La Danza de los Zancudos", translates to The Dance of the Stilts in English. In Spanish, the word zancudo can mean either "mosquito" or "long legged". This is the reason that the word for stilts in Spanish, is zancos, which is another reason for the name of the dance.
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The dance itself usually includes at least 10 dancers, each of them grouping up in pairs to dance together. The dancers will continue to dance for incredibly long times, sometimes as long as an entire day, switching out with one another as the day progresses.
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One thing that is interesting regarding the dance group, is that there are no women dancers allowed within the group. However, women are allowed to participate by joining the chinas Oaxaqueñas, which is the rhythm group for the dancers. Because no women are allowed, male dancers will wear masks that hide their face and will "act the role of the woman dancer", and try to cover themselves so that people cannot see who it is under the mask. An example of this can be seen in the picture to the left.
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