Danza de los tecuanes

**Abstract** **"DANZA DE LOS TECUANES"**
*Óscar Cortés Palma. PACMYC, México, 2015. 234 pp.*

This book constitutes the most comprehensive ethnographic and historical study to date of the *tecuán* — a comic dance-theater tradition in which elderly, masked characters hunt a jaguar — as practiced across the indigenous and mestizo communities of south-central Mexico. Supported by the PACMYC, the work draws on of fieldwork, archival research, and the author's own participation in the tradition, documenting 187 performances across more than 170 towns in the states of Morelos, Guerrero, Puebla, Oaxaca, Estado de México, and Michoacán, with additional references to analogous traditions in El Salvador and among Mexican migrant communities in the United States.

The central argument of the book is that the *tecuán* and its regional variants — known variously as *tlacololeros*, *tlaminques*, *chilolos*, *tejorones*, *lobitos*, and *tigre y venado* — are not survivals of pre-Hispanic ritual, but rather popular theatrical forms (*sainetes*) that emerged in the nineteenth century, following Mexican Independence, from a single lost original script written by a Nahuatl-speaking author. Cortés Palma identifies forty shared traits across all variants, including comic elderly characters, parallel dance formations, the use of a reed flute and small drum, hunting props such as an antique flintlock musket and a decoy deer or bull, and bilingual dialogue mixing Spanish and Nahuatl in a hybrid vernacular the author terms *nahuañol*. The persistence of this linguistic blend is presented as evidence that the tradition took shape during the transitional period when indigenous communities were shifting from Nahuatl to Spanish, and when post-Independence hacienda culture provided the social imagery — ranch owners, foremen, trackers, and hunters — that structures the comic plots.

Bilingual transcriptions of *libretos* (scripts) in Nahuatl and Spanish are provided throughout, preserving and making accessible texts that have been transmitted orally and are at risk of disappearing. The scripts reveal a rich tradition of popular humor rooted in social satire: the stock characters mock the authority of the landowner, negotiate wages in comic exchanges, and ultimately triumph over the wild jaguar — a narrative that the author reads as a symbolic inversion of colonial and post-colonial social hierarchies.

The study also situates the *tecuán* within the broader history of Mexican popular performance, tracing its relationship to other nineteenth-century comic dances such as the *vaqueritos* and the *chinelos*, and contrasting it with earlier evangelizing dances of the colonial period (*moros y cristianos*, *danza de conquista*). The author further addresses the ecological dimension of the jaguar as a culturally significant animal now threatened by habitat loss and poaching, underscoring the urgency of documenting these intangible heritage expressions.

*Tecuán* makes an original contribution to the fields of ethnomusicology, indigenous studies, performance studies, and Mexican cultural history, offering both a rigorous scholarly analysis and a practical archival resource for the communities that keep this living tradition alive.

**Keywords:** Tecuán, jaguar dance, indigenous theater, *sainete*, Nahuatl, *nahuañol*, intangible cultural heritage, Morelos, Guerrero, Mexico, popular performance, nineteenth century.

-Introducción. Danza comedia de los tecuanes 
En los límites entre los estados de México, Morelos, Guerrero y Puebla se 
baila tradicionalmente en las fiestas de religiosidad popular, una danza 
teatral, cómica, alegre y festiva en donde se escenifica la persecución, 
cacería, muerte y repartición de un Jaguar llamado “Tecuani”. Esta danza- 
teatral se llama danza comedia del tecuán y en esta danza los danzantes 
además de bailar, escenifican una obra teatral cómica en donde el guión 
central es la lucha humano-Jaguar. 
Esta danza ha trascendido fronteras al grado que los migrantes de estas 
comunidades en EUA y en el DF, las continúan realizando. 
La palabra “tecuan” o “tecuani” o “tecuane” significa literalmente “alguien 
que come” pero también tiene otras acepciones: “fiera”, “temible animal 
de uña”, “jaguar", "puma", "tigre”, “lobo” o “león”. 
No hay que olvidar que además de la danza comedia de los tecuanes 
existen otras danzas en el país, en las que interviene un personaje 
disfrazado de jaguar, éstas son: 
1.- Danza comedia de los tlacololeros (Guerrero) 
2.- Danza de los tigres de Zoogocho (Oaxaca) 
3.- Danza comedia de los tlaminques (Guerrero) 
4.- Danza del Pochó (Tenosique, Tabasco) 
5.- Danza del Calalá (Suchiapa, Chiapas) 
6.- Peleas de tigres (Guerrero) 
7.- Porrazo de tigres (Guerrero) 
8.- Danza comedia de los lobitos o Tecuanis (Estado de Mèxico) 
9.- Danza de los maizos (Guerrero) 
10.-Danza comedia de los tejorones (Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca) 
11.-Danza comedia de los chilolos (Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca) 
12.-Danza de los liceres (Tuxpan, Veracruz) 
13.-Danza del Tigrillo (Mata del Tigre, municipio de Tantoyuca, Veracruz)

Español: Esta nueva versión del libro “Danza comedia de los tecuanes” incluye 86 páginas adicionales con fotografías y texto complementario, alcanzando un total de 345 páginas. El estudio analiza la tradición festiva y teatral de los tecuanes y sus variantes regionales en México, mostrando su evolución histórica y su importancia como patrimonio cultural.

English: This new version of the book “Comedy Dance of the Tecuanes” includes 86 additional pages with photographs and complementary text, reaching a total of 345 pages. The study examines the festive and theatrical tradition of the Tecuanes and its regional variants in Mexico, highlighting their historical evolution and importance as cultural heritage.