The Yucatán Peninsula
States of Yucatán & Campeche

Yucatán
The dance, the fiesta and the music from the peninsular states of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo are called "jaranas". This music is a marvelous combination of Spanish folklore with the pentaphonic sounds of Mayan music. In addition the Afro-Caribbean guaracha style (known as "salsa" today) has exercised a tremendous influence on the jaranas due to the peninsula's proximity to Cuba. The music is usually played by an orchestra with the clarinet and saxophone being prominent instruments.

In the state of Yucatán the "terno" is the name of the female's three-piece costume. It consists of three embroidered satin pieces: a tunic called "hipil" in Mayan; the embroidered collar, called jubón; and the skirt, called fustán. The local mestiza women wear a rebozo, use a coral rosary as a necklace and a giant bow on their heads called "cinta colorada". The men wear the Caribbean guayabera; a name given to this shirt because of its four pockets big enough to fit several guava fruits. The most popular festivity is the vaquería, a celebration that landowners organize to thank their hired hands after the branding of cattle. The dances that compose a vaquería are a series of jaranas that have become standards. It opens with a procession, in which the main dishes are carried to the landowner's home, where everyone is invited to dine, and then in late afternoon the dancing beings. "Angaripola", "Aires yucatecos", the "Maypole Dance" (Tunkuluchuú), "Las mujeres que se pintan", "El toro grande" and "El torito", are all favorite jaranas.

Campeche
The Campeche jaranas are also played by orchestras and do not differ much from those of Yucatán except that the guaracha influence is reflected in the dancing. Costuming of the women of this area is less indigenous in that the skirts are Spanish in design. The men of this area wear exactly the same outfit as in Yucatán.