Mexican Hat Dance Also known as the Jarabe tapatio, the Mexican Hat Dance is a popular Mexican folk dance that tells the story of love and courtship. Men are dressed in the traditional "charro suit", composed of a vest, jacket and pants with silver buttons down the seam and a charro hat, a large embroidered "sombrero".
These are the steps:
1.Men make courtship gestures to their partners and attempt to attract them with their zapateado (stamping their feet on the floor).
2. Once they have impressed their partners, the "charros" become drunk with love. They act as drunk and are rejected by the women.
3. The men finally conquer their partners and throw their charro hats to the ground.
4. The women bend down to pick up the hats and their partners pass their leg over them.
5. Next, men and women march to the rythm of a military tune.
6. The dance ends when the couple hide their faces behind the man's hat to kiss.
This is one of little kids favorite games! One of the kids is selected to be the wolf. The wolf can also be played by an adult. The rest of the kids dance in a circle holding hands, singing the following song:
Juguemos en el bosque mientras el lobo no esta. Lobo estas?
Which means:
Let's play in the woods while the wolf is out. Wolf, are you there?
When the kids ask the wolf if he's there, they stop dancing and the wolf says "I just woke up". The wolf must enact everything that he says he's doing. Next time the kids ask if he's there, he must say that he's taking a bath, drying his hair, brushing his teeth, putting on his clothes, and anything funny that he can think of. When the wolf is ready and the kids ask if he's there, the wolf says "I'm here!" and runs around to try to catch the kids.
El Bote: The Tin Can This game must be played in a large open space, like a park. The Tin Can is one of the most traditional Mexican games that kids used to play on the street.
A kid is chosen to be "it". "It" will slam a tin can on the curb of the sidewalk and another child will then kick the can as far as possible. "It" must race to get the can back to the curb and slam it there, while the other kids look for a place to hide.
"It" must then go look for the other kids. When "it" finds someone both kids must run to the can. If "it" slams the can down first, the other player becomes "it" and all children are called back to start over again. If the other player is the one to slam the can down first, then "it" will have to keep looking for the rest of the children.
Gallinita Ciega: Blind Chicken This game can be played indoors but a large space like a garage is required.
One kid is the "Blind Chicken" and is blindfolded. The rest of the kids make a circle around her/him. The "Blind Chicken" is turned around several times to disorient him and then he must try to catch the rest of the players while they run around to avoid being caught! Kids can call out the "Blind Chicken" to distract him/her if another player is about to get caught.
Ensalada de Frutas: Fruits Salad All kids choose a fruit to be and take a place around the room. The person chosen to be "it" must stand in the middle of the room and shout out the name of two fruits or more, who must switch places while "it" tries to steal one of the free spots! "It" can also say "fruits salad!" and all kids have to get a new spot. If a kid stays on the same spot, they become "it".
"It" can fool players to steal their place by calling their fruit name together with the name of a fruit that hasn't been picked by any player. Therefore kids must not leave their spot until they make sure that the fruit that they are told to switch places with is really playing!
Cuartel Ingles: The English Quarter Kids make up two teams. Each team stands in a line at arms length, at a distance of 20 feet approximately facing the opposite team. A player is chosen to start the game by going to the "English Quarter", that is, to the opposite team. Players in the opposite team must extend an arm forward for the player to slap one of them on the hand. The person slapped will have to run after the player that slapped him and try to catch him before he reaches his team. If caught, the player becomes part of the opposite team.
The kid that was slapped must now slap on the hand a kid in the opposite team. The game goes on until all players of a team are caught by the opposite team, or until kids are tired of running!
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