El armadillo y la serpiente. Modelos del ser hombre y ser mujer en la narrativa huave

The Huave of San Mateo del Mar (Oaxaca, Mexico) have a rich repertoire of tales narrating the disputes in which small and weak individuals unexpectedly defeat antagonists with a powerful appearance. Usually these struggles attain to the cosmic struggle between the lightning, which regulates rain, and the giant snake, which can trigger storms and floods: this clash is the focus of the ritual dance that takes place in Corpus Christi, the main Huave ritual public celebration. Underneath the contrast between the opposing and complementary forces that determine the rain cycle, there is also the one between male and female gender, which appears in many other narratives, sometimes in a humorous tone. In this article I shall examine the tale of Guicha tunante, a sort of indigenous Taming of the shrew, in which a man ‘who is not worth it’ manages to win – assuming the form of an armadillo, and therefore defeating her magical arts – the most beautiful, haughty and coveted woman of the community, who first attracts and then rejects all suitors transforming herself into a snake. Through the representation of forms of courtship and seduction, implemented by resorting also to the metamorphic faculties and the alter egos of its characters, this Huave narrative highlights the values and patterns of behavior which inspire the ideas of male and female roles, the correct relationship between the sexes and the profile that must be observed, in public and in private, by those who venture into the treacherous path of love affairs.