Virgen de Guadalupe

Last night was the 6th Novena for the Guadalupe in our neighborhood. Each day more people come and live music arrived on the fourth Novena. (Video below)


Don't let the peacefulness of it fool you or make you nostalgic for simpler times because once it got started, about 30 boys under 12 showed up.

Half of them went down into the arroyo behind me to play soccer and yell, lighting sparklers that caused a raging bonfire, causing every rooftop dog to bark like crazy while everyone recited prayers and sang and ignored the cacophony.


The rest of the boys stood in front of me pushing and shoving each other around for fun, their mothers slapping at them as they ducked away. By the end of the night, it was almost an old time religious revival with people singing, clapping and dancing, every bit of it heartfelt with love.
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These novenas are a crescendo building toward the big party they have at the end, you can feel it coming.


If it's anything like last year's party on the 12th, it's going to be fun, locos and all.





© 2011 Suzanne da Rosa

Dia de los Muertos 2011

A slideshow of altars, celebrations and the cemetery, 2011

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The Blessing of San Miguel

Pilgrimage of San Miguel to the Parroquia to be blessed for the upcoming town celebration - The Festival of San Miguel 

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This Weekend's Festivities:
Midnight Friday:  Procession of the estrellas to the Parroquia for las mañanitas
4 a.m Saturday:  The Alborada and fireworks in the Jardin
2 p.m Saturday: Parade of los monos to the Jardin to be blown up
5 p.m Saturday:  The procession of the Xúchiles and dancers
9:30 - 10 p.m Saturday night: Castillo fireworks in the Jardin
11 a.m. Sunday: The big parade of dancers up Zacateros, around town and to the Jardin
9:30 - 10 p.m Saturday night: Castillo fireworks in the Jardin

Throughout the day the Voladores perform in front of the Parroquia

Museo Antropologia

Mexico City, the museum of anthropology.

There's more than I can write pecking a letter at a time on my iPhone so here's some photos until I can get to my computer

Locos Parade 2011

Every June in San Miguel de Allende, they celebrate the feast day of San Antonio de Padua with first, Rockets beginning at about 4am, followed by religious processions and masses and a full size carnival with lots of kiddie rides, ending a week later with the Locos blessing and Parade.


Ten years ago this parade lasted about thirty minutes and was a rag tag group of neighborhood youth dresses as indians, pirates, skeletons, nothing so elaborate as you see now.


It has grown into a full blown major parade with whole neighborhoods spending a good part of the year creating colorful elaborate costumes around a theme as you'll see in the video.

They say about 10,000 people participate in it now.  They begin about a mile and a half outside of the center of town, ending up in the Jardin (the town plaza) to dance and have some fun. The parade itself takes a good couple of hours or more to loop through the town.

Here’s a video of parts from this year’s parade.
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And the slideshow
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They know how to have fun!

Elvia's Family

I haven't done an update on Elvia's family in a long time.  For those of  you who haven't read about Elvia, it begins with the post titled The Novena and a Tragedy.  Other stories about her family can be found by searching 'Elvia'

It is now just a little over two years since her husband Jesus was murdered.  Her son Beto had the operation for his salivary gland tumor and that's gone well.  He's in the preparatory school for one more year then hoping to go to a university to become a chef.  The girls, Karen, Teri, Paulina and little Lupita are all doing well.

Since her husband's death, she has been living in her in-law's home.  She has one room where she sleeps with her four girls and Beto shares with a cousin.  Thirteen people share the home, a caring environment but very close and tight.  She talked to me the other day about not knowing how she was going to be able to purchase new school uniforms and supplies for school for the four girls for the next term, as they all go to new schools this August.

She works full time cleaning and cooking at what she describes as a private home, which often has groups of people for weddings and events.  She makes 1,000 pesos per week, the equivalent of about $85.70 at today's online exchange rate.  Her normal schedule is 9-3pm but when people are in the house they expect her to work for the same pay but from 6:30 am until midnight.  I think this is not legal and tell her so. She also cleans for me in her spare time, once a week and she cooks full meals that she sells from her doorstep every Friday night.  She is industrious, religious, and a mother hen with her children.


She came to me this week asking if I could help find her more work.  I can't imagine how she can possibly do anything else.  So I asked her what she really needed.  The looming issue for her now is that the four girls all have to go to new schools in August and she cannot afford the uniforms for the school year, which for 2 sets, including shoes and school supplies are going to cost about $6500 pesos, or about $640 usdls.

I did the math and she would have to work for at least two full months to be able to pay for this.  Then she'd have to work double time those two months to cover her basic living expenses.  This doesn't include the tuition that Beto will need for his coming school year in the preparatoria (like high school) which, including registration and the 10 months of fees are going to be somewhere around $7,000 pesos.  Another  extra 9 weeks of full time work.

[caption id="attachment_3969" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Beto and Elvia At the All Night Pilgrimage From Atotonilco to San Miguel"][/caption]

The day before yesterday, I decided to post to the San Miguel lists to see if anyone would like to help this family with school expenses. We've had a nice response and donations are beginning to come in, and I wanted to personally thank everyone who has offered to help.  We haven't met our goal yet, but the response is heartwarming and Elvia and her family are very moved that people who don't even know them would be willing to help.  We are still a little short, and I'm sure we will get there, but if anyone out there would like to make a small contribution, contact me through here and I can tell you what is still needed, or if we have met our goal.

[caption id="attachment_4184" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Teri, Paulina and Lupita on Viernes de Dolores"][/caption]

I am grateful to all because if there is anyone who deserves a little break it is Elvia.  So thank you everyone.

Living in the Neighborhoods

I won't say that wonderful events don't happen downtown, because they do. But when things happen out in the neighborhoods they have a character all their own, an organic feel to them - like everyone just chipped in whatever they had that day and said let's throw a party.
And they do.



It was the birthday of San Felipe this weekend - the WHOLE weekend, from Friday afternoon until 11pm tonight and they didn't miss a trick. Carnival rides with six different kinds of loud music going all at once. Sirens go non-stop from about noon until it closes.



There's loco music, bandas, religious processions and masses. Half of the homes in the neighborhood sell some kind of food, sweet, bread, tacos, and ice cream.

Little boys and old men set up tables of games and charge you to play. Mixed in with all it all are tables with people  selling groceries, fruit, toilet paper, chips and plastic containers.

People come from all over to play games, ride the rides, eat, dance, pray, carry the saints around the neighborhood singing.  They are outside all day and night talking to each other and sometimes you'll find the tired ones  against a wall on the street sleeping.



The neighborhood locos get dressed up and dance all day.
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How can one resist buying one of these?
Works of art for only 40 pesos, the size of a pizza.



Or taking the neighborhood kids for a ride on one of these?
Here's a little movie for the kids - sounds and all -
loco dance music and a banda in the background,
each ride has it's own music and they are all going at once.
No one seems to mind.
[vimeo 25038312]

Corazon Amoroso

Master artisan José Luz has been creating art out of tin for over fifty years. In the four minute video below I follow José Luz while he works on a new piece.

The resulting piece emerges from many hours of design time, a day and a half in his studio cutting, stamping, pushing and re-working the tin. The result is a piece of texture and softness, a piece of beauty inspired by his love of art, metal and working with his hands, inspired by his deep religious faith.

He calls this piece corazon amoroso de Jesus sacramento.
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Semana Santa Processions

Photos from the stations of the cross processions and Good Friday's  Santo Encuentro procession.

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Palm Sunday, 2011

For starters, a few photos.. more to come

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Viernes de Dolores

Viernes de Dolores, Friday of sorrows, the day that altars are built to honor Mary's pain. Our neighbor constructed this beautiful altar this morning and is serving drinks and snacks to everyone who comes by today to visit.

Pilgrimage from Atotonilco to San Miguel

Two sunday's before Easter, Sr. de la Columna, the Virgin of Dolores and San Juan are removed from their places in the santuario, wrapped in silk scarves, covered, then carried in an all night pilgrimage to San Miguel for the upcoming Semana Santa celebrations and processions.

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Last Saturday night, my friend Elvia, her son and daughter Roberto and Karen and I accompanied the statues from the church courtyard to San Miguel along with about 20,000 other pilgrims.

[caption id="attachment_3969" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Beto and Elvia"][/caption]

We arrived in the plaza at about 11:30 and waited for the 'Imagenes' to appear. At midnight, the bells rang, banners and luminarias were brought forth and the three Imagenes, carried on litters, came out of the church.

[caption id="attachment_3970" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Atotonilco, the saints lowered while mass is said"][/caption]

A short mass was projected over a loud speaker and the procession began following the route through el Cotijo, to the capilla on the  highway for a 3am mass, proceeding to a small pueblo whose people had decorated the entry with a carpet of flowers and sawdust images with arches of palm and large paper flowers.

The participants were varied - elderly men and women, very very old people being held up between two family members, babies carried in arms and strollers, teenagers, adults, groups of men in white hats leading song, women who walked the entire route, 8 hours, all night, in bare feet.

[caption id="attachment_3971" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Midnight in the plaza at Atotonilco"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3972" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Karen and Gisela, 3 am across from the chapel"][/caption]

After the rosay the procession wound it's way, accompanied by singing to the top of Avenida Independencia where we were greeted with fireworks, and a mile of decorated street. People poured in from everywhere to watch the unveiling and procession to the San Juan de Dios Church at dawn.

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Follow up to Virgin of Guadalupe

Slow but sure, I am catching up on my video footage.  December 12, the celebration for the Virgen de Guadalupe.  The celebrations started a few blocks down from our house where several new altars were built this year and a pilgrimage began on foot and in trucks, making their way to the San Antonio church where they met up with thousands of other pilgrims.

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The scene at the San Antonio church was impressive with the bell ringers going wild, rockets going off and a line up of pilgrims that wrapped around the church plaza, down the street and spilling onto the Ancha de San Antonio, stopping traffic.  All along the way, people were singing, praying, arriving on horseback from the ranchos, each individual, family or community carrying a flag, a photo, a statue, even a folding table with the image of the virgin and setting their toddlers, dressed up as Juan Diego in front of the images to be photographed.

Tin Candle Boats

I've been playing around with some of my tin artisans and here's a little boat we made this week. These just make me smile :)
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Been having fun doing this instead of writing to the blog. I guess I'll inch back into writing 'poco a poco' as they say here.




You can see where we're going with this little project!