Oaxaca's Afro-Mexican Communities Get Their Own Festival

Twelve delegations brought music, masked dancers and coastal traditions to Chacahua Isla on Monday for Oaxaca’s first Afro Guelaguetza. The festival, called La Rejunjuneada, gave Afro-Mexican traditions their own event in a Pacific coast community with a predominantly Afro-descendant population.

A Festival of Its Own

La Rejunjuneada, loosely meaning “the get-together,” marked Oaxaca’s Afro-Mexican People’s Day, an Oct. 19 observance established in 2013. A procession followed the lagoon and wound through local streets before the delegations performed on a stage beside Chacahua Lagoon.

The festival united traditions from Costa Chica, a coastal region spanning Oaxaca and Guerrero and a historic heartland of Afro-Mexican culture. The account names 12 delegations, but gives no figures for the event’s budget, ticket revenue or payments to performers.

Afro-Mexican communities also take part in Oaxaca’s better-known July Guelaguetza, which features traditions from across the state. Collantes, an Afro-Mexican town on Oaxaca’s coast, sent its Dance of the Devils delegation to that July festival. La Rejunjuneada gave Afro-Mexican traditions a separate stage in Oaxaca’s calendar of cultural celebrations.

The host delegation opened the performances with the Fandango de Varitas. Another community performed the Turtle Dance, while two delegations presented their interpretations of the Dance of the Devils, described as a highly representative expression of Afro-Mexican culture. Dancers wore horned masks. They stomped and leapt to the music.

Recognition and Rights

Oaxaca Gov. Salomón Jara Cruz said recognition of communities’ histories must also bring rights, justice and opportunities. The account reports his statement but doesn’t identify specific rights or opportunities proposed, or policies tied to the festival.

Villa de Tututepec Mayor Eder Muñoz Peña described the municipality as having Chatino, Mixtec and Afro-Mexican roots. He said the celebration stood for historical justice as well as cultural pride.

Enid Azucena Torres Agustiniano also took part. This summer, she became the first Afro-Mexican woman chosen as Goddess Centéotl, the main Guelaguetza’s cultural ambassador.

Representation in the Census

In Mexico’s 2020 census, 8.6% of Guerrero residents and 4.7% of Oaxaca residents identified as Afro-Mexican or Afro-descendant, according to figures from Conapred, the federal anti-discrimination agency. The nationwide figure was 2%.

The account describes cultural performances and public recognition, but reports no wages, employment conditions, labor organizing, union activity or strike action connected to the festival or the communities represented. It also provides no information about private beneficiaries or the commercial proceeds of the event. The governor’s statement names rights, justice and opportunities as necessary alongside recognition; the report doesn’t specify measures to deliver them.