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Barbacoa de Cabeza

Main article: Cabeza guateada

The most common barbacoa prepared and consumed all across Mexico is barbacoa de res (beef barbacoa). In many regions, specially in southern Mexico and along the Gulf Coast, entire cow barbacoa is prepared. But the most common, and one of the oldest, is barbacoa de cabeza, or beef-head barbacoa.

Barbacoa de cabeza, also known as Cabeza guateada in Argentina and Paraguay, consists in roasting an entire cow head, including tongue and brains, in an earth oven.

Besides being a highly prized, mainstream dish, another reason why Barbacoa de cabeza was prepared in Mexico and South America was out of the need to use every part of the cow after slaughtering it for tasajo. In 18th and 19th century Mexico, and Latin America, most of the beef consumed was dried salted beef known as “tasajo”. After slaughtering a cow, most of the flesh was salted and dried, with the exception of the lomo (loin, ribs), organs, and head. Typically, the lomo, ribs, and the organs, like the tripas, were roasted al pastor style (spit roasted), while the head was cooked in barbacoa. Mexican folklorist and historian, Leopoldo Bello López, explains the process:

“. . . an unbranded bull, about four years old, preferring death than losing its freedom, choked itself to death when it was lassoed. Without saying anything, three of the young vaqueros went to it to remove the hide, dismember it and bring it to camp. That night there would be a great feast: pieces of liver, kidneys and the loin on the spit over an open fire and the rest would be sliced and salted, and the head cooked in "barbacoa" in a hole made in the ground, that the next day would become a meal fit for kings.”

19th century recipes for Barbacoa de Cabeza are common and appear in many Mexican cookbooks of that time. In her cookbook —Nuevo y Sencillo Arte de Cocina, Repostería y Refrescos (1836)— Antonina Carrillo includes two barbacoa de cabeza recipes, one in which the head, after being seasoned, is wrapped with its own skin, and another one in which the skin is left on. In Mariano Galvan Rivera’s —Diccionario de Cocina o el Nuevo Cocinero Mexicano en Forma de Diccionario (1845)— includes many recipes for barbacoa including one for barbacoa de cabeza.

Eating beef head or a calf’s head was a mainstream and highly prized dish all across the Western World. The tradition was introduced to the Americas where it became a common cut of beef and dish. In the United States calf or beef head recipes appear in many early mainstream American cookbooks, from American Cookery by Amelia Simmons to The Virginia House-Wife by Mary Randolph, to What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking by Abby Fisher.

fórmase en el suelo una cavidad proporcionada á la cantidad de carne que se quiere condimentar. Se calienta por cierto tiempo, y sacando en seguida la lumbre, se tapizan el suelo y paredes con pencas de maguey. Se deposita la carne preparada con sal ó salsa que se quiere, se la cubre tambien con pencas, colocando encima el rescoldo y dejándola en esta forma hasta que el asado toma punto.

A cavity is formed in the floor proportional to the amount of meat that you want to season. It is heated for a certain time, and immediately taking out the fire, the floor and walls are covered with maguey leaves. The prepared meat is placed with salt or sauce that you want, it is also covered with stalks, placing the embers on top and leaving it in this form until the roast is done.

Barbacoa or Asado en Barbacoa (Spanish: [baɾβaˈkoa] ) in Mexico, refers to the local indigenous variation of the primitive method of cooking in a pit or earth oven. It generally refers to slow-cooking meats or whole sheep, whole cows, whole beef heads, or whole goats in a hole dug in the ground covered with agave (maguey) leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and in the present day (and in some cases) may refer to meat steamed until tender. This meat is known for its high fat content and strong flavor, often accompanied with onions and cilantro (coriander leaf). Because this method of cooking was used throughout different regions by different ethnic groups or tribes in Mexico, each had their own name for it; for the Nahuatl it was called nakakoyonki; for the Mayan it was called píib; for the Otomi it was called thumngö.

Being that it’s not unique to Mexico, similar methods exist throughout Latin America and the rest of the world, under distinct names, including: pachamanca and huatia in the Andean region; curanto in Chile and southern Argentina; berarubu in Brazil; cocido enterrado in Colombia; or hāngī in New Zealand.

Although it’s speculated that the word ”barbacoa” may have originated from the Taíno language, this method of cooking in an earth oven has nothing to do with the original Taíno definition of the word.

Etymology

The Taíno term barbacoa means “framework of sticks” and it was applied to a wide range of wooden structures, including a raised wooden grill for roasting and smoking foods

In Mexico, the term barbacoa was applied to the pit or earth oven used by the local indigenous people for cooking food.

There has been debate about the origin of the word barbacoa, with most scholars agreeing that it originates from the Taíno language. The Taino term “barbaca” or barbacoa means “framework of sticks” or “reeds”. It was applied, and continues to be applied throughout Latin America, to a wide range of objects or structures, like a raised wooden structure where the natives slept on; a raised wooden structure where they kept food away from the animals; a hanging hut; the attic of a hut; a scaffold; a wattle (weaved construction); a pergola for climbing plants; a wooden bridge, a shelter, a loft inside a house, a treehouse and a raised, small box filled with soil for cultivating vegetables; and a wooden grill where the natives would cure their meats over fire and smoke.

But in Mexico, for some unknown reason, the term barbacoa was applied by the Spaniards to the pit or earth oven used by the local indigenous people for cooking or roasting all kinds of foods. As a result from this discrepancy, a new hypothesis has been proposed that argues that the term barbacoa, as used in Mexico, originates from the Mayan word Baalbak'Kaab, which supposedly means “meat covered with soil”, although there’s no evidence to support it.

History

Earth ovens or barbacoa, as it’s known in Mexico, are an ancient, primitive method for cooking, steaming or roasting foods in holes or pits. Traditionally, in Mexico, a hole was dug in the ground proportionate to the size of the piece of meat or food being prepared; a fire was lit inside to heat it; In it, banana, maguey, or corn leaves are placed and with these the food that is to be roasted, whether meat or fish, is wrapped; then the hole is covered with soil, pressing it lightly and a large fire is lit on the surface layer; the food will remain roasting in this natural oven until cooked. In Pre-Columbian Mexico, turkey, deer, dog, fish, seafood, rabbit or turtles, were the most common meats used. With the arrival of the Spanish, mutton, beef, pork, and goat became the meats of choice.

The asado en barbacoa (roasting in barbacoa) was widely prepared in Mexico at countryside festivities, such as rodeos (cattle roundups), herraderos (cattle branding celebrations), bull-fights, patron saint festivities of the hacienda, or family picnics. According to two articles published by Mexican writer Domingo Revilla in 1844 and 1845, respectively, the “banquet” at the herraderos was reduced to barbacoas and asados al pastor (spit roasting barbecues) of whole calves (veal), bull or sheep, and wrote that while barbacoa was more common in the Mezquital and Apan valleys and surrounding areas, asados al pastor were more common in Tierra Adentro or the Bajío region and beyond.

In her book —Life in Mexico (1843)— Scottish noblewoman Frances Erskine Inglis, wrote about her experiences attending the rodeos and herraderos in central Mexico, near the town of Santiago in Hidalgo, in 1840, and describes how at the end of an herradero a whole bull was cooked in barbacoa:

The last day of the herraderos, by way of winding up, a bull was killed in honour of Calderón, and a great flag was sent streaming from a tree, on which flag was inscribed in large letters, "Gloria al Señor Ministro de la Augusta Cristina! ” a piece of gallantry which I rewarded with a piece of gold. The animal, when dead, was given as a present to the toreadores; and this bull, cut in pieces, they bury with his skin on, in a hole in the ground previously prepared with fire in it, which is then covered over with earth and branches. During a certain time, it remains baking in this natural oven, and the common people consider it a great delicacy, (in which I differ from them).

In the cities, though, barbacoa was very rarely prepared in homes, rather, it was sold and bought in the public markets, as it was a tedious and difficult process. In her book —Face to Face with the Mexicans (1889)— Fanny Chambers Gooch Iglehart, wrote:

”Barbacoa is one of the principal articles of food known to the Mexican market—and is good enough for the table of a king. The dexterous native takes a well-dressed mutton, properly quartered, using also head and bones. A hole is made in the ground, and a fire built in it. Stone slabs are thrown in, and the hole is covered. When thoroughly hot, a lining is made of maguey leaves, the meat put in, and covered with maguey, the top of the hole is also covered, and the process of cooking goes on all night. The next morning it is put in a hot vessel, ready to eat-a delicious, brown, crisp, barbecued mutton. As the process is difficult and tedious, it is not generally prepared in the families, and even the wealthiest patronize the market for this delicacy, ready cooked.”

Folk History

is a form of cooking meat that originated in the Caribbean with the Taíno people, who called it by the Arawak word barbaca, from which the term "barbacoa" derives, and ultimately, the word 'barbecue".

Styles

By the 20th century, as a result of urbanization, the Mexican Revolution, the cost of living, and other social and economic changes, different styles of barbacoa began to emerge depending on the region. According to Mexican chef and professor, Josefina Velázquez de León’s book Platillos Regionales de la República Mexicana (1946) barbacoa is prepared in different ways, thus, each region of Mexico has its own style taking advantage of its own local various productions and customs.

Birria

Main article: Birria

Birria (Spanish: [ˈbirja] ) is a regional variation of barbacoa from western Mexico, mainly made with goat or beef. The meat is marinated in an adobo made of vinegar, dried chiles, garlic, and herbs and spices (including cumin, bay leaves, and thyme) before being cooked in a broth (Spanish: consomé). Historically, birria was the regional name given in the state of Jalisco and surrounding areas to what is known as barbacoa, meats cooked or roasted in a pit or earth oven, in other regions of Mexico. For many people today, birria is now a distinct dish

Restaurants or street carts that serve birria are known as birrierias and exist throughout Mexico, especially in Michoacán and Jalisco. However, neighboring Mexican states have their own variations of the dish, including Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, and Colima.

Cochinita Pibil

Main article: Cochinita pibil

Cochinita pibil (also puerco pibil or cochinita con achiote) is a traditional Yucatec Mayan slow-roasted pork dish from the Yucatán Peninsula. Preparation of traditional cochinita involves marinating the meat in strongly acidic citrus juice, adding annatto seed, which imparts a vivid burnt orange color, and roasting the meat in a píib (earth oven) while it is wrapped in banana leaf.

It is often served at celebratory occasions such as weddings, baptisms and during holidays such as Christmas and Easter and even at funerals. Preparation techniques vary, but the dish is often served with corn tortillas, onion, cilantro, and lime.

Ximbo

Main article: Ximbo

Ximbo (from nximbo meaning “the heart of the maguey”) is a traditional pit-barbecued pork dish from the Mexican states of Hidalgo and México. It originated in the Mezquital Valley, mainly in San Salvador and Actopan municipalities. Ximbo is an Otomi word. It is generally made from pork, beef, pork cueritos, fish, and chicken fried in chili sauce with nopalitos, cumin, oregano, and onions. It is then wrapped in small packages made of century plant leaf.

Barbacoa de Cabeza

Main article: Cabeza guateada

Quitado con cuidado y limpieza el cuero como que se le ha de volver a poner, se partirà por la mitad, se limpiará lo mejor que se pueda, y sajada la lengua se mecharà con tiras de jamon cocido, ajos y clavos toda ella, y se untară bien de sal, ajos y chiles anchos desvenados puestos en remojo y molidos, pimienta en polvo, vinagre, orégano, tomille, y cuando ya esté se volverá á unir, y por fuera se le hara la misma operacion de mechado y de untarla de adovo, y así que se concluya se envolvera en papeles untados de suficiente manteca, y que quede bien cubierta con ellos, luego se le pondra el cuero, y á mas de eso se envolverá en un pedazo de costal de mecate muy mojado, y así se pondrá en un hoyo que estará dispuesto como sigue. Este se hace por la mañana, de cosa de media vara de hondo, dejando la tierrra al borde de él para que tambien esté caliente, se le pone un tendido de piedras, y sobre ellas lumbre de leña todo el dia sin que le falte, y á la caida de la tarde se desparraman todas las brasas apartando algunas, se pone la cabeza de un lado, y del otro se le pone la lumbre apartada, y bastante rescoldo que habrá prevenido, encima de él una poca de la tierra que estará caliente, cosa que quede, ó al parejo del borde del hoyo, ó un poco ménos, y sobre ella se pondrá lumbre de leña por toda la noche, y al dia siguiente se sacarà cuando ya vaya á servir. Tambien se hace en horno con solo los papeles, ó sola, puesta en una cazuela; pero es de distinto gusto. Otra se hace lo mismo sin quitarle el cuero ni partirla; es buena; pero no se puede limpiar, ni ménos mechar, si no es entre cuero y carne.

Once the skin has been carefully and cleanly removed, as if it had to be put back on, it will be split in half, cleaned as best as possible, and the sliced tongue will be sprinkled with strips of cooked ham, garlic and cloves throughout, and It will be well covered with salt, garlic and deveined ancho chili peppers soaked and ground, powdered pepper, vinegar, oregano, thyme, and when it is done it will be joined again, and on the outside the same operation of wiping and spreading will be done. of adovo, and as soon as it is finished it will be wrapped in papers spread with enough butter, and that it is well covered with them, then the leather will be put on it, and in addition to that it will be wrapped in a piece of very wet rope bag, and Thus it will be placed in a hole that will be arranged as follows. This is done in the morning, about half a yard deep, leaving the earth at the edge of it so that it is also warm, a layer of stones is placed on it, and a fire of firewood is placed on them all day without missing, and at the end of the afternoon all the embers are scattered, moving some aside, the head is placed on one side, and the fire is placed aside on the other, and enough embers that will have been saved, on top of it a little of the earth that will be hot, whatever is left, or even with the edge of the hole, or a little less, and a firewood fire will be placed on it throughout the night, and the next day it will be taken out when it is ready to be used. It is also made in the oven with only the papers, or alone, placed in a casserole; but it is of different taste. Another does the same without removing the skin or breaking it; It is good; but it cannot be cleaned, much less waxed, if it is not between leather and meat.

“Amongst us [the Mexicans], BIRRIA is what the lower classes call barbacoa”.}} In —Vocabulario Campesino Nacional (1945)— Mexican historian, Leovigildo Islas Escárcega, stated that it was a term specifically from Jalisco and some areas of the interior for barbacoa:

“Nombre con que designan a la barbacoa, en Jalisco y en algunos puntos del interior"

“Name used to designate barbacoa, in Jalisco and in some parts of the interior.

Félix Ramos y Duarte, defined the term in his —Diccionario de Mejicanismos (1898)— as a regionalism from Mexico City for goat barbacoa:

“Birria (D. F.), sf. Barbacoa de chivo, ó chivo asado."

“Birria (México City), Goat Barbacoa, or roasted goat.

Mexican linguist and philologist, Francisco J. Santamaría, also defined the term as being another name for barbacoa in his —Diccionario de Mejicanismos (1959):

“Birria, f. En cierta región del país, principalmente en Guadalajara (Jalisco), carne de borrego o de chivo, preparada a semejanza de la barbacoa, y que es típica del lugar; barbacoa en general."

“Birria, f. In a certain region of the country, mainly in Guadalajara (Jalisco), lamb or goat meat, prepared in the style of barbacoa, and which is typical of the place; barbacoa in general.

Mexican chef and professor, Josefina Velázquez de León, stated in her book —Platillos Regionales de México (1946)— that barbacoa has many variations or styles depending on the region of Mexico, and that birria was one style. While Mexican writer and essayist, Jorge Mejia Prieto, defined it as a: soupy barbacoa made with lamb or goat meat from Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Darío Rubio (Mineral de la Luz, Guanajuato, December 8, 1878 - Mexico City, January 21, 1952), was a Mexican scholar and philologist, specializing in the study of paremiology, Mexican Spanish and popular speech. He made some publications under the pseudonym Ricardo del Castillo.

He did his first studies in his native state. He moved to Mexico City, where he worked for various companies, including the Nacional Monte de Piedad. Becoming interested in paremiology and popular speech, he wrote articles for various periodical publications. On October 23, 1918, he was elected corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Language, and becoming a full member, taking possession of Chair V, on July 20, 1927, with the speech —“The Mexican Popular Language”— to which Victoriano Salado Álvarez responded. He was secretary of the institution from 1931 and treasurer from 1934, until until his death on January 21, 1952 in Mexico City.

Published Works

• Pierrot: ensayo dramático, 1909.
• Ligeras reflexiones acerca de nuestro teatro nacional, 1912.
• Los llamados mexicanismos de la Academia española, 1917.
• Nahuatlismos y barbarismos, 1919.
• El jaripeo, 1920.
• La anarquía del lenguaje en la América española, 1925.
• Refranes, proverbios y dichos y dicharachos mexicanos, two volumes, 1925 y 1940.
• El Nacional Monte de Piedad: fundado en el año de 1775, 1947.
• El pobrecito señor X. La oruga, under the pseudonym, Ricardo del Castillo.

Historically, birria was the regional name given in the state of Jalisco and surrounding areas to what is known as barbacoa, meats cooked or roasted in an earth oven, in other regions of Mexico. For many people today, birria is now a distinct dish

JOBS IN THE HACIENDA:

• VAQUERO - The job of Vaquero was the lowest, along with the Indian peasant farmer, in the hierarchy of the Hacienda. The job of Vaquero consisted of guarding, caring for and herding cattle, as well as taking care of the herd of horses. They were in charge of branding, curing and castrating the cattle, as well as grooming the horses, and milking the cows. They were also in charge of hunting animals, such as deer, and in order to protect the herds, they also hunted predatory animals such as wolves, coyotes, jaguars, pumas and bears, all done with the roping. The Vaqueros under the orders of the Caporal.
• CAPORAL - The Caporal was the captain or chieftain of the Vaqueros. The job of Caporal consisted of organizing and leading the rodeos, the branding of the herds, the hacienda festivities, as well as the animal hunts. The Caporal was originally a Vaquero until he was promoted to Caporal. Caporales, therefore, were more skilled ropers and horsemen. Each Caporal and Vaquero had his hatajo (group of horses) by color, with the caporales' horses being the most outstanding and vibrant. The Caporal was under the orders of the Mayordomo of the hacienda.
• CABALLERANGO - The knight was the caretaker of the horses, mainly those of the boss. His job was to care for, groom, and prepare the horses that were going to be used during the day. The caballerango responded to the orders of the caporal, or the boss.
• HORSE TAMERS and TRAINERS - Also known as Picadores, they were in charge of taming and leasing the horses. Depending on the region of the country, as well as the qualities of the trainer and landlord, the training was going to be different; from a quick taming through aggressive methods, as in northern Mexico, to more elaborate and non-violent training as in central Mexico. As Horses were very abundant in the wild in the 19th century, the only value they had was the type of training they received, therefore the better the training, the higher their price.
• MAJORDOMO-The Butler was in charge of all the workers of the hacienda, and was in charge of transmitting to them the orders of the Administrator (or Landowner) of the hacienda, whom he obeyed. The Administrator, for his part, administered the hacienda in the name of the Landowner, who usually did not live on the hacienda.

HORSEMANSHIP

A Ranchero is an independent son of the Mexican soil, generally a renter of lands, always owner of a horse, on which he may be said to live and have his being. Today a cattle-herder (Vaquero), tomorrow a soldier, this week a gambler, next week a robber — with all his sins, and they are as his hairs in number, he has one supreme excellence: you may not match him the world over as a rider, not though you set against him the most peerless of the turbaned knights of the jereed. Once it was my fortune to see a thousand Rancheros, in holiday garb and mounted, sweep down at a run to meet President Juarez, then en route to begin his final campaign against the hapless Hapsburger. They literally glistened with silver —silver on saddle and bridle, silver on jacket and trowsers, silver on hats, silver on heels; and, as with vivas long and shrilly intoned, and stabs of rowel merciless and maddening, they drove their mustangs —the choicest of the wild herds— headlong forward, the spectacle was stirring enough to have made the oldest hetman of the Cos­sacks young again.

Eventually, towards the 18th century, those Vaqueros, those who lived on the cattle estancias as well as the nomads, began to be known under the name of “Rancheros”. The term "Ranchero" comes from "Rancho", a term that was given in Mexico, since the 18th century, to the countryside or hamlets where cattle were raised or land was sowed. Spanish priest, Mateo José de Arteaga, in his —"Description of the Diocese of Guadalajara de Indias" (1770)— defined "Rancho" as: "those places in which few people live with few goods and housed in huts". While the Spanish friar, José Alejandro Patiño, in his text —"Topografía del Curato de Tlaxomulco" (1778)— defined it as: "Ranchos are in these Indian kingdoms, country houses of little pomp and value, in which poor and middle class men live cultivating the small lands that they own or rent, in which to sow, to the size of each of their possibilities and raising their domestic country animals, according to each of their strength."

These rural lands and hamlets, were part of a Hacienda, since most land belonged to the landed elites. Thus, a hacienda was made up of Ranchos, and in those Ranchos lived the people that worked for the hacienda, the Rancheros. The Rancheros managed the cattle and horses, working as Vaqueros, Caporales, Mayordomos or Horse-tamers, among other jobs. By the 1840s, Spanish (from Spain) dictionaries included the Mexican definition of Rancho as: "In Mexico it is a separate farmhouse dependent on a hacienda"; while for "Ranchero" they give the definition: "the one who lives on a rancho; it is usually understood the same as CAMPESINO [countryman, or farmer]". Spanish historian and journalist Niceto de Zamacois, defined the terms Ranchero and Rancho, as follows:

The men of the countryside who carry out their jobs on horseback are given the name of "Rancheros," derived from the word Rancho that is applied to a small hacienda, or to a part of a large one that is divided into villages or ranchos. Those who carry out the same tasks in the haciedas of Veracruz are given the name of "Jarochos."

Thomas Mayne Reid, an Irish-American novelist who fought in the Mexican-American War, defined the terms in the 1840’s, as follows:

The "RANCHERO" is a Mexican countryman, above the order of the serf or peon. He is the vaquero at times, or the arriero [muleteer], or he may be possessed of a small holding, and farm it for himself. He is a great horseman, and always mounted, galloping after cattle, or amusing himself in some other way. The Vaquero is also a ranchero; so, too, is the montero, who is so called from living in a mountainous district.

VAQUERO - A "Vaquero" is a ranchero or countryman, who looks after cattle. As Mexico is chiefly a grazing country it will be seen that there are many of its inhabitants employed in this pursuit. The vaquero is always mounted, and generally well dressed. He carries the lazo constantly; and he is the man, above all others, who can use it with dexterity. He can fling it over a bull's horns twenty yards off, or loop it round the foot of the animal when going at a full gallop! This feat I have witnessed a hundred times. Your vaquero is also expert in the game of "Colea de toros" or " bull-tailing"—that is, he can, on horseback, catch the tail of a running bull —whip it under the hind leg— and fling the animal on its back! This feat also have I witnessed over and again. The vaquero takes his name from "vacas," signifying cows or cattle.

Thus, Ranchero is the Mexican countryman, specifically a horseman, who performed all his duties on the hacienda or countryside on horseback, working as Vaqueros and Caporales, among other jobs. Charro started off in the 18th century as a derogatory term for Rancheros, synonymous with the English terms yokel, or “Bumpkin”; but evolved to be synonymous with Ranchero; thus both, Ranchero and Charro were, historically, the same thing, a name for the people of the countryside, specifically the horsemen. Although, in some instances, Charro was used specifically, for the Vaqueros of “Tierra-Adentro”, or the interior land, which included the Bajio and northern Mexico, or anything beyond north of Mexico City.

In his book —Mexico in 1842 (1844)– Spanish lawyer and monarchist, Luis Manuel del Rivero, wrote:

The Ranchero is a man of higher thoughts, very strong, great horseman, a good drinker, who spends a peso without hesitation when he has any; that when he walks he drags his colossal and sonorous spurs, while handling his quirt; that on horseback he never gets rid of his machete, tucked under his thigh, and often crossing it with that of his adversary, or with that of a friend, giving or receiving a slash merely for fun and amusement. He is a man who, confined in his rancheria, cultivates the land with his wife and children, or perhaps leaves this servile occupation to his family, and he gives himself up to the noblest of arms in the woods and at crossroads. He is a man that when he works in the haciendas, he performs all his tasks on horseback and follows his master everywhere, to whom he usually sells his body and soul. He is an Arab in his habits, a little nomadic, and more specifically in the knowledge and handling of the horse, which he raises and educates like a son, works him without compassion, and loves him with delirium as the faithful companion of his adventures, and the noble instrument of his amusements and his glories. His attire, boots made of leather with which the leg is wrapped several times; spurs, as I have said, colossal; wide leather or cloth pants over cloth underwear; cotton shirt; a sash with which the waist is secured; a cotona, that is, a short leather jacket that is worn over the head, and a very large and heavy chambergo or Jarano hat. For overdress, a Manga or Serape. His horse's trappings are no less grotesque, since the Vaquero saddle with its large stirrups and flaps, especially if it is complemented by an anquera, water shields and other trifles, is a world in the midst of which the Ranchero finds himself in his world, and he believes himself superior to all the powerful men of the earth, executing extremely difficult spins and movements.

An 1849 report on Guanajuato, in the Bajio region, states:

“The horsemen of the countryside wear the dress we call Charro, that is, leather or cloth pants with many buttons; embossed deer or goat skin boots; large spurs and a wide-brimmed hat, which are accompanied by the manga or serape, and water shields.”

in Spain and Latin-America, it simply means —“pastor de ganado vacuno”— a cowherd, herdsman, cattle-herder, or keeper of cows, regardless of how the job is performed. In the United States, where the word has gained mythical status and it is highly romanticized among western and cowboy historians and enthusiasts, it is defined as a highly skilled, horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that supposedly has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain.

Vaquero is the Spanish word for cowherd, herdsman or herder of cattle. It derives from vaca, meaning "cow", which in turn comes from the Latin word vacca. Within Spain and Latin America, it holds no special meaning other than a “herdsman” or “cattle-herder” nor it is defined as being a “horse-mounted herdsman”. It’s simply defined as the job of guarding and leading the herds of horned cattle. Menawhile, in the United States, the word has been redefined, and highly romanticized, to mean a specific type of herdsman, one that is mounted, with a specific set of skills and traditions, believed to have been brought from Spain.