The Yaqui Lenten ceremony of dancers — Fariseos, Chapayekas, Matachinis — is nearly 400 years old. Melding centuries-old Spanish Christian teachings and ancient Yaqui traditions, the tribe has re-enacted the Passion of Christ in song and dance for about 100 years in Tucson.
Rarely has the ceremony been captured on film or video. The Yaquis, who consider the Easter dance ceremony highly spiritual and significant, have not allowed the ceremony's reverence to be interfered with by outsiders.
The first known film was made in 1941-1942, by noted University of Arizona anthropologist Edward H. "Ned" Spicer, his wife, Rosamond "Roz" Spicer, and cinematographer E. Tad Nichols.
That film was lost in the university's archives, discovered and shown briefly in the late 1980s, only to disappear again. But the celebrated film, "Yaqui Easter," will be shown tonight at Pascua Neighborhood Center.
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The Easter film is a welcomed piece of her history — and of Tucson, said Rebecca Tapia, a Yaqui who was born next to Pascua and is the center's director.
It offers a window to a part of Tucson that has often been misunderstood and ignored. And just as important, the film gives the Yaquis a proud glimpse of their culture, said Tapia, who was born in Barrio Belen, immediately south of Pascua northwest of Downtown.
The film was converted to DVD by John Crouch, an American Indian film producer, formerly of the university and Tucson Unified School District. The Arizona Humanities Council funded the Yaqui Easter project.
The Yaquis, who call themselves Hiaki and Yoeme, came to Tucson in the late 1800s as political refugees from their traditional land in Southern Sonora. The Mexican government and allied land barons, coveting mineral-rich and fertile land, waged war on the Yaquis.
Thousands of Yaquis walked from Sonora to Arizona, establishing villages at Pascua, Barrio Libre in South Tucson, Marana and Guadalupe, south of Phoenix.
Pascua, Spanish for Easter, was officially named on Easter Sunday, 1921. In 1978 the U.S. government officially recognized the Yaquis as a tribe.
The 25-minute film, originally done in 16-millimeter and narrated by Ned Spicer, was made at Old Pascua, southwest of West Grant and North Oracle roads.
The Spicers had lived in Pascua for several years before making the film. They had learned the language and Yaqui ways. Spicer authored several books on the Yaquis of Arizona and Sonora, and other American Indians of the Southwest.
The traditional ceremony begins on Ash Wednesday and continues on successive Fridays. On Saturday before Palm Sunday, the dancing begins with the venerated Deer Dancer, wearing rattles on his waist and ankles, and the Pascolas, the old men who host the ceremony and fiesta.
The dancing intensifies during Holy Week with processions and re-enactment of the capture and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It culminates with an all-night ceremony on Holy Saturday and the Maypole dance of the Matachinis on Easter Sunday and Mass.
Although the film is given a straightforward academic treatment, it captures the Yaqui ceremony in a close, personal way.
Crouch credited Nichols, onetime head of the UA film library, for his cinematography technique and cultural sensitivity. At times, Nichols filmed the ceremony with his camera hidden under a hat, Crouch said.
The only other known film version of the Yaqui Easter dance are outtakes of a 1972 National Geographic project, said Crouch.
The showing is sponsored by Tucson Parks and Recreation, the San Ignacio Yaqui Council and Arizona Humanities Council.
Opinion by
Ernesto
Portillo jr.
If you go
"Yaqui/Hiaki Easter" free video showing
Where: Pascua Neighborhood Center, 785 W. Sahuaro St., near West Grant and North Oracle roads.
When: 6 p.m. today.
