Seven Deadly Sins

In Queretaro, there is a nacimiento in the main plaza - four blocks filled with larger than life Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the three kings bearing gifts, walking along with their elephant and white horse. There's the annunciation, with Mary and the Archangel Gabriel, a menagerie of animals, surrounding the manger, shepherds and towns people, a garden of Eden - not just a little garden but complete with a lake, flamingos, water birds and a naked adam and eve.
 

On one side there are statues of families breaking pinatas, women in nostalgic Mexican dress in the kitchen cooking, a forest with bears and wolves. But not to be outdone by the worst of them all - the seven deadly sins depicted as super size devils, some with their heads in the ground, only their feet and legs dangling in the air, the rest as the seven deadlies - Greed, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, as shown in the slideshow below. What can I say except only in Mexico will you see the Virgin Mary with naked Adam and Eve, and the seven deadly sins depicted as devils - and bigger than life at that - in a Christmas nativity.  Slideshow below:

Festival of San Miguel

Sunday morning. 10:30 AM.
Since midnight Friday night, the partying has been going on. The parade of the estrellas (stars) at midnight, followed by dancing and events in the Jardin until 4am when las mananitas - happy birthday song to San Miguel, the patron saint of the town is sung and the castillo fireworks are let off for an hour or so. People are fed punch and sweet rolls before they roll on home into bed for a few hours.


At 5 in the afternoon there is the parade of the Xuchiles - which includes dancers from all over Mexico who perform dances that have been remembered for centuries, wearing colorful costume, in the manner of old but with modern materials such as velvet, shiny tin, upside down decorated lampshade hats, masks, war paint, gourds, clacking shoes and paper flowers.  They have all been brought here by the city to perform for the town celebration, one of the largest events of the year.
They stay in schools,
Are fed by the town,
Carry their supplies in trucks -
Mattresses, pillows, clothing and costumes.


I am a fan of watching the getting ready part of parades,
I asked several dance groups  for their stories
Here is what I was told:
The dances have been being danced for centuries,
Babies dance in their parents arms to learn young,
Some brought the dances back into being during this century,
Others say they have been dancing the same dances over 300 years.
That's a long time.



Although it seems to me that dancing all day for three days
Would be incredibly tiring, apparently that's not the case
The dancers say it is like being in a trance
Which gives them the energy to keep going.

This morning it is only eleven and I am already sweaty.
As you see in some of the photos,
They have retired parts of their costumes for shade
Before the parade begins.
Click on the photo below to view the slideshow.
The video - when finished - will be included in the slideshow below.
(sometime next week!)

Festival of San Miguel 2009 - Sunday Morning Parade

Xuchile Making

Beginning in the early hours this morning,this family began making a Xuchile - an altar made from bamboo like strips, lashed to twenty five foot poles, then covered in flowers which are made from the root ball of the agave plant, decorated with juniper branches, and marigolds.  It will be walked up the street to the Parroquia today in a parade of even more  Xuchiles, dancers, and spiritual groups.
It is an offering to San Miguel, the town's patron saint, whose birthday was September 29th, but celebrated this weekend.  We spent several hours talking with the family about the history of this craft over the centuries.
As the morning progressed, we were invited by Juan, the head Xuchile maker  (pronounced soo-cheel-ay) to go into the house and present ourselves to the altar, eat soup and spend some time with his family.
They are working on Calzada Estacion, 
An incredibly busy street.
Because of the new highway to Guanajuato
Which has just opened as a 'shorter' route to the city,
We now have semis, dump trucks, buses plus very other kind of car
On this once quiet road to San Miguel Viejo and Cienaguita.
Nevertheless, Juan and his crew are not bothered.
By 9:30 am they are this far along.

There is one young woman, 
A young man, and Juan Cordova
Lashing this together, weaving agave stem flowers,
Cutting pieces the size and shape they need,
With a machete.

Another woman is making corner pieces
By stripping the stems
Then adding flowers to the top.

Juan is lashing juniper greens
Guiding the process along, making decisions.

The shiny spoon like pieces
Are from the Dasylirion acrotrichum plant,
Locally known as the cucharilla, or little spoon plant.


The woman in the top photo makes these flowers.
She adds each piece, with the stem,
One at a time, each overlapping the previous one,
Weaving the stems into a basket weave,
Holding itself together.

When we arrived,
These two guys were sitting on the sidewalk
Refusing to play their drum and flute for us.
As the morning went by, they moved to the center divider,
Feet in the street, daring the trucks and cars to run over them,
Sleeping in the shade.

We took a little walk to the saturday market at the train station
Where hundreds of horesemen and women from the ranchos
Came riding into the church patio
For pozole, bolillos, pan dulce and cafe de olla
Before riding up into town for the noon mass at the parroquia.
That's another post though.
Upon our return, and to watch the progress on the Xuchiles,
We were invited downstairs into the patio
Where Juan's entire extended family
Was eating soup and tortillas,
Playing musical instruments that were made
From the shell of an armadillo.

But the real surprise,
Tucked away in a small room, was an altar to San Miguel,
Pink and silver ballons and streamers hung at the ceiling,
With two large statues on either side, of Jesus on the cross.
There are hand painted waves adorning the wall behind each cross,
Burning candles and copal incense smoking inside sahumarios.
You could barely see the room through the smoky incense,
The side walls lined with family sitting on benches, eating,
Soaking up the smell of the copal, the flowers, the quiet.

On the floor in front of the altar
There are baskets filled with cempzuchitl (marigolds)
Also called cempasúchil, depending on where you are from.
Along with other flowers, candles and copal.
Periodically, several women pass through the room
With more soup, bottles of soda, tortillas.

Meanwhile, outside, more marigolds are delivered,
Juan and his helpers are moving through the work
Which will be done by 3pm
Then gathered on top of the shoulders of about 10 men
To be walked into town for the parade at five.

Even Juan must eat,
Bowl resting on top of his work,
Smiling as he has been doing all day.

Sunday morning:
Before the parade began at 10 am
I went over to photograph the Xuchiles at the Parroquia.
They made their way in yesterday's parade
From below the bridge on Calzada Estacion
To the church, where they were erected, and will remain this week.
Click on the photo below to view the slideshow,
Which includes a video of the process,
The Altar
The Musicians,
The walk to the parade
And various stills of the completed Xuchiles in front of the church.

Xuchile slide show

Copyright, all rights reserved: Suzanne da Rosa 4th Oct. 2009

Alborada Rehearsal Parade

When  you see something like this
On a street corner in town
You just know there's going to be a parade

Three Mojiganas, bigger than life
Two devils and a skeleton
Are ready for the alborada 'rehearsal parade.'
I think this is one of those cases
Where you begin to believe
That any good old reason
Is reason for a party here.
I mean, how wrong can you go
With a parade that you need a rehearsal?
Further down the street,
Young girls gather on the bridge of the Fabrica Aurora
Putting on dresses, makeup and hats,
Twirling their home made stars,
Waiting for the festivities to begin.
At 5:30 a man runs down the street to the bridge,
Tells them to move up the street to his doorway to begin.
They refuse, saying the parade has always begun here.

Dressed in the traditional festival clothing
Of Michoacan and the state of Guanajuato,
They are here to re-enact the alborada celebration
Which was originally performed by workers
Of the Fabrica Aurora, a textile factory, in 1924.
These workers pooled together their respective festival rituals,
Creating one big event which began at four AM.
They entered the town porting giant colorful paper stars,
Setting off fireworks, playing music and dancing.
It was the beginning of a tradition
That has lasted over 80 years.

As we walked down Calzada de la Aurora
The participants were walking in with their stars,
Most were in the shape of stars, but mixed in
Were suns, moons, crosses and parasols.

Not to be outdone
The Mojigangas, almost as tall as the buildings,
marched down to the start of the parade,
A spectacle to behold making all of us smile.

Other mojigangas
Were driven in by pickup truck,
Towering over the truck,
Bareley missing the wires overhead.

Then a straggler, a little late, 
Running full speed down the middle of the street,
Turning everyone's heads as she went by.

And the parade begins - Mojigangas first.

Although this looks like the real beginning of  the parade
There's another parade brewing on the other side of town.
But more on that later..
The young girls are ready, bouncing their stars,
Twirling their skirts, laughing, enjoying their roles.

The conchero dancers are in place
These parades are serious business for them.

Even the youngest of children participate.
Here's one serious boy in his charro outfit,
His mother says it's his first parade.
He's too young to fully understand,
Not old enough to be acting out the part.
But how beautiful he looks, holding his star.

And of course,
The real stars of this parade
Blowing around in the wind.

As for the other 'real' start of the parade...
A little further uptown,
There is the transito cop on his motorcycle, siren running
Talking with an official of the parade -
A woman in a light green pant suit carrying a clip board,
Wearing an official festival tag around her neck,
Giving orders and discussing - well, whatever they discuss

While the official rocket blower
Inserts a rocket into its holder,
Puffs on a cigarette,
Sticks it at the bottom of the rocket
And kabooom!
He does this every 30 seconds
For the duration of the parade.

There's a nice orderly crowd sitting on the steps, waiting

Looking down Calle Canal we discover
There's a second parade that we weren't aware of -

We are at the moment of convergence of the stars.
The stars of Calzada de la Estacion,
Announced with a banner and men carrying torches.
The Stars of Calzada de la Aurora,
Announced with rockets and music.
The  respective parades take turns interweaving themselves
Around the corner and into the  main plaza
Where they wind around past the church,
Walk up and around a few more streets
Until they wind around the streets and back to the stage,
Where civic and ceremonial activities are happening
And the dancing begins.
And this is just the rehearsal. 
They'll be back next weekend's Festival of San Miguel.
They start off the festivities on Friday at midnight,
Parading around town, dancing until four AM
When the castillo fireworks and rocket show
Will officially open the festival weekend.
Here's the movie of yesterday's parade,


The video begins
With the entrance of all the participants on Calzada de la Aurora,
Ending in the Jardin.

Accidental Cheesemaker

I've been making goat yoghurt lately. Not the old fashioned way Where it sits In a waterbath At an even temperature Overnight Or all day. I make it In a yoghurt maker That I brought back in my suitcase, my last visit up north. Last night I did my usual mixing, With yoghurt from the last batch as a starter Fresh goat milk, brought to a boil and cooled, Mixed them together, Put it in jars Turned on the machine Then let it run overnight. This morning when I heard the beeping, I lifted out the jars to find That my yoghurt had curdled.

This is a new development in a process 
That I thought was fool proof.
I was so disappointed, but , as John pointed out I had made cheese.

I wish I had had the forethought to photograph the jars
With their curdled milk bits floating in a milky whey
Before I dumped it all into a white cotton cloth
To let the liquid drip out into a bowl,
Something my mother would have done,
Something I would have done in my hippy years,
Letting the curds settle into a nice soft cheese.
 
Besides throwing the batch out,
The only thing that made sense to do
Was go with it and see what it turned out like.
So here we are (below)
Cotton dish towel over glass bowl
I dumped it all into the dish towel
To let let the whey drip into the bowl.
 
Speaking of hippy years, I still don't understand
Why everyone made so much fun of hippies.
They did a great service Of keeping the old traditions alive -
I'm speaking of all those things
That became synonymous with hippy life -
Home grown food Hand made houses,
The making of granola
Eating whole foods
Being easy on the earth
Nursing your babies,
Being loving and kind,
All things which had we had embraced
Instead of shunning for having a life of things....
Lots of things....
Well, you know the ending of that story..

  Meanwhile, sorry for the digression
We have beautiful soft goat cheese
Which one can add salt, spices or herbs to
Or finish off with chilis and cilantro (photo at top)
Or a giant poblano (john's contribution to the photo) below
Eat on crackers, tortillas, bread, in salads
Wrapped inside smoked salmon..
The possibilities are endless

Migrating our blog...

We are in the process of moving our blog back here to blogspot.
For now, until we are finished, you can find all of our posts at the following link:

livinginsanmiguel.wordpress.com

Over the next month we'll be importing all of our blogposts back here.

Thanks for reading!

Folklorico

Last night in the Jardin
The Independence celebration
Began at 8pm.
With Ballet folklorico.
Dancers from San miguel
Age six and up
Performed traditional dances
From Michoacan,
Nayarit, Colima, Sinaloa.
The girls,
The young women,
In colorful circular skirts
With ribbons and ruffles,
Whipping and twirling them.
The boys,
The men, wore campesino, charro & regional traditional dress, carrying machetes, dancing with candles balanced on their heads - and a whole lot of foot stomping going on!
The movie - well, it ended up being 10 minutes long
With a nice sampling of all the dances.

The evening began with young girls ages 5-7 practicing on the stage

How young the flirting begins - it begins with the dress, I think - then being put up on stage in front of a thousands of people.

The men

View from below at the edge of the stage

Charros and senoritas

Young boy running around the state prior to the dances

Ballet Folklorico

Last night in the Jardin
The Independence celebration
Began at 8pm.
Ballet folklorico.
Dancers from San Miguel
Age six and up
Performed traditional dances
From Michoacan,
Nayarit, Colima, Sinaloa.
The girls,
The young women,
In colorful circular skirts
With ribbons and ruffles,
Whipping and twirling them.
The boys,
The men, wore campesino, charro & regional traditional dress, carrying machetes, dancing with candles balanced on their heads - and a whole lot of foot stomping going on!

The movie - well, it ended up being 10 minutes long,
A nice sampling of all the dances

The evening began with young girls ages 5-7 practicing on the stage

How young the flirting begins - with the dress, I think - then being put up on stage in front of a thousands of people.

The men

View from below at the edge of the stage

Charros and senoritas

It's been a busy three weeks.

We've had two separate family visits
which prompted us
to look into trips
around the area
and around Mexico
that we have been wanting to take.

First, we went to Guanajuato

Where we've been so many times and love.

Then local things like the Tuesday market

Walking around town

A tour of the Rancho Canada de La Virgen

(another post that I'm working on)

Then this trip to the very unique Las Pozas in Xilitla.
Las Pozas is Edward James'

surrealistic, labyrinth, Jungle Castle

In the Sierra Gorda Mountains....

The stories about this incredible place are to come
Over the next week - there was so much to see and absorb -
In this inspiring wonderland in the jungle.
This album below has a selection of photos.

For now, here's the movie of the ride there,

Plus the walk through las Pozas



And the album of pictures
Over 300 photos - be warned!

Independencia!

About four pm today
the drumming started.
Indio Dancers, loud
banging drums, whoops
hollers and screaming.

It sounded like it was coming
right down our street
but upon climbing up to the terraza it was obvious

that it was about a quarter mile away in the Colonia Independencia.

That's how the sound travels here -

it's as if the sound is right outside our front door.

I can't count the number of times
I have run downstairs, camera in hand,
Open the door and discover
That what I am hearing upstairs
I cannot even hear on the street below.
But inside the house, on the second level,
The sounds echo in as right next door.

No Bull Will Be Sacrificed

August 2, 2008
Anna, who is visiting right now
has expressed an interest in going to a bullfight
When we are downtown we see a poster
For a bullfight - Young matadors!
No Bull will be sacrificed.

I, who have been to a bullfight
Say no thanks - not because I am
An animal rights person
But because I have seen one
And don't get the point.

The bull is probably drugged
Then tortured by picadors,
Then medieval looking men on horseback
The horses wearing mattresses for protection
The bull is poked, prodded, stabbed and teased
Until the matador makes the final Kill

It's all a little too weird for me
But nevertheless, we go in and look at the poster
Which says 'Young matadors, ages ten to thirteen'
So we decide to go
And find it to be quite a difference
From the regular bullfights.

It's sunny when we leave the house
By the time we get in to town it is raining
Not a good sign, but we have our umbrellas.
As soon as we pull them out, it stops
We are expecting crowds for the event
But in fact, only about 10% of the plaza de toros is filled.
The banda arrives, wearing black and white paisley shirts,
Black pants and carrying horns, clarinets, drums and trumpets
They set themselves up under the portales
Everyone who is sitting below them moves.


North Americans arrive in broad brimmed hats
Carrying umbrellas and water bottles
Wondering if it is going to be gory.
We arrive about a half hour before the event
Immediately order stale potato chips
In plastic bags,
dripping with hot sauce,
topped with a lime


They hit the spot
As does the Snickers bar which we share
The food sellers are a group of men wearing aprons,
Carrying baskets which are filled with food
And we admire the orderliness which they pack it in.

There is no beer to be seen, but we are told it will arrive soon.
Sure enough, across the arena we see large bathtub size buckets
That say Corona moving up the stands.
It takes a minute to get over our disbelief
And see that they are empty, not full
But you might very well see something like that here

The ring has been painted with two chalk rings
A ring worker dressed in red and white
Walks into the ring with a long garden hose
Waiting for the water to come on he flips the hose around
Nothing happens, the water doesn't come on so he leaves
His hose trailing behind him in a big loop.

The band strikes up 'the lonely bull' - how fitting
To announce the first matador
Three young women in red and black flamenco dresses
Ride into the ring in a convertible
Red and black mantillas, waving to the crowd
They circle the ring
The matadors and picadors enter carrying their hats


Capes are draped over their arms
They make a cross in the dirt with their feet
Relgious beliefs are brought to the ring.


They make a left turn,
Walk to face the banda
Who play more songs for them
They take their places around the ring

Brandon Campos, Age 13, Queretaro

He is by far the smoothest of the group,
tall, lean and very confident
The red doors to the holding pens are opened
The first bull runs out jumping and snorting
And this video is worth at least the 25 pictures
It would take to convey the skill it takes
To maneuver around the bull.
The bull is young and small for these child matadors
But fierce and a force to be reckoned with as well.

Brandon is thirteen years old and a force himself
Self assured, body erect and so graceful,
He plays sport with this bull
Does an excellent job

Then comes:
Angel Giovianni, Age 11, Zacatecas
Juan Pablo Llaguno, Age 12 Queretaro
Fernando Gomez, Age 10 Guadalajara
Paola San Roman, Age 13, Queretaro
The only girl in the group, the only one
Of all the matadors
Who is able to wear the bull down



Jorge Salvatierra, Age 11, Aguascalientes



So Graceful, and so young

We are in awe over how
He is able to bend his body so deeply
It's a ballet of sorts
A drama that unfolds
Minute by minute
While the crowd hopes
For some action.

The afternoon is a success,
Without injuries
Without the killing of a bull

In the end,
On the way out,
You can buy a cape,
a matador's hat,
A boda bag with a bull imprinted on it
And most useful, a fan



Last but not least
Amini matador jacket Christmas ornament.