La Raspa originated in

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

is a dance often performed during celebrations and at dance schools. The name may be derived from the

Old Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic bran ...

verb "raspere", meaning "to grate upon". It either referred to the way the ratchet-like sound of the

Güiro The güiro () is a Puerto Rican percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. The güiro ...

is produced by rubbing a scraper over its indentations or to the scratching movements – similar to a scraping chicken – the dancers perform during the folk dance.

The Mexican Hat Dance ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

is a combination of two tunes:

Jarabe Tapatío ''Jarabe tapatío'', often referred to as the Mexican hat dance, is the national dance of Mexico. It originated as a courtship dance in Guadalajara, Jalisco, during the 19th century, although its elements can be traced back to the Spanish ''zambr ...

and La Raspa.

References

Latin American folk dances {{dance-stub