More Fiestas here in Tepoztlán!

Boy, do the people know how to enjoy life here and live in the moment! It's one of the most important lessons that we've learned throughout our time here.

It seems like whenever there's an excuse to have a party (or at least throw off a firework!) people here do so. I know that Mexicans have their concerns, but the attitude seems to be, "We'll deal with any problems mañana and have fun and enjoy today!"

Toward the end of January and into February there were three big fiestas in the village.

The weekend of January 19-21 was the San Sebastian Fiesta. Our friend Don (who is from Madison) was visiting at the time so it was a great experience for him to be a part of. If you're wondering who San Sebastian was, he was an early Christian saint and martyr.

Us with "Uncle Don"and our close friends Aurora, José, Lisset, and José grande.

San Sebastian is our barrio (neighborhood) so you can imagine the excitement out our front door for three days! Side note: About a month ahead of time a few men from the village came to collect a donation for the festival. They ask everyone who lives in the barrio for money and this is how they pay for the bands, fireworks, etc. Although most people don't have much money here, their yearly neighborhood fiesta is an important event to them. I was under the impression that most people donate generously.

On Saturday and Sunday the main street through the barrio was lined with food stands, games, and rides for the children.

Food stands and games lined the main street of the barrio.

Fun rides for the children.

And this ride came to life!

The stands had crowds the whole weekend.

The three of us at the fiesta.

Here are some interesting shots from sites at the festival.

Sweets that are often seen at fiestas.

A special bread eaten at the time of fiestas.

An animal that you'd never see at one of our local festivals!

I'm not quite sure why these men were dressed the way they were, but it was a great photo op!

During one of the nights of the festival we enjoyed dinner at family members of Jose and Aurora's (traditional mole) before returning to the fiesta.

Aurora, José, Lisset, and José grande across the table from us.

José and Lea having a great time with José grande.

Cotton candy; a special treat!

The three of us.

                                                             Lea and José after a fun game.

There were bands that played at the church throughout both days, and on Sunday, a large group of men spent the entire day building a "castillo" (castle) which is a tall metal structure filled with fireworks. I had never seen anything quite like it!

Building the "castillo."

                                                  A short video which shows the castillo being moved.

There was anticipation and excitement throughout the day for dark to fall upon us and for the "castillo" to be fired off. And boy, were we WOWED by it! I've never seen fireworks quite like them! Different parts of the castillo were lit at different times, so there were many different images in flaming colors, one right after the next!

The Virgin of Guadalupe.

And Mickey Mouse!

And birds!


And here are some short videos of the castillo in action!

                                                    

                                                   The grand finale seemed to just keep on going!

Just in case two days wasn't enough of a party, the fiesta continued on Monday! I'm not sure about work, but school is cancelled for at least some of these big parties. People throughout the entire village put soot on their faces and continued to celebrate.  The story I heard in terms of the significance of the soot is that the Romans wanted to hang a famous apostle so the apostle put soot on his face as camoflauge.

Here are some faces I captured that were covered with soot.

Does this face look familiar?

A man with a "torito" on his head, as described in a past blog post.

A group gathered to the music.

And Brian and I even got in the spirit!

It's not only the people from the neighborhood who enjoy and partake in the neighborhood fiestas, but it's the whole of Tepoztlán. We were part of a procession to loud, live, brass band music that involved dancing down the main street of the barrio and down into the center. Just about everyone had soot on their faces and seemed to be having a great time!

               A couple of short videos of the procession. I won't lie and say there wasn't any alcohol intake. You might see   some signs of the bottle in these videos...

Día de la Candelaria (Day of the Candles or Candle Mass) happens on February 2. It is a Mexican celebration that is fusion of the Catholic influences and native Mexican tradition. I described "Three Kings Day" in a past blog post which was another party that took place on Jan. 6. For this holiday there is a sweet bread (Rosca de Reyes) that is eaten with baby Jesus figures hidden inside.

The tradition goes that if you are the one to get one of those figurines, you make tamales for your family and friends on Feb 2, or Día de la Candelaria. Another important custom in Mexico is for families to own an image of the Christ child, a niño Dios. On February 2nd, the child is dressed in fine clothes and presented in the church. And in our experience, all throughout the village! Not only do people dress the Christ child in fine clothes, but hold and rock them throughout the day.

The baby Jesus's for sale in the main zocolo. There were hundreds of them!

A baby Jesus in a basket.

I was pleased to see a dark skinned baby Jesus. They were certainly few and far between.

A baby Jesus displayed in the central market.

                                A short video of a procession downtown with the people carrying their baby Jesus's.

If you hasn't been obvious, just about all of the fiestas celebrated here have religious significance.

And then there was Carnival (pronounced as "carnaval") on Feb. 9-12 which I'll have a separate blog post for, so stay posted!

So, you can see that in Tepoztlán and all throughout Mexico the people take their fiestas seriously! Again, one of the things we are most committed to taking home with us is a sense of enjoying life and simply being in the present moment...