From church to pyramid

Abstract

Sometime after coming to Mexico City in the early twentieth century, the Concheros gradually became involved in the growing cultural interest in the Aztec past. By the last decades, however, they found themselves in an antagonistic situation with those dancers who called themselves the Mexica who, although they performed the same dances, espoused mexicanidad a strong neo-nationalistic and neo-indianist ideology. The Mexica reject Spanish colonialism and have discarded the clearly Catholic ritual practices of the Concheros who habitually dance outside Churches: the Mexica’s preference is for pyramids. The article, using historical and fieldwork data, examines the growing use of archaeological sites as they have slowly been refurbished, focusing on two: Teotihuacan and Cholula. Importantly, in the last two decades, a gradual rapprochement between the Concheros and the Mexica has occurred as the overall ethos of the dance has been changing once again.