The Great Festivals of Colonial Mexico City: Performing Power and Identity / Edition 1

by Linda A. Curcio-Nagy

Overview

This innovative work of cultural history examines the function of public rituals in colonial Mexico City. Festivals were a defining characteristic of life in the capital. For most of the colonial period, inhabitants could witness as many as 100 religious and civil celebrations in a year. The largest of these events, both civil and religious, were sponsored by the authorities and were crucial means to embody political and social concepts.

The first European public rituals were introduced immediately after the conquest of the Aztec capital. Spanish priests seeking to evangelize the native population introduced Catholic festivals, and civil authorities sponsored celebrations designed to glorify the Spanish empire. Spectacle was one tool in an arsenal of colonizing agents, and over time the growing diversity of the population made festival statecraft all the more important, as government-sponsored revelry attempted to promote shared histories and values among diverse and potentially dangerous groups.

Festivals organizers developed a highly sophisticated message embedded within the celebrations that delineated the principles of leadership and the duties of both rulers and vassals. The pervasiveness of festivals and the power of the political message associated with them created possibilities for individuals to assess and participate in a larger discussion of good governance in the colony.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826331670
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	05/30/2004
Series:	Diálogos Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Linda A. Curcio-Nagy, a leading scholar in the new cultural history of Latin America, is professor of history at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1	Introduction	1
Chapter 2	The Ideal Prince	15
Chapter 3	The Perfect Vassal	41
Chapter 4	Celebrating Apollo	67
	Illustrations	86
Chapter 5	His Majesty's Most Loyal and Imperfect Subjects	97
Chapter 6	Ritual, Satire, and the Coming of Independence	121
Chapter 7	Concluding Thoughts	145
	Appendix	155
	Notes	159
	Bibliography	193
	Index	217

Editorial Reviews

"A wonderful discovery, a careful, insightful, imaginative, and concise study of both the differences between Hapsburg and Bourbon royal authority and the gradual disintegration of colonial loyalty as seen through the lens of religous and royal festivities . . . superb book."

"Curcio-Nagy has written a concise, accessible history of civil festivals in colonial Mexico City. . . . Recommended."

"This book presents a well-structured argument that uses the festival as a vehicle to explain colonial political culture in broad stokes. . A concise and accessible introduction to the politics and historiography of Spanish colonialism in Latin America."

"This concise, clearly written book, is a welcome addition to recent works dealing with the cultural history of New Spain."

"This tightly-argued book deserves to be read by student and scholar alike."

"Well-written. . . the material is fascinating."

From the Publisher