Happy Easter!
In Mexico, we celebrate Semana Santa (Saint's Week) for
the week preceding Easter. This is perhaps the biggest holiday of the
year. School is out for two weeks. Just about everything in the
country comes to a halt while virtually everyone either goes on vacation, visits
family, or entertains visiting family. There are non-stop fiestas just
about everywhere - religious processions, rides, games, lots of food (but no
meat for much of the week), dances, toros, bands and so on.
We went to see a toro rodeo in San Vicente, a little village
next to Villa Morelos on the first day of Semana Santa. When we arrived
at Adrian's house, his wife was doing her laundry. She had to lug three
big tubs of dirty clothes about half a steep mile down to the village for water,
scrub it all out by hand, and then lug the infinitely heavier wet clothes all
the way back up the hill. Wow! We all waited around while Adrian
bathed and got all dolled up in his fancy shirt, cowboy boots and hat, and finally
we were off. The toro ring was very crowded. The bulls seemed bigger
and more aggressive than we have previously seen, which added to the excitement.
I sat for a while with my legs daggling in the ring, but after having to leap
out of the way of careening bull horns a couple of times, I decided to stand!
Twice horses got a jab in the butt. One bull leaped right up on to the
stone ring several times, causing spectators to leap off in all directions.
Riders really put on a show this time. One guy taunting a bull with a
traditional poncho was momentarily trampled, until others drew the bulls attention
and helped him escape. The bull gored and tossed his poncho around.
Our buddies, Juan and Adrian, spent most of the rodeo hanging out with various
friends in the crowd. When we found them at the end, both had imbibed
considerable beer and tequila, and were full of vim and vigor. Adrian's
kids wanted to check out the rides and games (like a little Tunbridge Fair),
so we all wandered up the fairway. We ate french fries with chili sauce,
went on rides and played foosball. All in all, quite a night!
The Spring Equinox was also a fun celebration here, called Primavera.
All the school children parade through the town colorfully dressed as butterflies,
flowers and animals. Each school has a king and queen with full court
of lords and ladies, all dressed in elaborate Victorian gowns, with hair professionally
styled. Our little Liseth was asked to be Queen for her school, but it
would have cost about US$400 - way too much for the honor! She was stunning
as a pink butterfly, and just as happy. After the parade, the children
put on a dance show at her school, and donated food was sold to benefit the
school. Liseth danced first as a butterfly, and then quickly changed to
her "Veracruzana" costume for her next dance. This was an elaborate white
gown with a lacy black apron and red flowers in her professionally styled hair.
Wow! What I would have given for more opportunity to dress up like that
as a little girl!
Another day Juan invited us to help do in one of his turkeys, because the
next day a cousin was coming over to cook a special sauce (mole - the e is pronounced
like a long a, and it does not contain rodents.) The expert in turkey
butchery was Leno, a Cuban man who is living at the hotel for 9 months while
writing and filming historical documentaries about this part of Mexico.
His father, apparently, had a large sugar cane plantation in Cuba where he learned
all about butchering animals. Never a dull moment here!
When we got to the hotel the following afternoon, Juan's cousin was indeed busy
cooking mole. This cousin has had a sex change operation, and she was
ably assisted by her dramatically effeminate boyfriend. This was
a surprise to me, which goes to show that we should always question our assumptions.
I would have thought a culture so steeped in macho, and so traditional in many
ways, would be less tolerant of gays. On the contrary, everyone seemed
perfectly comfortable with Antonia and her pal - really wasn't an issue. Gotta
love it. Later Antonia and pal dressed Juan up like a motorcycle greaser
with slicked back hair, dark glasses and leather jacket. What a hoot!
Isaac came down with conjunctivitis about this time. I went to the
local pharmacy in search of antibiotic eye drops. There was a doctor there,
who asked about the symptoms, gave me drops with instructions for use, and sent
me on my way. The whole thing took five minutes and cost US$3.15.
Problem was quickly cleared up with a minimum of fuss. Wouldn't
it be nice if it were that easy in the US?
On Good Friday there was a Procession of Silence here in Cuitzeo.
We had forgotten all about it, but were alerted by not so silent drumming outside
our door at about 8:30 pm. We followed the crowd to a church a couple
of blocks up from us. People were marching, carrying candles, life-sized
gory Christ figure and various saints. Some men wore purple hoods reminiscent
of KKK style - what am I missing in my Christian education here? - and women
with black veiled hats, presumably mourning the death of Christ. All this
was taken into the church, and the crowd dispursed toward the plaza. We
followed along, and discovered they had erected a huge cross, with a pulley
to allow it to be raised with some one attached. My word but they take
these re-enactments seriously here!
We discovered that a travelling hypnotist show had set up in a huge tent
on the edge of town Sat night. It was very silly, hokey slapstick and
off color humor, with lipsynched acting out of Mexican songs and homemade
costumes. Both Sponge Bob and the Hulk danced and shook hands with youngsters.
The hypnotist got a crowd of 8 teens under, and helped them make fools
of themselves. Very tame fools, though, compared to the show we saw in
PEI last fall. The kids here danced, ran to escape imaginary dogs, built
an imaginary fire, made and cooked tortillas and ate them with too much chili.
Then they desparately searched for water to drink. All cute and funny.
I boiled about 3 dozen white eggs and brought them over
to the hotel to color with Juan, Brigit and the girls. They were fascinated
with the whole process, which apparently they have never seen before. We used
crayons first to decorate, and then dyed them in food coloring. They really
loved this activity, kids and adults alike. I insisted that they refrain
from eating and breaking any until Sunday, though they hated to delay gratification!
Saturday night, I went by late and Juan and Brigit helped me to hide eggs and
some chocolate bells and baseballs. Couldn't find chocolate eggs here.
Juan and Brigit were beside themselves about this whole concept - giggling and
carrying on and outdoing each other with wonderful hiding places. They
assured me they would come by to wake us up early, probably around 6 am, when
the girls would be ready to hunt!
As it turned out, we turned up at 8:30 Easter morning,
and woke them up! The Easter egg hunt was a smashing success - they
have no comparable activity or holiday, and the adults loved watching as much
as the kids loved hunting. They also were inexplicably amused by the concept
of eating those colored eggs. I never did understand why that is so funny! Easter
dinner was a chicken barbecue with our friends at the hotel - served with tortillas,
of course.
There have been festivals happening in Cuitzeo every night for the past
week or two. We went last night, and witnessed a truly stunning display
of pyrotechnics. In addition to the usualy fireworks, as you might expect
on the fourth of July in the US, they build an enormous wooden structure that
moves in remarkable ways, all ingeniously powered by colored rockets in various
shapes: butterflies with wings that float up and down, spinning stars, etc.
etc. Meanwhile, a big band is playing, food stalls are everywhere, and
the people are celebrating. Which Mexicans certainly do with style!
All our best,
Sarah, Steve & Isaac
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