Abstract

MEDINA HERNANDEZ, Andrés  and  RIVAS CETINA, Francisco Javier. Bullfights at Eastern Maya Towns. An Etnographic Approach. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2010, vol.35, pp.131-162. ISSN 0185-2574.

In this essay we describe bullfighting among the Maya peoples in eastern Yucatan. The fundamental aim is to situate this festive expression in the context of the rituals that shape the patron feasts, so as to stress a central fact: the transformation of a feast of clear Iberian origin into a manifestation that is deeply intertwined with a world vision of Mesoamerican ancestry. An analytical axis corresponds to the notions of sacrifice that articulate the events inside the bullring with those more discrete, that take place within the homes of the leaders of the guilds. Here, sacrifice of turkeys and pigs constitute the basis of a ritual gastronomy. Another axis is the acknowledgement of symbolic space and time referents of Mesoamerican origin underlying, as a whole, the ritual compound in these peninsular Mayan celebrations.

Keywords : bullfighting; Peninsular Maya; Mayan ethnography; Patron feasts; community rituality.