Feast of the Negritos and Candlemas in Tócuaro

Every February 2

In Tócuaro, masks seen throughout the year in workshops return to the setting for which many of them were created: the celebration.

Around February 2, Candlemas coincides with the close of a cycle of pastorelas featuring devils, negritos, hermits, foremen, angels, and other characters.

Here, mask carving and ritual performance are not separate stories.

They meet in the streets.

Candlemas

February 2 belongs to the Catholic calendar and commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the temple and the purification of Mary.

In Tócuaro, the date is connected with the pastorela and with practices of the community itself.

Cultural documentation records a representation of the struggle between good and evil: Saint Michael protects the Christ Child while the devils attempt to disrupt order; after the performance, the characters leave the church and continue through the streets.

Masks made to take part

Tócuaro is known for its mask carvers.

Many masks represent characters from dances and pastorelas: devils, negritos, hermits, and other faces whose imagination seems limitless.

But during Candlemas they are not merely objects to look at in a workshop.

They once again cover a face, accompany a character, and move.

That change — from object to presence — helps explain why craft and celebration are so closely related.

The pastorela circuit

Ethnographic research describes Tócuaro as one of the places where the Lake Region’s pastorela circuit comes to an end.

Exact dates around February 2 have varied by source and year: some records place the closing on Candlemas itself, while others extend it for several days.

For that reason, February 2 should remain the structural date, while the complete program belongs to variable information.

A memory that also changes

Older cultural sources connect Candlemas in Tócuaro and other lakeside communities with fishing and duck hunting by spear.

That is a historical record worth preserving.

It is not enough, however, to state that the practice continues today in Tócuaro.

When a custom no longer appears clearly in recent documentation, Visit Pátzcuaro should say so rather than turn the past into the present.

Looking at the detail

If you visit Tócuaro during the celebration, look closely at the masks.

Then look at who is wearing them.

Months of work in a workshop change completely when a character begins to walk, dance, or chase people down a street.

That is when the mask has a voice again.

Next edition / Practical information

The central date of Candlemas is February 2 every year.

Performance days, schedules, routes, participants, and complementary activities must be confirmed for each edition.

Information for the next edition is pending confirmation.