Pascola and deer dancing are traditional Yaqui dances performed at fiestas having a Christian base such as Easter, saints' days, a child's funeral, weddings and other major events of the Yaqui household or Christian calendar. Pascolas act as hosts of the fiesta representing the fiestero or sponsor of the fiesta whether it be an individual family or the village. The maso (deer dancer) and pascolas have no other direct connection to other ritual aspects of the fiesta except for processions and the Gloria on Holy Saturday Morning. The deer dancer's role in the Gloria is believe to be due to his intimate association with flowers which are important in Yaqui Catholicism and used during the Gloria as weapons by the church forces to beat back the attacks on the church and ultimately defeat the forces of evil who have crucified Christ and then try to destroy the church.

The fiesta ramada where the dances are performed is divided into two parts – sacred and secular. On the sacred side is an altar where the maestro and cantoras conduct services, while on the other side entertainment in the form of pascola and deer dancing is provided. Except for the beginning and ending of the fiesta, each side – sacred and secular – operated independently of the other.

Each pascola takes his turn dancing to the music of the harp and violin. They dance facing the musicians wearing the pascola mask on the side of the head. After a brief break, the tamp'leo tunes his drum over some hot coals and begins to play the drum and flute. The pascolas now dance with masks on facing the tampa'leo.

Meanwhile the deer singers begin to scape the rasps slowly while the maso puts on the deer head and picks up the gourds. He shakes the gourds to indicate he is ready, the rasp tempo increases, the singers begin singing and the maso dances. Between dances there often occurs some dramatic action between the pascolas and maso. The pascolas attempt to encroach upon the territory of the maso who uses his magical powers to confuse and chase away the pascolas. Acting the part of befuddled clowns the pascolas return to their part of the ramada much to the amusement of the crowd. When not dancing the pascolas act as hosts telling jokes, clowning around, passing out cigarettes and at certain times explaining the meaning of the fiesta to the participants and observers. All during the fiesta the maso remains aloof from everything even when he is not in complete costume. He never talks and is supposed not to smile. He is dignified, representing the deer at all times.

Selections on side on are pascola dances. The violin and Yaqui harp are the only Spanish influences in the pascola dance. The melodies are Yaqui compositions. Normally the songs have many more repetitions of the tune and are thus much longer than heard on this recording. The harps are home-made from a basic Yaqui pattern but have variations due to the maker's artistic inclinations and the materials available. The range of the harp is slightly over four octaves with approximately thirty strings ranging in length from about thirty-one inches to four inches.

On side two of the recording both the deer dancers and pascolas dance. The three deer singers sit on the ground. Two of the three singers play rasps (hirukia) one end of which rests on an inverted half gourd which acts as a resonator. The third singer beats the water drum (bakubahi), a large half gourd floating inverted in a pan of water. At the same time, the pascolas are dancing to the music of the tampa'leo – a small drum and flute played by one man.

Other sounds on the recording are the aiyam – two large gourd rattles, usually slightly different in shape to give different sounds, held by the maso; teneboim – long strips of cocoons sewn on rawhide and wrapped around the ankles of both dancers – a heavy leather belt of many deer-hoof rattles of the maso and a belt with several large bells for the pascolas. The percussive sounds of the teneboim and the dancer's bare feet striking the earth can be heard as can the voices of spectators giving encouragement to the dancers.

Deer songs can be divided into five groups: first introductory song, second introductory song, procession songs, final song, and a large group of songs, of which those on this recording are representative, used during the major portion of the fiesta. The song is composed of a basic stanza repeated several times, depending on the length of the stanza, and a final stanza beginning as a variation on the words and tune of the first stanza and concluding by returning to the original tune and words of the basic stanza. While there is some similarity in subject matter among many of the songs, they do not form episodes in one long story. Except the introductory and final songs, they may be sung in any order. The deer is very closely associated with flowers and the majority of the songs refer to flowers. The deer's home is "flower country," he drinks "flower water," the rasps are "flower sticks" and he dances to "flower water" (the water drum water and drumbeats).

The Yaquia resisted Spanish and Mexican intrusion into their land for the first contacts. A Spanish soldier wrote in 1533 that nowhere in New Spain had he seen such bravery as that of the Yaqui soldiers. The largest Spanish army ever raised in Northwest Mexico marched against the Yaqui tribe in 1609 and was defeated. The Yaquis as victors signed a peace treaty with Spain creating peace and preserving Yaqui independence without Spanish interference in tribal affairs, tribute or taxes to the Spanish crown, or Spanish troops and civil authorities in their land. The Yaqui asked for missionaries and in 1617 two Jesuit priest arrived. The eighty-plus rancherias were consolidated into the Eight Towns of the Yaqui – Cocorit, Bacum, Torim, Vicam, Potam, Rahum, Huiribis and Belem. By 1619 thirty thousand Yaquis had been baptized.

The remainder of Yaqui history is focused on Yaqui determination to preserver their independence, and Mexican attempts to exploit and colonize the Lower Rio Yaqui and to integrate the Yaquis into the Mexican state by forcing the Mexican system of the land ownership and government on the Yaquies. Major battles occurred at regular intervals from 1825 to 1926 with almost constant guerrilla warfare between times.

In 1939 President Cádenas met with the governors of the Yaqui pueblos at Potam. The meeting resulted in an agreement for cooperation in economic and social development between the Yaqui tribe and the Mexicans. The Mexican government recognized the Yaqui as the "Yaqui Tribe" and existing tribal government, provided a school, an irrigation system, help in rebuilding the towns and, most important, agreed to set aside the entire north bank and a portion of the south bank of the Rio Yaqui and the Bacatete Mountains as the Yaqui Indigenous Community for the exclusive use of and control by the Yaqui Tribe.

Many Yaquis were forced to flee to the United States for asylum during the periods of severest occupation of their homeland, especially after the battles of the 1880s, the extermination and deportation campaigns of the late 1890s and early 1900s and the final conflicts of the late 1920s. Several villages were established in the area of Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. The major ceremonial villages are Old and New Pascua, Barrio Libre and Quadalupe. Family ties and tribal identity are strong on both sides of the border with people crossing the border to attend village and family fiestas.

There is strong support among the majority of Yaqui leaders today for the same policy that leaders have supported since the earliest times: an independent local government and jurisdiction, through town management, over lands which they believe were given to them by God for the exclusive use of all the Yaquis.