The survival of the compradazgo and of the fiesta dances suggests that there are
mythic questions that the Mexicans feel they cannot face alone. Although Catholicism pervades Mexican society physically and spiritually, it never has completely satisfied the believers' need to control all levels of their universe. On a daily basis, orthodox Christianity and its social supports suggest few recourses against the work of the Devil, who may wear the attributes either of the preColumbian gods or of the European Satan. He manifests himself principally in those areas not easily controlled by man and perceived to be dangerous for the priest. Through out Mexico, the Devil lives in caves, in barrancas and rivers, and to win men's souls he will transform himself into an animal or into a strange man. Often he is a coyote, a jaguar, a bat, or a cayman. In these guises, he can come in the night and cause sickness or death. He is a charro or a Spaniard, and when he wears these faces, he seeks men's labor and their wealth. He can appear as Culebra de Agua, the spirit who controls hail and rain.
In much of rural Mexico, pagan practices survive in the pre-Columbian dances during Holy Week, where the community plays out the great battle between death and eternal life, between the Devil and the cristianos, as Mexicans refer to each other. The roles are sacred responsibilities and the young men must prepare themselves ritually for the dance. First they are taught the prayers, the offerings, and the meditations that will draw them into the sacred world that the fiesta creates. Then they learn the songs and the steps from old men who carry the rites in their heads. The great clash of cultures often is an acting out of the birth of the
Mexican people in which the old gods and Christ and the saints meet on the same field. Processing with their brothers who carry santos and crosses are members of the cofradías who wear animal and monster masks that represent exactly the Devil's guises as listed above. The Negrito clowns of Oaxaca lead the dance of the Conquest wearing blackpainted masks with tusks and fantastic snouts, characteristics of Tezcatlipoca, the god of night, who conquered Quetzalcoatl, the hero of the light. The skull masks seen in October are a symbiosis of the ancient masks of the god of death and of those worn during the Spanish morality plays. In Sonora, the Yaqui and Mayo Indians still dance a rain dance performed as part of the Christian celebrations. While the humanistic masks worn by some of the group reflect the power of Christian spirituality, those made of animal hide and hair are created in an indigenous tradition that is a result of dreamed visions and contact with animal spirits.
