This is the traditional Tigrada de Chilapa with which a municipality in Mexico wants to leave behind the stigma of violence

Violence in Mexico’s Chilapa regularly makes headlines and fills the public with concern. Exactly on Sunday, August 13, 2023, Esteban Xochitempa and Juan Xochitempa Macario, aged 40 and 16, were murdered at a gas station.

In February 2022, the public prosecutor’s office of Guerrero, where Chilapa is located, took note of the spate of attacks that took place in that area, La Jornada published. And three months ago, in a protest demanding security reinforcements, some protesters arrested the mayor of Chilapa, Expansión reported.

While waiting for something to change regarding insecurity, residents’ minds are alive with the need to want progress for Chilapa, for other fronts to be discussed and projected to gradually close spaces for violence.

For this reason, despite the pain for the murder of the two members of an indigenous community, on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, they have not suspended their traditional Tigrada, a multicolored and unique event.

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The Tigrada of Chilapa

On August 15, the feline masks and the color yellow took over Chilapa. That is the clearest sign that the “tigers” have come out to “roar” and dance.

The EFE bureau described “tigers” and “jaguars” of all ages and genders flooding the streets of that municipality considered the doorway to the Guerrero Mountain Zone; this time traditional dances from other parts of the state were added to the tour”.

La Tigrada, as the locals call it, “is a celebration that combines ancestral and Catholic customs: on the one hand the ritual to ask for a harvest and on the other hand the celebration of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.”

With the masks where large fangs and mirrors appear instead of eyes, the “tiger men” begin to move their chains after 6 p.m. with a sound that mimics the thunder that precedes the rain. They also prey on children as part of the fun ritual.

According to EFE, no one wants to miss a detail and those who don’t don the colorful outfit sit in the street watching the creations pass by, some “big and elaborate, weighing as much as 30 kilos”.

For the dancers and musicians, the journey is more bearable with their glasses of mezcal, an alcoholic drink distilled from agave.

Peace to Chilapa

In 2023, to the traditional day, “inherited from grandparents”, dance groups joined. For three hours, the music continued to cheer those in attendance.

Security was guaranteed for the peace of the population. That it is not temporary… that joy and peace become constant again is the greatest wish in Chilapa.