Tarahumara footage
odd: label: Local Number
content: HSFA 1982.10.2
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Zingg, Robert M. (Robert Mowry), 1900-1957
setName: label: See more items in
content: Robert M. Zingg films of the Huichol and Tarahumara
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Film reel (20 minutes, black-and-white silent; 503 feet)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1933
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Footage shot by anthropologist Robert Zingg in the Sierra Madre of northern Mexico of the Tarahumara (or Raramuri), most probably during Easter Week ceremonies. The syncretic rituals, dances, and costumes depicted in this "fiesta" reflect the legacy of the Tarahumara mission system as it developed under the authority of Spanish Jesuits and Franciscans during the 17th and 18th century. During Holy Week, the central theme of the Tarahumara fiesta is the conflict between God and the Devil and the necessity of restoring balance in the world. The Tarahumara are divided into soldalities as "Pharisees", allies of the Devil, and Captains or Soldiers, the allies of God. Much of what appears in Zingg's film document requires analysis in terms of this cosmological opposition. This ethnographic document opens with two lines of male dancers assembled on a patio outside of a native church. Dressed in long capes and crowns, they are seen performing a "matachin" dance accompanied by violin players. Shots of a man with a rattle intoning a praise chant (probably a "tutuburi") are followed by a procession of Pharisees and Soldiers circumambulating and entering the church. The former are identified either by hats adorned with plumed turkey feathers or white earth used to decorate their bodies or faces. Young boys (apparently being initiated as Pharisees), are shown having their bodies ; with white earth and being led in a dance by an adult sponsor. A second group of dancers is seen performing a "Pharisee dance" characterized by high skipping steps. Communicants are then seen filing into the church and following a processional route through archways constructed of leaves and saplings. Concludes with shots of a Tarahumara running game and various subsistence and craft activities. ; Footage shot among the Tarahumara (or Raramuri) of Samachique and other sites of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Chihuahua, northern Mexico, in association with Wendell Bennett. Documentation includes a mix of daily year-round activities and rituals held during Easter week. The former includes: man with children dancing a pascole, tutuburi (a man with rattle intoning a chant), various craft activities, making maguay beer, and the pre-Columbian running game known as rarajipa. Easter week footage includes the syncretic rituals, dances, and costumes which reflect the legacy of the Tarahumara mission system as it developed under the authority of Spanish Jesuits and Franciscans during the 17th and 18th century. These ritual activities reflect a cosmological opposition between God and his allies, the "soldiers," and the Devil and his allies, the "Pharisees." Tarahumara are seen performing a matachin dance accompanied by violin players and drummers, young boys are shown having their bodies painted as part of the process of being taught how to dance--then performing a Pharisee dance, and communicants are shown filing into a native church and then following an Easter week processional route. Included are shots of yoking an ox and plowing, planting and harvesting corn, making maguey beer, spinning wool and weaving, and pottery making.