The Guadalajara Reporter

Tastoanes dancers this weekend in Tonala

Tonala hosts the famous “Dance of the Tastoanes” this weekend, an annual ritual commemorating an indigenous insurgence during the Spanish invasion of western Mexico.

The centuries-old religious tradition dates back to the arrival of the Spanish in the old kingdom of Tonallan. The indian queen, Cihualpilli, received the Spanish troops with open arms and willingly converted to Catholicism, but a group of natives less enamored with the European invaders banded together and rebelled, putting up a heroic fight on Tonala’s Cerro de la Reina hill. Legend has it that when their rebellion was put down they were turned into grotesque monsters known as “tastoanes.”