About the festival – What ever I write here can only be called incomplete since this festival is a blend of Catholic and indigenous ritual, I would put it at 20 percent Catholic and 80 percent Cora cosmovision. The basic premise is the story of the crucifixion of Christ. So let’s just say that these are my impressions and recollections of the festival and what the Cora told me during the festival. In order to be able to film and photograph the festival all the outsiders had to present themselves with their sponsors. The sponsors were the cabaña owners. After I spoke to the Cora council I wondered if they got what I had said… well later I found out that only 25% spoke Spanish…They gave me a letter with a town seal and finger prints of the town leaders that said.

“Received from Robert Freund the amount of 200 pesos for the purpose of extending permission to take photos during the 3 days of the Easter festival without the risk of being molested by the Jews” on the side I also gave up 5 bottles of tequila and 26 packs of cigarettes. Since drinking was strictly prohibited it felt rather like I was going to cause a problem… not so… everyone drank for the entire time with very little incidence.

Nacho our sponsor was one of the captains of the Jews and because of that I was invited to some of the off scene events and directed when and where to go to film and shoot. This responsibility of being a captain is a multi year responsibility. There are Centurions (2) and captains (10) are given the responsibility for the town in a ceremony where the town council turns over control of the town to them. They assure that the “rules” of behavior and conduct are respected , especially no horse or donkey riding, overzealous fighting with the wood swords and no cars are allowed to move. They conduct the entire ceremony and at the end return the power to the Cora council.

Each day the Cora men “borarados” which means erase themselves as men and become Jews, devils and evil. The painting is done with ash and oil from different plants. The first day it was strictly black and white the next day they began to add red and the final day blue. An archeologist that was at the festival told me that they had been excavating for 4 years near by where a giant dam was being built and that they were finding statues in tombs that were painted in a very similar way. The main battle weapon is a hand carved oak club called “sable” which is painted during the course of the ceremony and at the end thrown in the river to be washed away. I believe this is to finish the purging of evil from the village. Other items that are ever present drums and flutes, which for the entire festival never stop being played and are clearly needed for the formations of men’s dancing and entering into the mock battles.

At midnight he first day the Centurions and captain gather in the home of the centurion to pray. The do this by candle light and use a book of prayers in Cora, Spanish and Latin, they chat for hours. On my way back to the cabaña in the dead of night I was greeted by the first of the Jews dressed in the typical costume, they had a live skunk which they stuck in my face. Since they represent evil and things undesirable the skunk with its foul smell is part of the ceremony. During the festival I also saw a animal called “tejon” which looks like a cross between a badger, it also has a spray of foul odor, it is not a real tejon which occur in Sapin. This would not be my last experience with the skunks. In the morning I rushed over to the Centurions home, the home base, and watch as the men began to show up and paint them selves. As the men and boys arrived other went of to gather the forces to march into town.