The K Ub Parody: The Conquest Dance

Lowe discusses parody as a way of negotiating and resisting power when it is expressed in the cuch transformations, such as the k’ub pol. Lowe explains that Redfield describes the fiestas as somber ritual that does no veer from the “tradition” of the Catholic Church, and he also describes that due to the fragmentation of ethnographic treatment of festival performance, the transformations of the cuch are not seen as related (Lowe 2011: 81-83). Parody is used in San Bernardo and other previous haciendas a defense against authoritarian rule of the church control over the fiestas and the procession of the saints. The k’ub pol is a more loutish performance that is playful in its satirical performance of the procession of the saints. This allows the indigenous culture to express their ways of knowing into the traditional cuch (Lowe 2011: 82). The parody The Burden Bearer and the Devil challenge the romantic notions of

The Conquest dance echoes the transformations that the cuch underwent, by itself becoming transformed by the Maya. The original was meant to depict the Spanish valiant efforts to subdue the Maya and place then under their rule. The meaning had transformed over time and became a dance to instruct the Maya in their own history. The dance uses parody to gain control of the Maya historical position as well as to challenge the romantic ideas of the Spanish conquest. The dance now explained that the Spanish Conquistadors disrespected their customs and sorcerers (divination) and in return the Maya show that they do not respect the power of the conquistadors (the sword). The dance is also transformed to show gang kidnapping that have been happening due to globalization, which iterates the struggles that the Maya faced in historical accounts with the Spanish arrival and the repression of their