Sixteenth-century fiestas were announced by drums and the _chirimía_--a shrill flute from Aztec-Toltec-Mayan days. Dancers performed in front of the big house or danced in a patio or on the tiles of the church plaza. They wore harlequin-like costumes, feathered headdresses, conquest clothes, white trousers sashed with red, giant sombreros, masks; they flaunted wands, shields, spears, bows, and arrows. Ankle rattles hissed. Gourds thumped and rustled. Only male dancers participated. In the far south, at estates in Chiapas, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, and Campeche, the marimba replaced the flute and drum. Sometimes six or eight musicians pounded out music simultaneously on four or five instruments. [Illustration: Hacienda de Sodzil, Yucatán: bronze weathervane on residence.] In the north, on Sonoran and Chihuahuan haciendas, the violin was the chief instrument. Fashioned with no other tools than pieces of glass and a knife, it supplied basic rhythms, one or several instruments wailing for Yaqui and Tarahumaran dances. [Illustration: Hacienda de Puerto de Nieto, Guanajuato: stone residence and chapel.] Flowers decked every fiesta. Gardenias were tossed into the fountains, carnations were woven into bell ropes, and rambler roses were spun around ox cart wheels and wagon wheels. Blossoms filled churches and chapels with fragrance, they crisscrossed patios on wires, they brightened roadside shrines. Food and drink were plentiful: tortillas, beans, beans cooked with beef or chicken, pots and pots of beans, iron caldrons of soup, meat barbecued on spits, ox and goat, barrels of punch, buckets of pulque, barrels of beer, bottles of tequila, and, of course, cognac--for the _gente de razón_ (gentry). [Illustration: Hacienda de Puerto de Nieto, Guanajuato: gate.] In the big house, dinners were elaborate--the hacendado presiding. The menu offered _Cochinita pibil_ (pork barbecued in banana leaves), squash blossom soup, _quesadillas_ (tortilla turnovers stuffed with cheese and mushrooms), _uchepos_ (corn mush steamed in husks), _muk-bil pollo_ (chicken and pork tamale pie), _tamales Veracruzanos_ (pork-filled tamales), and _ate de guayaba_ (guava candy paste). For special guests, the chefs served more elaborate dishes: pheasant, quail, javelina, venison, dove, rabbit. There were no government restrictions on wild game. Fishermen contributed _gallo_ (rooster fish), _pardo trucha_ (trout), _huachinango_ (red snapper), turtle, turtle eggs, lobster, and crab. [Illustration: Hacienda de Puerto de Nieto, Guanajuato: church.]