PINEAPPLE FLOWER

HISTORY
The regional dance “Flor de piña” dates back to May 1958, the
year in which the Governor of the State of Oaxaca Alfonso Pérez
Gasga, arguing that Jarocha clothing was not typical of this state,
sent a letter to the municipal presidency of San Juan Bautista
Tuxtepec, headed by Ángel Vidal Brocado, requesting the design
of an indigenous choreography for the score “Flor de piña”, an
adaptation by the Oaxacan musician Samuel Mondragón.

The creation of the choreography sought to represent the

Papaloapan region, one of the eight regions of Oaxaca, in the
newly created Guelaguetza Oaxaqueña, which in recent editions
was celebrated as a Racial Tribute and Ethnic Encounter.

The dance leaves a little aside the anatomy, the uses, movements
and proportions of the Chinantec and Mazatec woman, instead it
reconstructs her in a stylized way, raises the body stature, refines
the primary features, ornaments the simplicity of the huipil,
introduces the permanent smile, slightly enlarges the shape of the
eyes and achieves a truly beautiful, fantastic and surprising result
in which the light plays with the cadence and turns the huipil into
a work of art that is worn with pride. As part of the ornament, it
was decided that each young lady would carry a pineapple on her
shoulder for a purely ornamental purpose.

As an introduction to the dance, the Tonalteca waltz begins with

the Chiapas composer Maestro Alberto Peña Rios from Tonalá
Chiapas, but this is how it acquired the majesty and beauty that
characterizes it.

PINEAPPLE FLOWER MUSIC

The music of “Flor de Piña” is an adaptation made by the musician
and composer Karla Felipe Ramon of a score belonging to the
municipality of Huautla de Jiménez. The score was performed by
the musical ensemble “Lira Tuxtepecana”, the only ensemble in
the city at the time; However, upon arriving in the capital, they did
not accept the marimba either and the music would be played by
the State Music Band. The score of “Flor de Piña” lasted one
minute, while the time given for the participation of each
delegation was eight minutes, so it was necessary to extend it
with an entrance and exit. Since then, the music “La Tonalteca”
was added, a composition by the Chiapas maestro Alberto Peña
Ríos. “Flor de Piña” belongs to Tuxtepec, and although today each
municipality has its own representative dance, in its beginnings it
was stated that it represented the entire region, due to the
inclusion of the female huipils from six of the twenty
municipalities that make it up.

DANCE
“Flor de piña” is danced by young people from Cuenca at the Lunes
del Cerro festivities, in Cerro de Fortín, in the city of Oaxaca
during the Guelaguetza.

The dance consists of three parts: The entrance, accompanied by

“La Tonalteca” music that identifies the city of Tonalá, Chiapas,
which consists of a route made in two rows around the stage, the
route is slow and allows the huipils to be modeled, accessories
and beauty of the young women of the region, the entrance is
made with a step of the toe and metatarsus, turning the body from
right to left, once the route of the two rows is finished, they are
placed in parallel and interspersed forming a “ V” with the same
pitch as the input.

Upon joining the “V” the dancers perform a bow in which they
raise their respective pineapples with both arms and bend down,
inclining their waist; Once the “V” is formed, the music changes to
“Flor de Piña” and becomes more dynamic, each arm of the “V”
rotates outwards forming two parallel lines, which go to the back
of the stage, leaving both rows transposed, A crossing is made by
tapping back and forth, one of the lines to the left and the other in
the opposite direction. Once both lines are uncovered, they turn
towards the front and join together in a single file which they
compact and advance through. of a brushing, they advance to the
corner of the stage and back, it is repeated twice.

Once the brushing of the horizontal row is finished, two vertical

rows emerge again which extend from the beginning to the back of
the stage, one row is placed in front of the other, the dancers
place the pineapple on the floor and dance around it .

Once the dancing around the pineapple is finished, each dancer

takes their pineapple and opens the diagonals until they form a
single line again.
At the same time all the dancers give thanks by bowing their
bodies and holding the pine cones in both arms.

“Flor de Piña” ends and “La Tonalteca” continues to exit in the

same way as the entrance to the stage. Once the dance is over,
each dancer gives her pineapple to those attending the event.
horizontal, the brushing step forwards and backwards returns, but
this time brushing is finished

LOCKER ROOM
In the Papaloapan Basin Region there are 20 municipalities. Of
these, four are predominantly Jarochos and the rest are from the
Mazatec and Chinantec ethnic groups, of which only six have a
presence in the dance through their costumes. The huipils come in
their various styles, colors and versions. Although this
classification did not exist before the dance "Flor de piña" was
created, currently there are mourning, half-mourning, daily,
wedding, gala and half-gala. Each of the huipils has special
characteristics and attributes that differentiate them from other
municipalities and their pineapples that tell part of their history.
Even the hairstyle varies in each municipality of the Tuxtepec
region. The only thing similar in the outfit are the huaraches, the
cales are made of tanned leather. The ¨Flor de piñas¨ dance and
the costumes were completely created to have a characteristic
dance that represented Tuxtepec in the Guelaguetza. When
creating this dance they decided that each young lady would carry
a pineapple on her shoulder, for purely ornamental purposes.
Seven of the twenty municipalities that are in the Tuxtepec region
are the following:

* San Felipe Jalapa de Díaz

* San Felipe Usila

* San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec

* San Juan Bautista National Valley

* San Lucas Ojitlán

* San Miguel Soyaltepec

* San Pedro Ixcatlán

However, the region is made up of twenty municipalities (Acatlán
de Pérez Figueroa, Cosolapa, Loma Bonita and Ayozintepec, plus
the six from the Choapam District that were not included in the
dance).

The Huipiles are made on a backstrap loom, with cotton that

before the arrival of the Spanish was grown and harvested by
themselves. They are made of three canvases joined by a ribbon
called “randa”, the motifs and materials vary.

The municipalities use their huipils as daily costumes, since they

are indigenous costumes of each area, the exception is the huipil
of San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec, which was created by an
anthropologist and is used only in special events. To this day,
indigenous women continue to wear their huipils, although it is
mostly people with fewer resources who wear them. Cotton is not
harvested either and artificial fibers are beginning to be used in
the making of huipils and you can even purchase some
manufactured in China.