Various Mexican Traditions

The municipal and royal authorities instituted a number of traditions similar to the Conquest festival; the largest of them was the entrada del virrey (the inaugural entrance of a new viceroy or governor). The arrival of a new viceroy to the colony was great cause for celebration and demanded the introduction of a large number of rituals dictated by protocol. A new viceroy, appointed by the Spanish Crown, assumed office approximately every six years. In the viceregal political system, the governor was considered the monarch's representative, a powerful minister who had tremendous authority, although it was limited by the vicissitudes of bureaucratic overlays and colonial politics. As European cities celebrated the visits of kings, so it became customary for colonial capitals to honor the "vice-king" who governed in the sovereign's name. The inaugural entrance of a viceroy into a town or city was the major civic ritual of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was an elaborate and costly version of smaller investiture ceremonies for installing local officials into new office. These smaller local investiture ceremonies entailed an oath of office, authorities dressed in regalia, a parade, much pomp and circumstance, feasting, and entertainment such as music and fireworks. The same was done for the entrance of a viceroy, but only on a much larger and more costly scale. The entrance did not directly affect all towns in the viceroyality but impacted upon villages along the route as the viceroy traveled from Veracruz to Mexico City and stopped for extended stays at Tlaxcala, Huetjotzingo, and Puebla. This was the grand fête, more expensive than all other municipal government expenditures and all other official events combined, causing local hosts to scramble for funding, sinking more into debt with each entrance.

Although imported from Europe, the entrance ceremony eventually came to reflect and even celebrate colonial realities. In both Mexico City and Puebla, the two largest urban areas visited by the viceroy, the celebration became a particularly sumptuous affair that lasted for weeks and included ephemeral triumphal arches, bullfights, plays, jousts, and great pageantry. The cathedrals in both cities also erected arches and staged their own fanfare within the walls of the church. The festivals posited the ideals of good governance and the virtues of the new minister. However, encased within the festival were political commentary and even criticism of previous administrations. For example, ritual and accompanying imagery on the triumphal arches allowed Mexico City entrance sponsors to criticize past viceroys for their lack of diligence and commitment, and also allowed them to stage a massive event that included the meticulously planned participation of Africans and Native Americans. Thus, it served two purposes: 1) to laud and counsel the viceroy, and 2) to awe the heterogenous spectators while presenting a message of acculturation, integration, and submission. In Puebla, city organizers heralded their city as a uniquely Spanish New World cultural entity but went one step further and asserted their city's superiority to Spanish urban centers.