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THE OFFERING AND THE OFFERERS: A GENERIC ILLOCATION OF A LAREDO 'PASTORELA' IN THE TRADITION OF SHEPHERDS' PLAYS (SPAIN, MEXICO, TEXAS)
Abstract
The Pastorela, a shepherds' play that originated in the Christmas cycle of medieval liturgical drama in Spain survives as a folk play in various Spanish-speaking regions of Europe and America. This work traces the genre from that liturgical origin to its development in the sixteenth century in Mexico as a didactic colonizing vehicle, and to its eventual development as folk drama in the United States. The study also focuses, from a structural semiotic perspective, on two aspects of a pastorela that was performed in Laredo, Texas, in 1975, and concludes that the text functions as social and religious ritual and that through this function and because of its folkloric and literary nature it survives as part of the Christmas festival. The analysis of the Ofrecimiento and of the characterization provides evidence that the tradition fulfills various needs of the performers and of the spectators as it recreates the familiar battle between the Devil and the Angel--Lusbel and Miguel--and the significant adoration and offering by the shepherds--Bato, Gila, Bartolo, and others--along with the Ranchero and the Ermitano. The gifts presented to the child by the shepherds in the Ofrecimiento are analyzed allegorically, analogically and tropologically. This section of the rich iconological representation is found to be a structural parallel to the liturgy of the Mass. The longevity of the genre, and of this scene is explained through an analysis of the function of the gifts, symbols of the Passion, and of the contract they represent between the Child God and the gift bearers who overcome all obstacles to attain salvation. The study also examines each character's appearance in the genre and using their onomastic labels as well as their dramatic discourse, actions and gestures, proposes that they embody opposing forces, operate as "signs" defining each other through binary opposition, and represent the wider social reality of the audience. Two pastorelas are included as appendices. Both texts are as close to the original scripts as possible and include orthographic and other inconsistencies. A brief discussion on translation introduces the more literal than literary translation of the performance text that is the basis for the study.
Subject Area
Romance literature
Recommended Citation
CANTU, NORMA ELIA, "THE OFFERING AND THE OFFERERS: A GENERIC ILLOCATION OF A LAREDO 'PASTORELA' IN THE TRADITION OF SHEPHERDS' PLAYS (SPAIN, MEXICO, TEXAS)" (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8306475.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8306475