Tetepilco: Another "Lost Island"
We have been exploring the original indigenous villages that existed in what is now the Valley of Mexico when the Spanish arrived five hundred years ago and which continue to exist today as pueblos, within the City of Mexico. One of many themes that has emerged is that, as the Valley was filled with a chain of five lakes, a number of these still-existing pueblos were, like the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan itself, originally located on islands. (See our page: City of Lost Islands.)
Most of these villages were on a chain of islands that ran from north to south in a large bay that formed the southwest corner of Lake Texcoco, the central and largest of the lakes. We have already visited a number of these "lost island" villages. In this post, we visit another, San Andrés Tetepilco.
 |
The Valley of Mexico (then called Anahuac by its Nahua residents)
about 1519, at the Time of the Arrival of the Spanish. Tenochtitlán, the Mexica/Azteca capital, lay in the middle of a chain of islands in the southwest bay of Lake Texcoco. (Click on any photo to enlarge.) |
 |
| The island of Teteopilco (now Pueblo Tetepilco) lay near the south end of the bay of Lake Texcoco, just off-shore from the Peninsula of Iztapalapa |
Like all the other island villages and all those that were on the mainland, Tetepilco now lies immersed in the urban sea of the city, indistinguishable from any of hundreds of working-class and lower-middle-class neighborhoods. It is now just one of 199 colonias and pueblos in the very large Delegación (now Alcaldía) Iztapalapa, which contains nearly two million people.
Feast of San Andrés: Celebrating Tetepilco
But Tetepilco, assigned the patron saint, San Andrés — St. Andrew, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus — by Franciscan monks in the 16th century, still tenaciously holds onto its ancient identity as a village, and a community, and it does so, as do the other original villages in the city, via the church founded by those monks and the celebration of its patron saint fiesta, along with other fiestas of the Catholic liturgical year.
San Andrés' feast day is November 30. So on the Sunday of the closest weekend, the biggest day of such fiestas, which this year is December 2, we head off to San Andrés Tetepilco. As it is located in the northwest corner of Iztapalapa, it is not far from our base in Delegación Coyoacán, just up the Calzada de Tlalpan highway, originally the Mexica causeway south across the lake, and a short distance east of it. Via our usual taxi chauffeur, we arrive easily, spotting the food puestos (stalls) and juegos mechanicos (fair rides) that inevitably accompany fiestas, filling the avenue in front of the church.
We find our way through the puestos to the entrance to the church atrio (atrium), enclosed, as usual, by a wall, setting the interior space apart from the everyday world around it. The atrio is a tree-filled space, making it a park-like island of tranquility amidst the urban bullicio (hubbub).
Fiesta of Many Parts
However, as the fiesta is in full swing, the atrio is today, by no means, a tranquil space. A center walkway leads to the church. Two other walks, near the sides, further divide the space. Entering, we find each of the three walks filled with a comparsa, a dance group that performs at fiestas, which gives the atrio more of the feeling of a three-ring circus than a quiet park.
 |
| In one aisle is a comparsa, a troop of chinelos, the "disguised ones," in their Moorish-style robes and headdresses. |
 |
| Comparsas of Conchero Azteca Danzantes occupy two other walkways. We have presented the long and fascinating history of these dance groups in our post: Traditional Indigenous Dancers: Concheros and Danzantes Aztecas |
Santiagüeros, Warriors of St. James
Meanwhile, a fourth drama is being enacted in the open space directly in front of the church. It is los Santiagüeros, the Warriors of St. James. The apostle of Jesus, James, is believed to have come to the Iberian Peninsula in the mid-first century CE, from Jewish Judea at the other end of the Mediterranean, both part of the Roman Empire, to preach the Christian faith. Returning to Judea, he was martyred. Some eight hundred years later, he is believed to have appeared on a white horse in the midst of a battle between Iberian Christians and Islamic Moors and helped the Christians win. He became known as Santiago Matamoros, St. James, the Moor Slayer, and is the patron saint of Spain.
 |
| Los Santiagüeros Warriors of Santiago, St. James. The conflict ends, of course, with the submission of the Moors to the Christian God. |
Catholic monks brought the story to Nueva España and had it enacted by the indigenous as a means of demonstrating the victory of Christianity over what they considered pagan religions. Los Santiagüeros maintain the tradition of this re-enactment. We have seen them at other fiestas and wrote about the complete drama they performed at a fiesta we previously attended in Delegación Xochimilco: Santa María Tepepan: Drama of the Christians vs. the Pagans.
Preparing to Honor San Andrés
 |
| In the center walkway, the components of the procession begin to take form. The anda, platform, will carry San Andrés through the streets of his pueblo. The banners represent the various comparsas of danzantes participating. The first is from Pueblo Santa Cruz Ayotuxco, in the State of Mexico in the Sierra de las Cruces, just west of the city. |
 |
| Church of San Andrés Tetepilco with its fiesta portada An image of San Andrés stands at the top. The sign says, "Good fortune, San Andrés¨ This salutation is meant as much for the Pueblo as for its patron saint. |
 |
| The Conchero Azteca Danzantes enter the church to pay homage to San Andrés and the Sacred Power. The winged saint, upper left, is the Archangel San Miguel, St. Michael. We saw this same comparsa at the Fiesta of San Francisco in Delegacion Coyoacán in early October. |
 |
| Chancel of the Sanctuary San Andrés has been removed from behind the altar to be placed on his anda for the procession. |
Leaving the sanctuary, the two conchero groups then raise two large crosses at the sides of the atrio, joining a third, already in place. This is a briefer version of the ritual of The Veneration of the Three Crosses which we witnessed at the Fiesta of San Francisco.
Exceptional Danzantes
All this time, we have heard drumming coming from the street alongside the church — obviously originating from yet another comparsa of Azteca danzantes. So we go out a side entrance into the street.
 |
| This is one of the largest, and most elaborately dressed Azteca dance groups we have seen at a fiesta in Mexico City. From the mother of one of the children dancing, we learn they are la Danza Azteca Coyolxauhqui, from the Pueblo of San Andrés. They are under the direction of the Martínez brothers. |
 |
| Also, they are dancing around, obviously in honor of, an image we have not seen before. El Niño Jesús, the Infant Jesus, attired as an Azteca conchero (lute-playing dancer), in what was the original conchero white tunic. Yet none of these dancers are playing conchos. They are dancing only to the indigenous beat of drums and rattles. This is, to us, another, mysterious variation on such danzantes. |
 |
| Multiple drummers provide a deafening beat. |
 |
| Drummer, the only one in traditional Azteca dress. |
 |
| Many of the headdresses are exceptional works of art. Artwork of feathers is an ancient indigenous tradition. |
| ||
The Procession Begins
Suddenly, around the corner, from the front of the atrio, comes the procession.
 |
| San Andrés, St. Andrew leads the way. |
 |
| Two of the crosses follow |
 |
| Then the comparsas of Azteca danzantes |
 |
| Lastly, a gigantic Toro, Bull Toritos, "little bulls", wire frames with a bull's head and horns, carried by one person, are common in Mexican fiestas, but we have never seen one anywhere near this size or this realistic. Fireworks are attached to the frame around his sides and will be set off later, at the evening's pyrotechnic display, which will include a "castillo" castle tower, the sine qua non climax of every fiesta. |
 |
| Taking a break and looking on |
 |
| Just folks |
So the patron saint fiesta of San Andrés Tetepilco has more than plenty of the requisite fiesta components: chinelos and three comparsas of Azteca dancers (including one with the most elaborate and beautiful feather headdresses we have ever seen), Santiagüeros, a procession through the pueblo's streets. It has its Mass and will have the pyrotechnic quema de castillo after dark. Thus, it shows the commitment of the many original pueblos within Mexico City to their history and traditions, a history and traditions that go back to the time when Tetepilco was an island in a lake, Texcoco, that unlike the pueblo, didn't survive the onslaught of Mexico City.
 |
| Delegación/Alcaldía Iztapalapa is large, light green area on the mid-east side of Mexico City. |
 |
| Delegcion/Alcaldía Iztapalapa's Pueblos and Colonias. Pueblo San Andrés Tetepilco is in the northwest corner (yellow area to left of blue/purple star). |
 |
Current locations of
island pueblos north of former Iztapalapa Peninsula.
created when Lake Texcoco was drained, in order to enable trade from Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco to Centro. Pueblo San Andrés Tetepilco
is the yellow area marked by the blue/purple star, center-left.
East of Tetepilco are former island pueblos of
Nextipac (green/yellow star),
Atlazolpa (purple/orange star) and
West of Tetepilco are the former islands pueblos of
Huitzliopocho (now Churubusco) yellow/purple star)
North of Tepetilco are the former island pueblos of:
Iztacalco (yellow/red star),
Zacatlamanco (purple/green star)
Mixhuca (green/green star) and
Tultengo (red/yellow star), which formed the southern end of Tenochtitlan
To the south of Tetepilco are the main pueblos
that were on the west end of the Iztapalapa Peninsula:
Mexicaltzingo (mustard/yellow star),
was at Peninsula's western point, or possibly, an island just offshore.
Iztapalapa (red/orange star), east of Mexicaltzingo, was
another altepetl, built by the Mexica at the south end of the
dike they constructed in the 1430s.
Culhuacán (blue star, red area at bottom of the map)
is the oldest altepetl on the west end of the Peninsula. |
No comments:
Post a Comment