Tastoanes

My Scholarship entry - Tastoanes

Mexico | Monday, November 24, 2014 | 5 photos

Photography allows me to bring the world(s) I see to the people I care about. It helps me to tell stories of places and people and communicate inbetween cultures and worlds in a common language.

Pictures create emotions. Pictures let our imagination travel. Pictures preserve history and incorporate it into the present.

I want to continue exploring the world with my eyes and continue using the eye of my camera as means to get in contact with people and nature. I want to learn how to improve my visual storytelling. Peru could be the next step.

This entry is about traditional festivities in Zactecas in Mexico. Boys and men of the villages return home from their working places to dress up as "Tastoanes" and fight a Spanish conquerer on his white horse. This festivity dates back to the historical fight of Santo Santiago against the indigenous population of which some was not fought of but hid and returned to later fight back. The name "Tastoanes" derives from the Nahuatl language and was mispronounced by the Spanish resulting in that name for the indigenous. To date the festivites commemorate history, but furthermore create an opportunity for the village to celebrate, gather and enjoy themselves.