Xilam (Mesoamerican Martial Art)
A modern Mexican martial art inspired by the warrior cultures of the Aztecs, Maya and Zapotecs. It was founded by Marisela Ugalde and is practiced in seven animal grades.
Quick Facts
MexicoCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Xilam (Mesoamerican Martial Art)
About Xilam (Mesoamerican Martial Art)
According to George Jennings, Xilam is a recently created modern Mexican martial art inspired by the pre-Hispanic warrior cultures of the Mexica (Aztecs), Maya and Zapotecs, which aims to save, rediscover and relive their philosophy. According to Jennings it is pronounced shi-lam, and he derives the name from the Mayan word Dzilam, meaning to shed skin. Jennings and Cynarski describe it as a non-sport martial art. Xilam was founded by Marisela Ugalde Velázquez de León, who according to Jennings and Cynarski trained for decades under various Asian masters and whose spiritual teacher was Andrés Segura Granados. The year of founding differs between sources. In 2015 Jennings gives the founding as 1986 and registration as a social association in 1992, Jennings and Cynarski give its origin as the late 1980s and registration in 1992 in Mexico City, and in 2018 Jennings gives both founding and registration as 1992. According to Jennings and Cynarski, Xilam is practiced in seven grades named after animals, the snake, eagle, ocelot, monkey, deer, iguana and armadillo, paired with colored belts from white to black. According to Jennings the stances are low and wide, similar to the horse-rider stance. Jennings and Cynarski state that Xilam is taught in Mexico City, in the State of Mexico and in Hidalgo, and that it faces strong commercial competition.
History
According to Jennings (2015), the combat systems of the Mexica and the Maya died out, and attempts by some non-academic groups in the United States to rediscover the Mexican art of Yaomachtia are disputed. Jennings states in 2018 that Marisela Ugalde created Xilam after years of practising Asian martial arts, as a response to the demise of indigenous Mexican martial traditions after the conquest. Jennings and Cynarski write that the founder trained for decades under various Asian masters and that her spiritual teacher was Andrés Segura Granados, according to Jennings a leader of the concheros dance. According to Jennings, the founder continues to study codices, pottery and ruins in order to draw pre-Hispanic philosophy of the art from them. In an interview cited by Jennings in 2015, she says that Xilam has been gestating since 1991 and has still not been born after 23 years, and she calls herself its mother. Jennings gives the year of founding in various works as 1986, the late 1980s or 1992.
How it differs
Jennings in 2015 distinguishes Xilam from two surviving indigenous wrestling forms, the Zapotec Chupaporrazo and the Tarahumara Lucha Tarahumara, which are supported by the Federación Mexicana de Juegos y Deportes Autóctonos y Tradicionales. According to Jennings in 2018, Xilam is indigenist, not feminist, and focuses on balance and duality. According to Jennings, the founder created Xilam after years of practising Asian martial arts. Jennings in 2021 states that critics of Xilam fault it for borrowing East Asian techniques and that online debates revolve around the origin of individual techniques.
Technique
Jennings and Cynarski list seven animals of Xilam: the snake, eagle, ocelot (ocelotl), monkey, deer, iguana and armadillo. According to Jennings, the seven stances correspond to the seven animals, and the stances are wide and low, similar to a horse-rider stance. The snake stance works with fingertip strikes to the throat, and its form is called Venda, a Zapotec word. The basic forms have 20 movements, which Jennings links to the twenty Aztec calendar units. UNESCO ICM classes Xilam among the mixed arts (grappling, striking) and states that strikes originate from the shoulders and hips. Jennings writes that punches are first practised in the air. Jennings and Cynarski describe paired drills of direct and potentially lethal techniques, including gouging the eyes, strikes to the throat and groin, pulling the ears and tearing the skin. In advanced stages, according to Jennings, weapons are introduced, among them the macuahuitl, conchas and deer antlers. UNESCO ICM adds that Xilam also draws on the Mesoamerican ball game and pre-Hispanic dance rituals.
Training
Jennings describes a lesson of about 90 minutes, often two hours, with games such as patos and ending in guided meditation. According to him, counting is in Nahuatl, Spanish and Mayan. It includes paired conditioning with light punches to the stomach, and according to Jennings and Cynarski, logs replace dumbbells in conditioning. According to Jennings, instruction has three steps: a form in four directions, a form in multiple directions and an application in self-defense. Jennings and Cynarski state that the first form is practice of stances in ritual movement to the four cardinal directions and the third is movement between stances, heights and directions. According to Jennings, each step of the form has a self-defense application, for example a low block against a groin kick. According to him, the movements are symbolic and ritual, with spoken mantras, and the sequences follow the directions of the pre-Hispanic calendar.
Ranks and progression
According to UNESCO ICM, Xilam has seven successive levels named after seven animals of the region. Jennings and Cynarski state that the belt colors run from white to black, paired with seven animal grades: the snake, eagle, ocelot, monkey, deer, iguana and armadillo. According to Jennings, the grades are trained in the order of the animals by level, and seven stances correspond to the seven animals. After the first examination he himself reached the grade of the eagle and a yellow belt. According to him, weapons come in the advanced grades, including macuahuitl, conchas and deer antlers.
Competition
Sources describe Xilam's relationship to competition in different ways. UNESCO ICM states that it avoids sports spectacle and regulated combat. Jennings and Cynarski in 2019 call it a non-sport martial art that resists becoming a combat sport. Jennings in 2018 states that in 2011 Xilam resisted competitions, but by the time of writing it was open to the possibility. In 2021 he writes in the journal Ethnography that Xilam is slowly developing as a hand-to-hand combat sport. According to Jennings, Xilam at the same time stresses nonviolence, respect and dignity.
Today
Jennings and Cynarski report that Xilam is taught in Mexico City, in the state of México and in Hidalgo, and that seminars are held, for example, in Guadalajara. According to them it faces strong commercial competition and even contempt from various circles of the martial arts in urban Mexico, and it has not yet succeeded as a global phenomenon. Jennings reports that the Mexico City branch he observed had around a dozen students per class, half women and half men, and closed in August 2012. He does not give the total number of members. According to Jennings, Xilam stresses nonviolence and respect and dignity, which are part of its mantra and creed. Jennings mentions the Poder Xilam program for teenagers at risk from drugs and reports that Xilam toured China and established cooperation with local wushu organizations.
Did you know
The name Xilam is pronounced shi-lam, according to Jennings. According to Jennings and Contreras Islas, it comes from the Mayan word Dzilam, meaning to shed skin, and in 2022 both authors interpret Xilam through the concept remover la piel as an alternative to the concept la raza cósmica, which Vasconcelos came up with in 1925. Jennings considers the founding of a martial art by a woman a rarity in the martial arts world. According to him, the founder's daughter Mayra specializes in the Aztec calendar and astrology, and Jennings also mentions a planned show for youth, Los Siete Guerreros.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Xilam and when?
It was founded by Marisela Ugalde Velázquez de León. Jennings once gives the founding as 1986 and the registration as 1992, elsewhere both the founding and the registration as 1992, and with Cynarski the origin as the late 1980s.
What animals make up the grades of Xilam?
According to Jennings and Cynarski, they are the snake, eagle, ocelot, monkey, deer, iguana and armadillo, paired with colored belts from white to black.
Is there competition in Xilam?
According to UNESCO ICM, Xilam avoids sporting spectacles and regulated combat. Jennings, however, writes in 2021 that it is slowly developing as a hand-to-hand combat sport.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.