Xantolo is the Huastec people’s celebration of the dead. The communities enthusiastically take part in the All-Saints festivities in the Huasteca region of Mexico, which includes localities of Veracruz, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Puebla, and Hidalgo, as well as Querétaro and Guanajuato. The Parranda (parade) or Comparsa of Huehues is one of the main cultural manifestations of the festival.
Huehue is a Nahuatl word that means old or elderly. It is associated with wisdom and gift of the elderly people who can recognize both living and deceased neighbours when the celestial portal is open for the visit of souls on 31 October.
The Huehues disguise themselves with a garment made of pieces of cloths, banana leaves and branches. They also cover their faces with leather masks with shells and animal horns. Their disguise protects elders from any revenge by a malicious spirit. Huehue has an important role of attracting and guide the lost souls of loved ones to the family arches, a structure that frames the altars constructed for the Day of the Dead. They also visit homes and ward off evil and unwanted spirits.
The Huehues are busy at work from 31 October 31 to 4 November, sustained by the ofrendas (offerings) and aguardiente (schnappers) from altars of the community. They cannot take off their clothes until November 4. Only after a purification ritual with lemon grass and incense of dried herbs with copal, they can remove their masks—main protection against the evil!
Another version of the Huehues developed through syncretism during the colonial period. The performance evolved from a mozo (porter) dressed like a deceased relative of the household to pay respect and remember the soul during All Saints season.
Three styles of Huehues can be found from 31 October 31 to 2 November in the Huasteca region. The most colourful and traditional are often seen in San Vicente Tancuayalab, in San Luis Potosí, marked by influence from the Veracruz carnival with Afro-Mexican roots. Two other celebrations are held in the Potosino municipalities of San Martín Chalchicuatla and Chapulhuacanito. Each region and parade has unique origins, rituals, names, essences, costumes, masks and music.
Huehues' parranda
San Vicente Tancuayalab
The Huehues in this region are distinguished by colourful costumes and handmade wooden masks created from the pemoche or pemuche tree. The parade, traditionally accompanied by trios of Huapango rhythm, includes seven essential characters including versions of La Catrina in local attire.
One of the characters is the Cowboy, who leads the parade and fights against evil forces represented by the Bull and the Devil. The Devil guides the souls to the afterlife using his ó (whip). The Indio character preserves the presence of Indigenous peoples, while the Elderly Woman represents fertility and Mother Earth. Death and the Elderly Man are other characters.
Coles and Comanches Parade
San Martín Chalchicuautla
The characters in the parade represent members of a family. The Mamanina is the community mother, and the Cole is the father and the parade leader. He wears oversized pants and a jacket as well as an animal skin mask, and carries a rain stick as the traditional Indigenous baton of command. Other characters are the Elderly Men, children of Cole and Mamanina, wearing wooden or tin masks; the Cominito (little cumin), the grandson of Cole dressed in traditional cotton attire and riding a wooden horse; and the Comanches, who wear feather headdresses and jingles bells or tin tokens to serve as warriors against evil spirits.
While Death and Devil also make an appearance in San Vicente Tancuayalab, here the Devil wears a black mask with horns, bull tongue and ears, embodying evil, while Death guides the living to the afterlife—a role assigned to the Devil in Tancuayalab.
Coles, Older Women, and Devils
Chapulhuacanito
Chapulhuacanito is part of the municipality of Tamazunchale, in the southern Huasteca region, just an hour away from San Felipe Orizatlan, Hidalgo. In these celebrations, the Devils lead the parade or group of costumed participants. Unlike other versions, they wear elegant suits, ties, an impressive black leather mask and kerchiefs over the shoulders with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe for protection against wicked spirits. The rest wear painted wooden masks to perform as Coles (men) in traditional cotton clothing or Viejas (older women) in floral skirts and shawls.
Indigenous Festivities dedicated to the Dead
These cultural manifestations are part of the by UNESCO since 2003. They celebrate the temporary return of deceased family members and loved ones to earth. Offerings with candles, flowers and favourite foods are placed on family altars or directly over the graves in cemeteries to ease the journey of the souls.
The celebration starts at the end of October. The date also marks the completion of the annual cycle of maize cultivation, a predominant food crop in Mexico, and is linked to the duality of abundance or hardship.
Festivities are one of the many Indigenous practices dedicated to the dead and are present among all Indigenous Peoples in the country. They form part of social and political processes, as is the case with the change of the Prosecutor of the Cemetery and the baton of Command transference in Xantolo. Today, the festivities have spread to urban contexts and have become a symbol of Mexico.
The author
Jorge Cervera Méndez is a veteran cultural journalist and a photojournalist with over 33 years of experience. He has undertaken several projects and exhibitions at state, national, and international levels. A native of Guadalajara, he describes himself as a resident of San Luis Potosí and a Huastecan “by conviction”.
He arrived in the Huasteca Potosina 20 years ago, where he has been documenting Xantolo, embracing it as his primary and lifelong photographic project. This celebration of traditions and customs is part of his collections, and he is passionate about contributing to the preservation, conservation, and dissemination of Xantolo's intangible heritage—the majestic All Saints holiday of the Hustec People and culture.
