Monos de Calenda: Oaxaca, Mexico

The exact origin of the monos and/or the calendas is not something that I have researched very well. The monos are large puppets, and the calendas are religious processions. The calendas are usually at or start at a church. I've seen them in a plaza outside of a church and as a procession starting at a church. In Oaxaca, they may head to the Zocalo, the main plaza, as part of a religious celebration. They are always accompanied by a syncopated band made up of a church's parishioners. The bands are always led by a drummer playing some type a snare drum. The other instruments include a dominant brass component and some woodwinds. Monos are built on bamboo frames fitted with paper maché heads. They are colorfully dressed, often with exaggerated features appearing in all sizes and shapes. Carried on the shoulders of teenage boys, these large figures dance and twirl to the band as the calenda marches around the plaza. Children participate in the calendas, marching and singing songs or on floats depicting religious scenes, most often the Nativity. I've seen them at weddings, too. I may post a short video captured at a wedding in the near future.

There was one thing amazing to me; the songs often have a duration of 10 to 15 minutes. The dancing and twirling goes on until the boys inhabiting the monos run out of energy. I was tired after watching for about an hour.

NOTE: The roots of the dance called a calenda may have come from Africa to the Caribbean by way of the slave trade. This swing dance is of no relation to the monos de calenda in Oaxaca, Mexico.