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Fiesta is the Spanish word for “party” or “celebration”; it’s used by both ladinos and Maya-Quiché Indians. In Rigoberta’s narrative, fiestas usually honor important cultural events and might involve special activities, such as eating meat.
Fiesta Quotes in I, Rigoberta Menchú
The I, Rigoberta Menchú quotes below are all either spoken by Fiesta or refer to Fiesta. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 29
Quotes
In the schools they often celebrate the day of Tecún Umán. Tecún Umán is the Quiché hero who is said to have fought the Spanish and then been killed by them. Well, there is a fiesta each year in the schools. They commemorate the day of Tecún Umán as the national hero of the Quichés. But we don’t celebrate it, primarily because our parents say that this hero is not dead. […] His birthday is commemorated as something which represented the struggle of those times. But for us the struggle still goes on today, and our suffering more than ever. We don’t want it said that all that happened in the past, but that it exists today, and so our parents don’t let us celebrate it. We know this is our reality even though the ladinos tell it as if it were history.
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Fiesta Term Timeline in I, Rigoberta Menchú
The timeline below shows where the term Fiesta appears in I, Rigoberta Menchú. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2: Birth Ceremonies
At the baby’s birth, a fiesta (party) is organized, during which a sheep is killed. For eight days, the baby is...
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Chapter 9: Ceremonies for Sowing Time and Harvest. Relationships with the Earth
Rigoberta then describes the fiesta that inaugurates the maize harvest. In this ceremony, the villagers pray together, burn incense, and...
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Chapter 11: Marriage Ceremonies
After this third ceremony, a small fiesta gathers the family together. During this event, the father relinquishes responsibility of his daughter, since...
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The entire community then gathers for a fiesta. During this event, the girl meets her husband’s godparents for the first time. She also...
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Chapter 21: Farewell to the Community: Rigoberta Decides to Learn Spanish
...an underground organization, after leaving prison. He was forced to lead a hidden life. A fiesta was organized at their village, as a farewell; such special events represented one of the...
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Chapter 29: Fiestas and Indian Queens
Rigoberta describes the fiestas that take place in towns, which mix ancestral traditions with modern interpretations of history. Schools,...
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The one aspect of these fiestas that Rigoberta does enjoy is the “Dance of the Conquest,” which represents the Indian perspective...
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