Hundreds of Parachico dancers came out on the streets of Chiapa de Corzo in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, amid an atmosphere of hope after a difficult year because of the Covid-19 pandemic and a road accident in which 56 migrants died.
The parachicos are traditional dancers of the grand festival of Chiapa de Corzo, which takes place from Jan. 4 to 23. Its origins are pre-Hispanic but eventually merged with Catholicism.
Dancers wear a wooden mask and a colored poncho-style clothing called “sarape”. On the head they wear a “montera”, which is a kind of helmet decorated in a way that resembles the blond hair of the Spanish people during colonization.
Wearing this outfit they dance on the streets to the sound of the drum and a flute called “pito”. EFE
