Hermanitos Comanchitos: Indo-Hispano Rituals of Captivity and Redemption by Enrique R. Lamadrid, Miguel Gandert (Photographer)

From the Publisher

One of the great festival traditions shared by Pueblo and Hispano groups of the Southwest is the celebration Los Comanches. Between the end of September and mid-February, communities come alive with reenactments of centuries-old rituals. Colorful processions, heroic historical dramas, religious morality plays, and boisterous ceremonial dancing combine to form a mixture of defiance of and tribute to the Comanches by the Pueblo and Hispano villagers.

Enrique Lamadrid's and Miguel Gandert's account of Los Comanches offers a historical context and typology, but, more importantly, it includes: Cuerno Verde y sus hijos, the eighteenth-century victory play depicting the defeat of a Comanche chief; several nativity plays performed in different parts of New Mexico; and Los Comanches de la Serna from Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico.

With Gandert's documentary photographs and a CD that includes performances of songs from the plays, this volume preserves one of the Southwest's least understood cultural traditions. Lamadrid and Gandert provide historic, poetic, and photographic documentation of one of the least understood festival traditions of the Southwest. Both Pueblo and Hispano groups honor and emulate historic relations of war and peace with the Comanches in celebrations which include an eighteenth century folk drama, nativity plays, and ceremonial dance.

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• Table of Contents

Table of Contents