Carnaval

Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

Ever since seeing the Bahamian junkanoo scene in Thunderball, as Bond, James Bond darted and dashed away from the bad guys (International Spies from Russia, or ISR – oblique 2018 Olympics reference, about which Mark is grumpy…) we have been very curious about seeing a carnival celebration in person. They vary worldwide, from elaborate parades with thousands of celebrants (Rio and New Orleans), dancing, costumes, floats, and “local” themes (making fun of Spanish conquerors, as an example,) but all are based on the run up to Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent – the season before Easter that includes saying adios to meat – hence “carne val” – put away the meat. ☹




For this pre-Easter season, there are many parades here, on multiple days (as usual!), and here in Ajijic, they mostly include masked men, some dressed as women, who are “taunted” by kids along the desfile (parade) route, and who respond by throwing harina (flour) and / or confetti on the kids. Porque? (Why would this be?)

The day before the final parade, this year on 13 Febrero, we went to a talk about the tradition of carnaval in the Lake Chapala area. An older local man told us many stories, mostly told to him by his abuelo (grandfather) many years past. It used to be, he said, that at the head of any parade, going all the way back to pre-Hispanic days in the early 1500s (!) there were always 2 characters, called sayacos. One is a woman and one is a man. This version of the story, and there are many variations, is that the two were brother and sister, gemelos (twins), and had a palsy-like condition which caused them to drool, and that sayaca means “water face” in Nahuatl. As the story goes, the sister, as she came of age, pursued the young men of the town, and as they fled from her, she grew angry and threw ground corn and flowers at them, which she carried in a shoulder bag.

Another pre-Hispanic tradition, co-opted by Catholicism, but stubbornly, and cleverly maintained through centuries by the indigenous people of Mexico. Viva Mexico!

Confetti 

Another key piece of the celebration is the papaquilistli. Originally, these were huevos de pavo (turkey eggs), the empty shells of which were filled with the bright orange petals of a local flower, called zempoalxochitl, which closely resembles the spirit-guiding marigolds of Dia de Los Muertos fame. The symbolism was that with this egg, you are giving the other person the best you have to give – not sure why. There are more than a few jumps to get from base fact to symbolic intention. That is one of the beauties of Mexico. Viva Mexico!

Constantly sweeping up flour and confetti

These eggs in modern times come from chickens, and instead of flower petals there is paper confetti – and sometimes flour. The eggs are broken on the heads of celebrants, confetti galore. Good clean fun. You can buy a bag of 10 on the plaza for 10 pesos (50 cents)… and annoy your gringo friends!

Mark had about 1/2 pound of flour on him

If you ask people about the significance of the flour, and confetti, you get many answers. Getting rid of the “bad,” which sounds like Catholics trying to co-opt the tradition. What became clear to us as we listened to the talk was that this tradition, which appears to be very specific to Lake Chapala, needs a historian to sort out at least the variations of the story. Mark as been experimenting with StoryCorps, and this might turn into some kind of help for the effort.

As always, there is specific food associated with the holiday. Linda jumped the gun a little by making capirotada (Mexican bread pudding) a few weeks ago before Lent started, when having friends over. No eggs or cream are involved, but spice-infused syrup, raisins and 2 cups of CHEESE were!  Odd, but very tasty – in fact too good to be a Lenten dish, really.  Here’s a recipe: http://muybuenocookbook.com/2011/03/capirotada-mexican-bread-pudding/

More fun than the Super Bowl!

(febrero 14, 2018)