Located in the northern highlands of Oaxaca, in the district of Ixtlán de Juárez and three hours from the state capital, is the town known as Saint Paul Macuiltianguis, birthplace of the original dance of the Torito Serrano and that has gained notoriety by interpreting this traditional dance in the Guelaguetza.
First of all, Macuiltianguis comes from the Nahuatl meaning five markets, because in the past the site served as a supply center for various populations in the region. Although the exact date of its foundation is unknown, it is speculated that the community was created between the years 1450 and 1500 of our era.
Currently, the town has less than 500 inhabitants and the majority speak the Zapotec language. In addition, as its name indicates, the patron saint of the town is Saint Paul the Apostle and every January 25 a festival is organized in his honor.
Origin of the Torito Serrano dance
The story goes that This typical dance has been practiced since Colonial times, promoted by a priest as a way of motivating the reluctant parishioners of the time to visit the church.
Today, the dance is performed with pride by the Macuiltianguenses delegation that attends the Guelaguetza festival in the state capital.
The simulation of a bullfight
The dance has a certain mischief because represents a bullfight in which the man plays the role of the bullfighter, while the woman acts with the ferocity of the wild bull and simulates goring her dance partner with her head.
As for the music, it is divided into three parts: introduction, the syrup and the bull. In the first part the dancers appear on stage, led by a young man holding the painted figure of a bull on a woven palm cover held up by sticks.
The women wear white dresses embroidered with colored flowers; The men also dress in white, they wear a black sash and hat, a red scarf around their necks and another hanging for the end of the dance.
After the introduction, the syrup is performed, in which the women wave their dresses and the men dance with their hands behind their backs. In the final stretch, the dancers begin to provoke their partners with the red scarf and the women begin with the goring, seeking (and achieving) that some stumble.
Finally, the dance is also performed in the town of San Pablo Macuiltianguis at the end of the local religious festivities; when a child dies and on the last day of the carnival.