Matachines

Matachines (Spanish singular matachín; sword dancers dressed in ritual attire called bouffon) are a carnivalesque dance troupe that emerged in Spain in the early 17th century inspired by similar European traditions such as the moresca.

The dance was documented in the 1642 treatise Discursos sobre el arte del dançado by Juan de Esquivel Navarro.

Currently, the matachines are societies of North and South American Native dancers who perform ritual dances.

Dressed in traditional ceremonial dress and clothing, the chief characters are El Monarca (typically Moctezuma or other tribal leader), the captains (usually consist of 2-4 and are Moctezuma's main generals), La Malinche or Malintzín, the Native or Mestizo woman; and El Toro, the malevolent comic man of the play (also symbolizes Satan, or the Devil, according to Roman Catholic religious interpretations), dressed with the skins of the buffalo and wearing the horns of this sacred ancestor; Abuelo, the grandfather, and Abuela, grandmother.

A sword dance was performed at Hampton Court on 6 January 1604 by Scottish courtiers for Anne of Denmark in her presence chamber, before James VI and I, and the French ambassador, the Comte de Beaumont.