December 3 - 12: the Day of Our Lady / Virgin of Guadalupe

Skipping a bit ahead to the NEXT "novena," or 9-day series of fiestas....  (we are still working out the dangerous fireworks story and pictures...!)

The novena celebrating Mexico's patroness -- Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe!  She is a BIG deal in Mexico because she is the indigenous incarnation of Mary. 

Historical Sidebar: The official story is that in 1531 a native Mexican peasant called Juan Diego saw a vision of a maiden at the Hill of Tepevac, which eventually became a suburb of Mexico City. She spoke to Juan Diego in his native Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and asked for a church to be built there in her honor.

Well, of course, Juan Diego went to tell the priestly powers that be about this and they didn't believe him, since he was only a Aztec indigenous peasant, after all.....3 times. The 4th day, Juan Diego's uncle, Juan Bernardino, was deathly ill. Juan Diego went into town to get a priest to say final rites, and took a different route to avoid wasting time (?!) with The Lady.

She was a little offended by that, but assured him that Juan Bernardino was now healed, and she told him to gather flowers on the hill, which in December doesn’t usually have a lot of flowers blooming. Juan found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, blooming. The Virgin arranged the flowers in Juan's cloak, and when he opened his cloak for the archbishop on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and on the fabric was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. They built the church.

SO, you will see shrines to her ALL over. On street corners, cars, etc. She is darker skinned, and her cloak has the stars as they would have appeared in 1531.

One of our favorites in Ajijic

So 9 days of the rockets (cohetes) going off, and various fiestas, marches, and lots of masses.

The final day's big parade started at 6 Esquinas (6 corners) in Ajijic. We arrived, and after a while, a gringo lady was looking at her watch and said somewhat petulantly "It was supposed to start at 4 o'clock." Linda just laughed and said "It's Mexico! the last parade we saw started an hour and a half late!"

All the better to see all the cute kids dressed up for the parade!

And watch all the different groups lining up!

Ok, here we go! (Only 45 minutes late!)

Drum corps was first up,  note the white sleeve "dingle balls" on their arms to emphasize movement.

And the flag corps

And the Mayan dancers.  (and yes, there is always this much noise in a parade here!)

And the floats: 2 of Juan Diego and the Lady of Guadelupe.

But our favorite part is the COHETES. (You will hear most gringos complain about them, and we get that, particularly if you live in Ajijic town where they have a LOT of them year round.) 

Here's one of the 3 bundles of rockets they had for this parade. We've heard that your prayers go up to God with the cohetes, so you need a lot of them.

But this guy has the best job! We followed him for about a quarter mile just watching him. Pretty sure he found us funny.  "Cohete Groupies!"   

We wandered around town a bit and walked over to the San Andres church, which was festively decorated.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays everyone!

Revolucion and Independencia in Mezcala and Ajijic

Mostly recovered from the multiple celebrations of Dia de Los Muertos, we were ready for the next celebration, Dia de Revolucion on November 20. It commemorates the day of the start of the revolution that eventually ousted President Porfirio Diaz. Diaz “supported” a 2-term limit, but when push came to shove, he decided that being a dictator was not so bad, and held on for 7 terms (~35 years!). The fighting lasted until 1917, only 100 years ago, and we’ve read that 1 to 2 million people died, 7-14% of the population of all of Mexico at the time.

As with most celebrations in Mexico, there was a parade, ending at the zocalo (town square), with music, bands, dancing, street food, and fireworks.

A group of "reenactors"

Our favorite part of the parade were the very small children as “reenactors” -- the boys dress as revolucionarios, complete with bandoliers, small toy rifles, and big black mustaches, while the girls dress as adelitas, or soldederas – representing the women who fought alongside the men during the Revolucion. (This rendition of La Adelita on YouTube is great background while you read on!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwpJEcXurLI)

An Adelita

            

With baby on back. (Mark said we needed to buy the frozen banana concession!)

Back to the parade - in addition to the guns and ammo, many of the girls also had small dolls strapped to their backs. The kids march and sing, and then on cue from their adult leaders, they stop, drop to a knee, and “fire” their rifles, turning a small crank on the side that makes a pop pop pop sound.

The parade also had a queen and her court, lots of horses (including some that dance!) and youth sports teams who had dance routines and built pyramids (of people, that is)!

Parade princess

After the parade in the zocalo

The day after Dia de Revolucion, in Ajijic, marks the beginning of the "novena" for the local patron saint, San Andres. Nine days of celebration, parades, fireworks (starting at 6 am to “announce” morning mass, among other things) – but more of that in a later post. 

Cultural Note: We found that there are only 3 days that are NOT part of a celebration between mid-November and the 2nd week of January! We haven’t figured out how they have the stamina for this!

Mark with Pancho Villa and Zapata

After Thanksgiving, two friends from California Norte arrived – Bruce and Pamela. They kindly brought down 2 more small suitcases for us – miso soup, the burr coffee grinder, Linda's holiday recipes. We didn’t even remember everything we’d put in them, so it was like Christmas!

We visited a small town called Mezcala, about 40 minutes away from Ajijic. We wanted to tour the Isla de Mezcala, famous for its role in the 1810 uprising against Spain. [Historical Sidebar: Padre Hidalgo issued his Grito de Dolores (Cry from Dolores) in 1810, calling for an end to Spanish rule of Mexico. It didn’t hurt that Napoleon Bonaparte had occupied Spain 2 years earlier, so the Spanish were a little distracted. Alas, the Padre, and 3 other leaders of the independence movement – Allende, Aldama, and Jimenez, were captured, killed, beheaded and their heads placed in large iron cages that hung for 10 years from the four corners of The Granary in Guanajuato. Pretty gruesome.]

The zocalo was full of people, food stalls and horses to rent. We saw a couple of gymnastics groups of young people, dancing and building (more) pyramids. 

                               

But back to Isla de Mezcala. The island has had many residents over its history, but it is best known for the Insurrection period: about 1812, 800 indigenous Mexican fighters left the mainland for the small island in Lake Chapala, about 20 minutes by boat from town.

According to our guide, they successfully fought off a larger force of Spaniards for 4 years, first with rocks and other basic weapons, eventually fortified by captured guns and cannon. After 4 years of fighting, and losing, the Spanish cried “Tio!” (Uncle!), agreed to a truce, pardoned the remaining fighters, returned land to them which was the problem in the first place, and built a fort on the island, which the Spanish occupied until Mexican Independence was declared in 1821.

As we arrived, we saw several other boats full of locals, including one full of flowers. It turned out that we happened to be in Mezcala on the anniversary day, November 25, of the Spanish truce in 1816 (verifying Our Rule #1 – it’s better to be lucky than smart!). 

Once on the island, we came upon a flag raising ceremony, and a large group of people gathered for a program, who then sang the national anthem.

Bruce, holding down the Fort

One of the many buildings restored on the island

So in a few short days we experienced remembrances of two different rebellions in two different centuries of Mexicans, against oppressors of their people. ...And lots of parties.


In our next post, we’ll show you the San Andres festivities, which include death-defying firework displays!

(November 2017)

Dia(s) de los Muertos in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

Much has been written, many photos taken, and many faces painted to resemble calaveras(skulls) all as part of the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead, Dia de Los Muertos. We first encountered the celebration in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, CA, a city we called home for 20 years. Fruitvale, like much of Oakland, has many cultures and nationalities, but on the weekend around Nov 1 it turns out in force to celebrate this very Mexican tradition. The most striking part of the observances for us were the altars, built by families or friends to remember a person, or persons, who had passed. Pictures, cut-out paper banners (papel picado), candles, food, drink, flowers, and the ubiquitous marigolds. We admired it for its powerful and elegant recognition of people gone – reflecting love and remembrance.

So, when we decided to move south to Mexico, we hoped to time things so that we could experience this Mexican tradition in person. We arrived in Ajijic, on the shore of Mexico’s largest freshwater lake, Lago de Chapala, in late October, a few days before the festivities began.

Day 1: October 31:  
We took a class at the Lake Chapala Society to learn more about this celebration. It was titled "Laugh at Death, you say?"

We started with a short introduction to the traditions of the celebration, and got to participate in the creation of an altar. The marigolds are intended to guide the spirits to their altar with their vibrant color and strong fragrance. Without a lot of elaboration, each altar should incorporate the elements of earth, wind, fire, and water, along with pictures of those honored, and things they liked while among us. If ever we have an altar, don’t forget the rum!

Betty and Jean were part of the altar too

We had always thought that Catrina was the name of the (now ubiquitous) skeleton lady, but in fact it refers to an elegant dandy (Catrino is the male version), and was intended as an object of ridicule when it first appeared around 1910 (Mexican Revolution), in an etching by artist Jose Guadalupe Posada. It was originally intended to poke fun at Mexicans ashamed of their heritage, who dressed in the European style, lightening their skin with makeup, trying to deny their cultural heritage. The first Catrina was only depicted from the waist up.  

de Jose Guadalupe Posada (y Wikipedia)

Catrina’s real popularity took off when Diego Rivera included her in a mural, about 1947, as a full-blown lady, standing next to Rivera and his wife, Frida Kahlo.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue%C3%B1o_de_una_Tarde_Dominical_en_la_Alameda_Central

The intent, it is said, was to link Catrina with a long-standing Mexican willingness to laugh at death, even going back to the Aztecs. “Death is a neutralizing force, everyone is equal in the end." Beautiful.

October 31 here is actually a religious (Catholic) holiday celebrating the Virgin of the Rosary returning to her home chapel of Guadelupe on the square. OF COURSE there is a parade, with multiple "truck floats" from each neighborhood to accompany her around town.  Her colors are blue and white....

                                                                                                                                

Day 2: November 1: Dia de los Muertos for the children who have died.


The first real day of the holiday is for the children. Their graves are colorful, with toys, food, and flowers.

Child's grave, with pizza

Love the dogs and soccer balls, permanent part of the grave!

Day 3: November 2: The MAIN event

We were told, but can’t confirm, that the now-prevalent face painting is relatively new – like in the last 30 years or so. We tried it out on Nov 2, a little self-conscious as gringos trying on someone else’s tradition, but in general we got lots of smiles (which I guess could be taken in more than one way!). Linda got several “hermosa!” greetings, while my “Salvador Dali on acid” face paint job was less popular.

The square was also surrounded with sawdust “paintings” in the street – vibrantly colored sawdust, used to make many mosaic-like scenes.

The town is call "A-hee-HEEK"

Sawdust paintings at the square

We walked to the local cemetery that evening, having visited earlier in the day while families were busy decorating the graves of their loved ones. The daylight scene was amazing, but paled against the nighttime celebration. Bands, singers, families with food and beverage, a million flowers and candles. The closest I can come is a US football game and tailgate with strolling musicians added in.  And lots of flowers. Something not to be missed if you ever have the chance.

The celebration continued from the cemetery with a candlelight parade to the zocalo, which was filled with people, more bands, more singing, many Catrina statues (basically rebar figures adorned with – you name it). Our favorite Catrina had an elegant white wedding dress made of plastic, Styrofoam, plastic forks and spoons – Catrina Basura? 

A long wall across the street from the church was covered with hundreds of 7” x 10” terra cotta skull masks, each with someone’s name, and each with a small candle in front of it. It was stunning. 

 One saw,dust painting in Spanish, basically, “No one is dead who is remembered.” 

Words to live, and die by.  Viva Dia de Los Muertos!

Bienvenidos to our Blog!

Welcome to the INITIAL post on our blog!
(Blogs seem so 2005, but there are some uses.. like keeping our friends and family updated!)

It will come as a shock to most of our friends and family that we are NOT moving to a tropical place with scuba diving. (Yet)

We do have a "travelling mascot" however! Our Marquesan tiki god! (See a poll to name him, below, if you have a write in name, add to comments on this post!)

TravelTiki Flying to Guadaljara

We are moving to the Lake Chapala area of Mexico, in Jalisco. It is just 30 minutes south of the airport in Guadalajara (2nd largest city in Mexico), and only a 3.5 hour flight from San Jose, California!

We plan to be here about a year, learning how to be expats "with training wheels" as there is a great support structure here, with warm locals willing to help us transition. We do not plan to stay here indefinitely. But who knows? This may end up being our long term home eventually. It is pretty great so far! (2 weeks in....)

Why "eventually?" because we plan to start travelling the world....slowly.... in order to better learn about a place -- its people, food, activities, and culture. Also because we are still working a bit. In the future, at this point we plan to spend 3 to 6 months in each place, alternating expensive locations with not-so-expensive locations. Trying out housesitting (with dogs, we hope?!) and longer stays in non-holiday priced housing to stretch the budget.

So please be patient as we work this blogging stuff out. (Doesn't help that we're severely challenged with internet at our house...argh!)

Abrazos! Linda y Mark (aka Marco)