December 2012, Part 2: Radishes

December 23 is another important date in Oaxaca.  The Night of the Radishes finds the zocalo filled with amazing creations all carved from giant radishes by teams of people hoping to win a prize for their imagination, patience and talent.  These photos were taken in the afternoon as the displays were being assembled.

The main dancer is suspended in the air as he jumps,

surrounded by other dancers in the traditional Dance of the Plumes. 

Sing it with him: "I am Don Quijote, the Man of La Mancha!" 

Some of the creations have obvious religious themes and some incorporate other vegetables or plants

There is usually at least one Frida Kahlo themed work, too.  Here she is depicted with wings while other winged beings play near her.  Inspiration? Your guess is as good as mine!

More Christmas trees have been appearing in Oaxaca during the last few years, this is the first we have noticed in radish form.

The skeleton called La Catrina - a Mexican tradition

What do you think this is?  I have no idea but I like it.

December 2012 Part One: Mustaches

We arrived in Oaxaca a few days before December 12, the day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The beloved protector of Mexico is celebrated for a few days with fireworks, a large carnival set up in the park next to the church of Guadalupe and the visitation by a great many little children dressed in their traditional trajes if they are girls, or dressed as Juan Diego, the peasant to whom La Morena showed herself and left her image on his shawl.

The little guys all sport hand drawn mustaches which wear off as the day goes on and eating, playing and nursing all take their toll.

The children wait in a very long line that winds through the church, where they are blessed by the priest, then out into the courtyard of the church where they offer their gifts of fresh vegetables, flowers and candles in front of the statue displayed there.

If the children are big enough they will often kiss the statue, but sometimes the parents or grandparents will touch the statue with a flower, a shawl or their hand and then touch that to the littlest ones.

Which photo do you like best?  Number 1?

Or number 2?

Here we are again!

A sure sign that we are in Oaxaca: the old and the new, the sacred and the profane.

We arrived in Oaxaca December 15,  so we got to see many religious preparations for the holidays.  This young man is on his way to dance in a calenda at Santo Domingo.  He carries a basket of flowers that symbolizes the host and chalice, the body and blood of Christ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These haunting ceramic figures are Los Migrantes, a work by Alejandro Santiago, a Oaxacan artist.  The work consists of 2500 statues symbolizing all the people who have had to leave his town in the mountains of Oaxaca to find work elsewhere.

The migrants are scattered throughout the upper part of the pedestrian walkway and the front of Santo Domingo church, which you can see in the background here.  They are traveling to different places and we think they have already been shown in a few cities in the US.

Market day in Tlacolula presented us with a surprise: a procession which brought the infant Jesus to the main church in that town. The woman in the blue dress is the madrina, the "godmother" who is financially responsible for the event.  She is  carrying the statue surrounded by children dressed as the three kings, angels, Mary and Joseph.  Yes, of course there was loud music and firecrakers and bottle rockets!  It was a religious event and everyone in Mexico knows that Jesus, Mary and the saints love to be honored like that.

Julie, Steve, Andres and I waiting patiently for our goat tacos at the market.  Hey, how come it is relatively quiet around here?

Not for long!  A little entertainment with your beer and tacos, anyone?  Like it or not we got it, and were asked for a few pesos for the pleasure.  It is Oaxaca after all, and everyone needs to make a living.

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After mass, the procession leaves the church and goes through the market.

This is how we do it in Tlacolula!

As evidenced by this photo, obviously a "before" shot, we needed to make a few changes to our apartment so we could be more comfortable.

 We spent a few weeks getting some comfortable furniture, a few wooden pieces to store things in and also lots of little things that made the place look and feel homey.  It was great fun and forced us to interact in Spanish even more than usual.  Alan really got to be very comfortable with the whole process of buying things in the fabric store, how to order the goods, where to go to pay for the items, then where to pick them up, all different places in the same store.  Yes, for every item, even a spool of thread!

Noche de los Rabanos:  The Night of the Radishes, December 23.  We like to go in the afternoon as the people are setting up their displays to get ready for the big contest at night. We can get much closer to the displays and we don't have to wait on a long line to get on the ramps that surround the many displays in the main square.  Remember, everything in this sculpture is carved from the large red radishes.  The whole display has to be sprayed with water to keep it fresh all day. 

Christmas Eve on the zocalo.  One of the fun traditions is confetti filled eggs that can be cracked on someone's head.  Many women walk around selling them, and as you can see there was no shortage of participants.  This young girl was selling scarves, but she found time to be silly with us.  She managed to get us to buy huge sparklers which she shared with her friends.  Fun for all!

Alan and a friend sharing one of the giant sparklers. That is Julie in the red skirt holding another sparkler.

Fans of Cocina Isabel will recognize  Giovanni with his second daughter, Valeria, she is 2 months old in this photo.  Her big sister, Kenya, is now 4.  We remember when she was this tiny and her dad introduced her to us.

That is all for now kids, but we have lots more photos and fun events to tell you about.  Hope you are all well and that 2012 is off to a great start.  Que te vaya bien!