Category: Games

A few Septembers ago, a friend and I spent a marvelous weekend of charrería (the sport of the horsemen) in Guadalajara. The Quinto Campeonato Nacional del Charro (Fifth National Championship Charro Competition) was held there in conjunction with the Festival Internacional de Mariachi. We drove to Guadalajara on a Saturday in a monumental rainstorm, arriving with high expectations for our stay, without an umbrella and a lot of trepidation about the amount of water that was pouring from the sky. We waited and watched from our hotel's balcony as the rain cascaded and then, little by little, tapered off to occasional drops.

Maru and I hopped in a cab for the ride to the Unión Ganadera Regional (the charro arena). Our cabbie regaled us all along the way with tales about charreadas and the dangers of the maneuvers the charros undertake. Our excitement and anticipation of the day was building and we were among the first to arrive for that day's 11:30 am contests. Three teams of charros would compete each day for three days; on the fourth day, each prior day's winning team would compete for the national championship.

We watched as workers decorated the perimeter of the stands with garlands of estropajos (fiber scrub pads), hojas de maíz (dried corn husks) and listones de tricolor (heavy ribbons of green, white, and red: Mexico's national colors). When the escaramuza team finished its rehearsal, the charros on horseback began to come into the arena to pick their way through the mud in preparation for the events.The rain had stopped, but the charro arena was a mess of thick mud and deep puddles. The escaramuza (women's sidesaddle precision riding team) was practicing when we arrived, the horses spraying mud as the girls spurred them to a dead run, weaving across one another's paths.

Charrería, the national sport of Mexico and a forerunner of the North American rodeo, originated among the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. Charros, the Mexican horsemen, adapted the equestrian contests of the Spaniards to produce a uniquely Mexican sport. By the nineteenth century, these contests were essential elements of celebrations on large haciendas, especially those festivities celebrating the herraderos (brandings) and rodeos (round-ups). People came from miles around to take part in the celebrations and to watch the charros exhibit their skills and compete against each other in daring competitions of horsemanship.

When, as a result of the Mexican Revolution, the huge haciendas in Mexico were divided into large ranches, , charros feared the demise of this tradition.  They called a meeting in Mexico City on July 4, 1921 to found the Asociación Nacional de Charros. In 1933, the Federación Nacional de Charros was created to govern the different charro associations that emerged across the country. By the late twentieth century, this organization was governing charro associations in both Mexico and the United States. In order to compete in a charreada, or rodeo, all associations must be licensed by the federation and competitors must be certified as charros

Many of us confuse the rodeo of the United States with the charreada of Mexico, assuming they are the same. One outstanding difference between the contemporary rodeo and the charreada is that rodeo is an individual sport, while charreada is a team competition.

The charreadas are performed in a lienzo, or arena, which has two principal areas: one is sixty meters long and twelve meters wide and the second is a circular area with a diameter of forty meters. Unlike the rodeo competitor, the charro does not compete for prize money but rather only for the honor of the sport.

The charreada is highly ritualized and the events follow a traditional sequence. The competition usually begins with a military march played by a group of mariachi. A procession follows, with representatives of the different charro associations on horseback, riding around the lienzo carrying flags and banners. They are followed by the president of the state charro association, the members of the competing teams and perhaps the escaramuza team.

The singer Vicente Fernández completing the cala de caballo.

Once the opening ceremony is completed, the first of nine separate competitions begins. Each separate event is called a suerte. The first is the cala de caballo. During this event, the equivalent of dressage in traditional equestrian competition, judges evaluate the rider's control of the horse. The charro rides at a dead gallop from the end of the rectangular chute of the lienzo to the middle of the arena, where he must rein in his horse within a marked area twenty meters wide by six meters long. He must also lead the horse in rapid right (and then left) 360 degree turns, assuring that one rear hoof of the horse remains firmly in place as the animal spins. The charros are also judged on their ability to control backward movements, the horse essentially moving 'in reverse'.

The second event is the piales en lienzo, during which three charros attempt to rope the hind legs of a horse, steer or bull. The third event is the coleadero, sometimes called colear or el coleo. There are at least eight different methods of accomplishing this feat, but the classic move requires the charro to gallop along side the bull as it bursts from its chute. He must then grab the bull by the tail, wrap the tail around his own right leg and speed his horse forward, causing the bull to lose balance, thereby flipping the bull on its back.

The fourth competition is the jineteo de toros, or bull-riding, during which the charro must ride a bull until it stops bucking. During la terna, which is approximately the equivalent of team roping in a North American rodeo, two riders must rope a calf as quickly as possible. One encircles the neck and the other snares the hind legs.

Water color painting of the jineteo de yeguas.

The jineteo de yeguas is bronco-riding. The seventh and eighth events are the piales and the manganas, where the charro, must rope the hind legs and the forelegs of a running mare and pull it off balance. One event is done from the back of the horse, the other standing in the ring.

The final event is considered the most difficult. The paso de la muerte or "death pass" (above) is an event in which the charro rides his tame horse bareback and at a full gallop, attempting to jump onto a wild horse and ride it until it stops bucking.

A charro may compete in only three events in the state or national competitions; only one individual from each association may compete in all events and he is known as the charro completo. Competitors are judged for style as well as execution.

The charro suit that belonged to Emiliano Zapata.

The adjective 'handsome' barely does justice to the charro. From his wide-brimmed heavy sombrero, fitted with a woven horsehair or tooled leather hatband, to his fine leather or ostrich-skin boots, he is every centímetro the gentleman cowboy.

The national organizations strictly supervise and enforce the dress code of the charros. There are several approved levels of clothing, from working outfits to a full dress suit which can double as a tuxedo for formal occasions. The most familiar charro outfit includes a starched white shirt, subtly colored floppy bowtie, tight-fitting jacket and slender belled pants adorned with rows of botondura, hundreds of silver or gold buttons linked with chains. These elegantly dressed charros are hardly the Wrangler-wearing, mud-covered cowpokes we associate with rodeo in the States or Canada. By 11 am, the crowd began to arrive in the arena. The dignitaries were dressed in costumes styled from the period of the Porfiriato (1876-1910). The women wore long, ribboned dresses with multi-colored skirts, fabulous rebozos (long, intricately patterned rectangular shawls with hand-knotted fringe) were draped around their shoulders and their hair was pulled severely into buns secured by large flowers. Little girls were dressed as beautifully as their mothers and grandmothers.

Charrería is predominantly a male sport. Women perform in only one event, the escaramuza (skirmish). An escaramuza team consists of eight women who perform precision patterns while riding sidesaddle, often to musical accompaniment. This event is traditionally held after the coleadero and before the jineteo.

The adjective 'handsome' barely does justice to the charro. From his wide-brimmed heavy sombrero, fitted with a woven horsehair or tooled leather hatband, to his fine leather or ostrich-skin boots, he is every centímetro the gentleman cowboy.

The men, so elegant in their finest trajes de charro (cowboy suits), looked as if they had stepped out of the 19th century. Bristling mustaches and huge hats were the order of the day. These were the honored guests; the rest of us spectators wore normal clothes, but all jeans were knife-creased, all hats impeccable and everyone was considerably more dressed up than one might expect at a typical rodeo.

The crowd erupted in applause as the announcer introduced each charro and each took his place. Special announcements were made as the famous old charros took their places of honor, and the crowd erupted in applause at every name. It is easy to see why the charreada is a revered sporting tradition in Mexico and to understand why so much reverence is given to the founding fathers.

The grand parade of charros began with blaring music, led by a young woman from the escaramuza team who rode sidesaddle in full Porfiriato-era finery: a deeply ruffled long skirt, ribbons in her hair and the ubiquitous wide-brimmed sombrero, tilted at a just-so angle. Cheers and clapping continued as she led the teams, each with its team banner, around the perimeter of the arena. Then the fun really started.

Charro weddings are spectacular!

All nine suertes were played out that Saturday by the three competing teams. My favorite was the coleadero, in which the bull is let out of the chute as a charro on horseback waits by the chute gate. As the bull comes storming out of the chute, the cowboy's task is to gallop his horse full-tilt alongside the bull, grab the bull's tail, wind it twice around his leg and pull the bull to the ground, by the tail, all within a distance of about 200 feet. The bulls fell hard but always jumped right up and went running to their pens again.

The piales y manganas were spectacular, as the charros handled la riata (the lariat) with enormous skill. We were amazed to see one man first lasso and free the two front feet of the mare. In the second pass around the arena he lassoed and freed the two rear feet of the mare. In his third and final pass around the arena, he simultaneously lassoed all four feet of the galloping mare! No other charro that day was able to match his accomplished roping ability.

Some of the most famous mariachis in the world, Los Camperos de Nati Cano, played during the entire charreada. We were entranced by the music, fascinated by the color and action of the spectacle and thrilled by the acts of bravery and skill that the charros performed. What a day!

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