The Carnival of Mérida, Yucatán 1850-1940. A tradition that wrestles against its elitism

Abstract

In this article I carry out research of the Mérida carnival, from its beginnings to 1940, being my objective to make evident its trajectory and the way in which the power elite appropriated its festive tradition, and for that I use several primary and secondary sources, particularly I use the archives of acts of the council, newspapers and other publications.

The carnival was organized by various social layers, having its greatest splendor at the time of the porfiriato. The key was in the increasingly stronger leagues between the political and economic elites and the public force, that’s why its organic intellectuals prolonged the model of a carnival that was more exclusive than popular until 1940, a decade in which it finally integrated into its structure the figures of a Carnival Committee and the election of a queen.