THE TEN EXHIBITION DANCES
YOREME PAJKO’ORA DANCE
pajko’ora, appear at religious ceremonies or fi estas throughout the year. They are impor- tant during the dramatization of the Passion of Christ during the Easter season. In the past, pajko’ora danced to seek permission and forgiveness from animal spirits Yoreme were going to hunt. The dance was devoted to the spirit of the animals that would give up their lives for the continuation of human life. Over the last 300 years, this hunting ritual has evolved, as Felipe Molina (Yoeme) writes, into an elaborate Yoreme Christian devotional vigil. The presence of pajko’ora during the Easter season is linked to the sacred ceremonies conducted at a close-by altar upon which are statues of Jesus and the Blessed Mother Mary. Pajko’ora wear strings of pebble-fi lled,
Y
LEFT: Yoreme Pajko’ora Dance manikin. Mayo-Yoreme pajko’ora dancers wear a white blanket, or manta, wrapped around their waist and legs, and a long-sleeved white shirt. The white clothing represents purity. Pajko’ora dancers also wear long strings of pebble-fi lled, Giant Silk Moth cocoons wrapped around their legs. The sound made by the leg rattles resembles that of a rattlesnake – associated with rain and fertility.
ABOVE: Cubeo Oyne (mourning or weeping ceremony) manikin. During the Oyne, male dancers appeared wear- ing tawu, or knee-length bark masks. The masks were painted to represent forest spirits known as takahedekoku, which were seen only by Cubeo shamans.
formance space, it will represent each of the 10 dances through the display of a manikin in full regalia and a distinctive dance pose. An accompanying media piece will complement and enhance the manikin displays. Presenting the range of dances featured in the exhibition, this high-defi nition video will capture the va- riety of the different Native dance movement vocabularies, and the music that is integral to their performance. Additionally, the media piece will underscore the vital connection between dance and place. Exhibition label copy is drawn from essays, written for the exhibition’s accompanying
website, by contributors with a deep apprecia- tion of the social, cultural and ritual signifi - cance of a particular dance and who illumi- nate that signifi cance. As is evident from their essays, all of the dances share fundamental underlying meanings in which peoples’ close communion with their ancestors and the nat- ural (including animal) and spiritual worlds fi gure prominently. Above all, each of these dances embodies an awareness of a greater cosmic order and often the importance of reciprocal relationships in maintaining that order. In other words, life-sustaining concepts are embedded in these dances.
dried giant silk moth-cocoon rattles covering their legs from their ankles to knees. When dancing to the accompaniment of a harpist and fi ddler, the pajko’ora assumes a slouched position, with his head slightly down and his arms dangling. He wears a small wooden mask at the back of his head. When dancing to the accompaniment of a drum and fl ute, the pajko’ora wears the mask over his face and shakes a wooden rattle with metal disks in his right hand, beating it at times against his left palm. The pajko’ora dance barefoot in a ramada
and often in place. Starting slowly, their bodies are relaxed and knees slightly bent. Their steps are grounded and emphasize their connection with the earth. The sounds of their leg rattles resemble the sounds of rattlesnakes. Each pajko’ora dances alone at fi rst (there are usually three in a group), and then dance with the Deer Dancer. The Deer Dancer, like them, is devoted to Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. While incorporating strong elements
of Christian spirituality, the dance of the Yoreme pajko’ora and Deer Dancer also af- fi rms traditional Yoreme spiritual beliefs, in a deeply complex religious drama that has its combined roots in Spanish Jesuit Catholi- cism and Yoreme metaphysics.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 35
oreme ceremonial performers from the southern Sonora and northern Sinaloa states in Mexico, known as
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