Pascola Dancer Bells Belt

Description

The Coyolis is a belt for ceremonial use, part of the attire of the Pascola dancer. Made of leather in the form of a sash that covers the front and side of the dancer's waist, while there are strips of the same material to hold the sash and others that carry a bell at the end, each one made of brass.


Etymologically the word coyolis comes from the yoeme coyolim and means bells. Symbolically it represents the union and strength of the Yaqui peoples, reflected in the eight bells contained in the belt, the two central ones are attached with longer strips than the rest, with the purpose of assuming the two heads of the Yaqui tribe: Vícam and Pótam.


The historical records about the use of instruments like this one, from which metal bells hang and not other types such as seashells, are only applicable to the ethnic groups in the north of the country, this under the argument that they are original groups made up mostly of farmers, and they have always been more linked to the land than to the sea, since from it they have obtained their sustenance and the symbolic associations that make up their conceptual world (Varela, 1986).