The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-01-30
- AMERICAN FESTIVAL.
A CENT?

aying the little settlement at Tarifa
.le party had the novel experience of assis-
aft festival of unusual interest. Senior Ma
|aeo. being the owner Of the summit lands, comes
frasn Oaxaca once year to brand the cattle, and
che inhabitants make the occasion fete day
Early in the morning men hunt the cattle in the
woods and drive them into large Enclosure. Then
selecting from the herd the largest bull, the
herdsman on swift horse dashes after it, and at
full speed filings the lasso, which fails to coil
itself about the horns of the animal. The horse Is
blindfolded, butts taught to turn half round as
soon as he feels the lasso thrown from his riders
hand. He then stifens his hind legs puts out his
neck and gets ready for tie jerk, which throws the
bull to the ground, for end of the lasso is at
tached to the horses tall After the cloud of DUST
caused by the chase clears away, the bull is seen
madly trying to get loose. moment after and
he is dragged to the corral. In this way twenty
or thirty herdsmen will soon fill q large corral
With animals of all sizes and descriptions. At
dark, on the same day, chants and the Litany of
the Virgin ere sung by the people, kneelng
around the large cresa, in the square formed by
the few houses at Tarifa.
The same evening, delegation waited on Senior
Macheo, the women bearing banners and crowns
of flow ers, and after arranging themselves In a
semicrcle, their spokesman made a speech. Gross
ing himself hurriedly, he said in rather confused
style, that he was convinced that it was his duty
to love God and the Virgin, then his master, and
to say his prayers, but after these duties were
well done, nothing made a man feel better than a
fandango with the pretty maidens. Permission
Yves granted, and man was Immediately sent to
a neighboring town for band of music. The
women then presented their wild flowers, and
placed garlands on the heads of their master and
his guests, departing Immediately afterwards to
dance till morning. ....... .....-
On the next day, a delegation of natives pre-
ceded by the band, came with an invitation to
witness the branding. According to custom, one
of their number was supposed to be a prisoner
whom his friends weEe to liherate. The men and
women stood in a semicircle before the hut, The
spokesman then brought forward thehandsomest
man Ct their number, an athlete, entirely naked,
his body painted blue and red to initiate wounds,
while his limbs were bound with cords. After
exhibiting him, his friends united his legs, and he
passed about an old hat for aims to defray the ex
penses of the journey home which he was sup
posed to be about to make. The procession Their
formed, Senior Macheo and the strangers occupy
ing the place of honor, and ali marched to the
corral where a platform was erected, covered
with paIm-leaves, and already crowded will
squaws.
Rockets, terpedoes and the Mexican nationa
hymn begin the sport. Then men with bundles
of dry grass ir hand, and making peculiar noise
with their lips, leap inside the inclosure. Two o
them seize a bull by the horns a third by the tail
The red-hot branding iron is then handed TO
to a fourth man, who lifts bis hat and gives thu
first hurrah "Long live my master, the seno
Don Julian Macheo :" The crowd yells in reply
S,Que Viva - and simultaneously the tail i
ierked The horns twisted, and the hull is downsant
marked IN twinkling with the sign here shown
Thisjs the brand-mark used by Cortes, who orig
lnally owned these lands.
The next animal is branded, and some othe
person is cheered and so on to the end of tn
chapter In the evening there is a regular Mexican
fandango. Their dances are called Bolero, Torito
and Zandunga, the dancers singing couplets
which they often improvise.
An Indian invites his partner to dance. by put
ting his hat upon her head. Ifshe accepts, sh
stands up, and the young man addresses her il
fantastic language. One sfthese improvised song
may be freely translated as follows -
II am the golden fish,
Swimming in the lake OF sadness,
The dart OF your killing eyes
Has changed my sight TO blindness
The girl replies
I've seen that fish before,
His sudden blindness feigning,
But ali his end obtaining
Swims off to come no more"
Scfibner'8 for February.