Mojiganga

The mojiganga, originally, was a farce represented with typical masks and costumes at public festivals rooted in carnival. It consisted of a short text in verse, of a comic-burlesque and musical nature, which acquired the rank of a minor dramatic genre of the Spanish Golden Age. In the corrales de comedias, the mojigangas were parades of actors who danced in costumes to the sound of uproarious music. Thus the show ended.

Mojiganga de Zacualpan de Amilpas (Mexico)

Zacualpan Mojiganga 051

Types

There are two basic types: the paratheatrical, more popular and carnival-inspired, sometimes with the intervention of actors characterized as animals, and the dramatic mojigangas. Within these types, in turn, can be differentiated:

• paratheatral mojigangas without argument
• paratheatral mojigangas with argument
• dramatic mojigangas for Carnival
• dramatic mojiganga for Lent
• dramatic mojigangas for Corpus
• dramatic mojigangas for Christmas
• Dramatic mojigangas for regias parties

Historical evolution

It has been proposed that the term mojiganga originates from the boxiganga or the bojiganga companies of the traveling theater of the 16th and 17th centuries (one of the eight which Agustín de Rojas Villandrando lists in his book The Entertaining Journey). Thus, the so-called mojiganga entremesada was, from the mid-17th century, the short dramatic piece par excellence. Among the cultivators of the genre, the following stood out: Pedro Calderón de la Barca (La mojiganga de las visionas de la muerte), Juan Vélez (Mojiganga de las figuras), Simón Aguado (Mojiganga de las niñas de la Rollona), Vicente Suárez de Deza, Francisco Monteser, Alonso de Ayala and Manuel de León Marchante, among others. Francisco de Quevedo and Pedro de Quirós also cultivated the genus.

Continuity of the mojiganga in Spain

Even in the 21st century, a model of mojiganga is preserved, a mixture of dance, religious celebration and ethnographic treasure in some towns in the Valencian Community. We must mention those of Titaguas and Algemesí, both in the province of Valencia, street shows also called muixeranga, with music, dances, traditional costumes and human castles, in a group called "Ball de Valencians".

Likewise, in the town of Graus in Huesca, a Mojiganga is performed on September 13.

Mojiganga in Latin America

In Latin America, the use of the term "mojiganga" in 1637, referring to a street dance during carnivals. In it, the mime was more important than the word, and it was carried out by actors who imitated animals.

Chroniclers such as Fray Bartolomé de las Casas referred to the mojiganga as part of the missionary theater, with an evangelizing objective.^{[citation required]}

Mexico

In Mexico, in Zacualpan de Amilpas, state of Morelos, a mojiganga is celebrated every year with costumed troupes, allegorical or religious floats and, on occasions, giant danceables. The tradition of the big wind bands is very strong in the state, and a large number of bands are always present at the festivities. It takes place on the last Sunday of September, as part of the festivities in honor of the Virgen del Rosario.^{[citation required]}

Also in San Andrés Tuxtla (Veracruz) the mojiganga is celebrated on November 28 and 29, for which figures made of cane and lined with paper are created that run through the main streets of the town with music, celebrating the patron saint Saint Andrew the Apostle. They are also celebrated on December 7, 8 and 12.^{[citation required]}

In Catemaco Veracruz, to close the year in a fun way, there is also the tradition of doing this dance (mojiganga) with groups of people dressed as animals or other characters such as the devil or the calaca, to dance in the streets to the rhythm of the marimba

The same thing happens in Tehuixtla, Morelos, on the first Sunday of October, and it is in this city where the tradition dates back more than four hundred years.^{[citation required]}

In San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, there is also a group of mojigangas dedicated to participating in the fairs and carnivals of the Los Altos de Jalisco region, in San Juan de Los Lagos, Jalostotitlán, Lagos de Moreno and Tepatitlán de Morelos.^{[citation required]}

In the city of San Miguel de Allende, in the state of Guanajuato, the use of mojigangas is a tradition; They can be seen walking daily through the streets of the town. Likewise, they are seen dancing next to the band, the student or rondallas during the popular callejoneadas.

It is also a tradition in San Miguel de Allende that the bride and groom, one day before their wedding, organize a walk through the streets of the city, alleyway style, with mojigangas that liven up the celebration. They are joined by the guests and everyone who passes by and likes to join the party. Red wine and other similar beverages are distributed.^{[citation needed]}

In another municipality in the state of Guanajuato called Jerécuaro, they also liven up their patron saint festivities by beginning the celebration of the novena (Rosario) and at the end of it, in addition to being accompanied by people from the town who dress up with masks and absurd clothes ridiculous, the celebration with the mojigangas is done during the night illuminated with tufts of fire. The costumed participants walk the streets of the municipality accompanied by a local wind band and followed by people who like to watch.

In Jerécuaro the mojigangas take place twice a year, once in September as an anniversary celebration and in December for the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the mojigangas in the municipality of Jerécuaro Guanajuato is a tradition where all the people gathers to dance, laugh and have fun to the beat of music and ridiculous dances.

Zacatecas, for its part, also maintains this tradition in southeastern towns such as Pedregoso in Pinos and El Lobo in Loreto.

Panama

In Panama, mojigangas and parrampanes participate in Corpus Christi celebrations in the Azuero region. They do not have representation characteristics with parliament, since they consist of a satirical criticism in the form of dances. They are not considered a dance; rather, it is a group of masked dancers who represent characters from the common life of the town: the Mayor, the Town Priest, a married couple, etc. The mojigangas represent female characters, and the parrampanes male characters, who are accompanied with a type of drum called the cortacacho, the whistle atravesaso or the accordion. This demonstration is the only one that does not enter the church at Corpus Christi Mass, because it is considered unworthy and vulgar.^{[citation required]}