150 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



were reasons why the carguero felt it would be 

 politic to ask five different families.) The 

 viejos were mostly young men, but married men 

 participated in this dance. They wore vestido 

 de cattin, "city dress," including a long black 

 overcoat for preference, a felt hat with a colored 

 ribbon for the hat band and artificial flowers 

 attached, a muffler, a handkerchief about the 

 head, shoes, and a v/ell-made white wooden 

 mask with black or golden beard, the features 

 being very Earopean. 



The kings also wore masks; one was white, 

 one rose-colored, and one black (one of the 

 images of the Three Kings is also black). 

 They also wore a long white wig surmounted 

 by a crown, each one dift'erent; a long, inten- 

 tionally ragged cape of colored material (really 

 a smock in 1940) ; petticoats or trousers of 

 rayon with cotton trousers underneath; rose- 

 colored cotton stockings; and shoes (although 

 they could wear hiiaraches or sandals). The 

 kings merely sit or stand and do not dance. 

 The shepherdesses are dressed in the same 

 fashion as those for the negrito dance. 



The dancers provide their own costumes. 

 The cost of a viejo costume is as follows : 



Mask ($1.50 to 2.50, rent; 



$5, purchase) $ 2.50 



Hat 2.00 



Overcoat 3.00 



Pants and vest 2.50 



Muffler 1.50 



Incarehe (hat band?) .50 



Flowers 1.50 



Shoes $6.00-$10.00 



Shirt 5.00 



Necktie 50 



Total (with shoes, $25-$29) .$19.00 



All the items listed above are for rent except 

 the shirt, which is purchased. If the dancer 

 had no shoes, he normally bought a pair. 



The local masks are expensive and are I'e- 

 garded as inferior. Those from Sevina and 

 Cheranastico are said to be cheaper and better. 

 The masks of the kings in 1940 were inferior 

 local products; good masks had been ordered 

 from Sevina but did not arrive in time. 



The early part of the dance is really a recita- 

 tion. The viejos form in two files, each with a 

 shepherdess at each end (two at one end in 

 1940), with the three kings facing the files at 



one end. First spoke a letra (in 1940 Agustin 

 Rangel, assistant in the study), who gave an 

 introduction (see below) , walking up and down 

 between the files and describing the events of 

 the birth of Christ and the Three Kings. Then 

 all made a circuit (fig. 17). After this, every- 

 one (except the Three Kings but including the 

 shepherdesses) stepped between the lines in 



© 



a 



V 



/ 



'h \ \ 





/ 

 I 



s 



\ 



\ 



n) 



c 



Figure 17. — Dance of the Eiiropeos, showing various 

 dance figures, a, Basic position at start of dance 

 and in which all figures end. h, Circling movement. 

 c, Movements of paired dancers, executed by each 

 pair in turn, reversing the figure to return to their 

 original position. P indicates the pastorcs; the 

 numerals indicate the Three Kings. 



