Ik’aletik « Les hommes noirs »

Abstract

This article shows how the multiple names attributed to actors of the k’in tajimol festival—Black Lords, Wind Lords, Our Ape Fathers, Mixed-Race Fathers of the Night, Devil, Judas, Mixed-Race Elder Brother—reveal their nocturnal nature. These characters, who rise up from the world of the dead as ancestors of the Tsotsil, oppose Our Sun Father and his wife, and the Servants of Christ. The actions of the ik’aletik in the constitutional municipality of Chenalhó vary considerably from those of the autonomous Zapatista municipality of Polhó. The names used to identify each place and the actions they carry out determine their multiple ontologies linked to night, to sacrifice and to patrilineal ancestors.

Keywords

• Black Men
• carnival
• mixed-race
• patrilineal ancestors
• transformation
• Chiapas