Ambiguous expressions of indigenous pride

In the town of Todos Santos Cuchumatán lives a Mam community

Every November a big group of Jintes (manly horse back riders) celebrate what is called La Carrera. It is a 300 KM race around town on horses, in which, while insanely drunk and carrying a rooster in the hand, they try to balance themselves. On the night before,they have a ritual in preparation for the expected death of at least one of their fellow Jintes. They wear very elaborate and colorful costumes (big hats included)which you can view here if you scroll down.

They have been doing this for at least 300 years. The story goes back to the peak of colonial oppression from the Spanish. It was they who brought the horses to the western hemisphere. The belief was that indigenous people could not ride horses. The Mam proved them wrong. It is how they identify themselves. The act alone is something to behold. The only object is to survive and if possible stay atop the horse by the end of the race.

To me it´s another revealing example of a certain aspect of the compexities of a world-surviving-in-the-post-colonial-era. It is complex provided that we can see that the values with which many persons identify themselves in activities and things that come from Spain the conquistedores.

Generally, when a society has a culture through which it can celebrate itself in grand spectacles we view it as a healthy thing. A proud people entails a proud individual. It seems impossible not to view a people from the prism of an individual body, the word self esteem lingers, extending to the body of a group of people. The Jinetes say they do La Carrera for honor. Which is when the presence of self esteem goes without saying...or is honor only a glorified version of...it´s a literary prejudice of mine: honor is such an archaic word for a vanity that is not kept sufficiently inward. It´s not clear to me what significance La Carrera has to the participants, but from what has been read they seem to enjoy it.

My current spanish teacher and friend, Angel prefaced his introduction to them, which was a small article in the Quetzaltenango newspaper, by saying that there was huge support in Todos Santos for the old military regime. Obviously a machismo exists in large quantity. It should be noted that Angel is very bookish and perhaps even dovish. He has a very sober and cool temprament, but by the way the conversations start --he loves to talk about all sorts of things (Frankly he´s the first Guatemalan that has peaked my instincts for real friendship)-- he´s not unaware of the fact that we live in a world where sports is much more popular than art and academics. So the bias surrounding the story of the Jinetes should be taken into account.

Archelogical evidence does show that the Mam were quite the warriors. Interestingly enough, by the time the Spaniards settled in the area, the Mam were tamed and reduced in numbers by Catholic missionaries and not by violent invasion.

The idea of a slave beating his master at his own game is certainly appealing. The 2002 world cup comes to mind when Senegal defeated France. The Pakistani and indian cricket teams who occasionally give the Brits a whipping. And almost every sport in the US! The idea of a people celebrating itself by in this rough fashion, a couple fifths of rum in the tank on a rapid horse with arms flailing in the air amidst the screams of roosters, in and of itself is exciting to me. That it is a self conscious indigenous people requires some more background.

If you have not done so, click here to see the clothing. It is supposedly traditional. But according to Angel, there exists quite a lot of evidence that this clothing originated from Spain. There is no evidence indicating that the Mayans made or wore pants until after the arrival of the spaniards.

But what other people on earth dress like this today? And the clothing is distinct from the 21 other ethnic groups (they all are, it doesn´t take long to notice) In a manner of a few hundred years of habits, the Mam have distinguished themselves. All cultures reflect certain values. But where do those values come from? Are not the ways in which those values expressed merely incidental to the values themselves? If the only path on which a foreigner can verify those values is through viewing the persons when the express them, does it even matter that the horses and clothing came from Spain or that the happiness shown on the Jinetes´ faces after the ride has something to do with measuring up to the strength of the Spanish?

The perception on the part of us culture canibals is often amiss. We get too bogged down by the taxonomised epochs established by archiologists and historians and assume that one time period spells the end of everything that came before. A people´s culture still lives on simultaneously with its destruction. One only has too look at the present day rituals of many Mayans to see how much the spanish missionaries had to conform to Mayan beliefs to get any of their christy message across. The overall impression received is that what is esteemed aesthetically is not pure to a region or race, but highly mongrelized (Literature may be an exception in many parts of the world, but we should also consider the timeframe through which we´ve arrived at our current veranculars).

It is easy to point out the irony: that these people, the Mam are celebrating something that is contingent on the domination of the old way of life. What weighs more is that the old customs (whatever they were) are lost and can never be recovered. However, it seems more important that the individual be the measure rather than the more abitrary ethnic group or culture. This is an opinion indigenous to western civilization. It may have its drawbacks. But is the individual being served well in this (or any culture)?

There is not enough information yet to give a just assesment of La Carrera itself. There is broader issue of indigenous identity. Amidst the intense racism that still exists in this country, it would hard to make the following conclusion that is local to the assimilation animating US: that culture and ethnicity do not matter. The divisions, the poverty and illiteracy in Central America run so deep--what else is there to fill the void? The arts and the humanities are not funded. The business of professional sports, like the government, is filled with corruption. That leaves the church and the lifestyle models presented from abroad in a convenient store, television program near y...me.