Hidalgo Yalalag

Villa Hidalgo Yalalag (also, Yalalag, Hidalgo Yalag, and Villa Hidalgo Yalalag, and San Juan Yalalag) is a village in Oaxaca, Mexico. It is part of the Villa Alta District in the center of the Sierra Norte Region.

The town is divided into four neighborhoods (in Spanish called "barrios"). These 4 barrios are: San Juan, Santiago, Santa Catalina, and Santa Rosa. Coordinates: 17°11′N 96°11′W / 17.183°N 96.183°W

Culture

On August 30th and July 24th, in honor of San Juan Bautista, the townspeople of Villa Hidalgo Yalalag celebrate their annual festival, with popular dancing, processions, and offerings.[1]

Traditions

Traditions include Semana Santa and Todos los Santos.[2]

Music

Popular bands in Villa Hidalgo Yalalag are "Banda Uken ke Uken" and "Los Ratones.[3]

Yalaltecos in Los Angeles

Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera uses Zapotecs from Yalálag as an example of migrants who originate from Oaxaca, México and form their own spaces of belonging in the United States, specifically in Los Angeles. The community of Yalaltecos in Los Angeles comes together collectively and participates in festivals, ceremonies, tandas and other small gatherings where they can gossip in Yalálag Zapotec, share food, dance, financially and emotionally support one another, and engage in other customs and traditions from the small rural town which is their place of origin. The existence and practice of customs and traditions that were once thought to be exclusive to Yalálag, but that have now permeated American society, demonstrates the transnational character of Yalaltecos indigeneity that makes possible the process of Hayandose through the seizure and declaration of these ethnically-marked spaces.[4] Yalaltecos living in Los Angeles have invoked their cultural identity hundreds of miles from home and have used it as a tool to resist the push for assimilation and marginalization within the United States. Therefore, the transmission and continuity of culture across national borders are essential for Yalaltecos to mark their own space and ultimately find themselves in a hostile environment far from their home country. With this new-found sense of belonging, the opportunity for “rally[ing] for indigenous rights and the development of hometown communities in Oaxaca, as well as to organize in the United States around immigrant legislation” no longer remains out of reach.[4][5]

See also

References

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  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gutiérrez-Nájera, Lourdes. “Hayandose”, in Beyond el Barrio: Everyday Life in Latina/o America. Ed. Peréz, Gina M., Frank A. Guridy, and Adrian Burgos Jr. New York: New York University Press, 2010. 211-232
  5. ↑ Gutiérrez Nájera, Lourdes. "Yalálag is No Longer Just Yalálag: Circulating Conflict and Contesting Community in a Zapotec Transnational Circuit." Digital Dissertation, 2007.