Christmas, Oaxaca Style

The Posada is an annual tradition in the main plaza each Christmas eve.  It commemorates Mary and Joseph's search for an inn so Mary could give birth.  Many children dress in their honor and there are plenty of angels, too.

The Oaxacans never tire of the false mustache and beard look as evidenced by this Rasta Man Joseph.

Nor is there any event without fireworks!

One of the many angels, this one riding on a float.

The youngest Mary.

Of course there were plenty of traditional dancers and loud exciting bands.  Usually the dancers carry baskets of live flowers on their heads, this was the first time I've seen the baskets with lighted candles inside cellophane shapes.

A young shepherd

 

One of the bands and a gigante on their way home after a few hours of parading.

Another of the many gigantes entertains the crowds

The Three Kings came on horseback

Three Gringas were there as well.

Julie tossing a confetti filled egg, another tradition.

A great time was had by all!

Christmas dinner the next day on our patio with friends.

Alan and I send you our love and best wishes for a healthy and happy 2013!

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!

Farewell to Oaxaca

Alan enjoying another beautiful day on the Avenida Alcala

It is very hard to believe that the time has come to say goodbye to our winter home here in Oaxaca and get ready to return to our friends and family in New York.  In many ways it seems like such a short time, but in reality it has been almost three full months.

We decided to put together a final newsletter with some highlights that did not make it into the earlier editions.

Susan , Norman and I deciding what part of the market at Tlacolula we will explore next.  Alan took this shot, he likes it because it looks like a cultural face-off.

Women in Tlacolula cooking the meat they have just purchased from the stalls behind them.  For many rural people this weekly market is the only time they get to eat meat.

Susan and I sampling fruit while Andres and Norman look on

Stan and Alan making pozole at school in Luz's kitchen

Suzanne and I finish the pozole which all the students will enjoy

Stylish women in the US have designer handbags, Oaxaquenos like to carry roosters

Beatrice is not really Frida Kahlo, she is, however, an excellent cook.

Her food stand at the Ocotlan market. That is Bruce, Norman's brother, sitting across from him.

What a treat!  We visit the library we co-sponsor with Steve and Julie and Stan and Suzanne

The kids love to read to us when we visit.

Some students at the school where our library is housed. Here they are asking me if I know Justin Beiber, or have if I have seen him in New York where I live.

Alan having fun with the kids.  After they asked him to show them US money, which of course he was not carrying, they wanted to know how many pesos in a dollar. At that time it was 11, so Alan was asking them how many pesos in 3 dollars, 5 dollars, etc.  They liked that.

More math with the tall gringo

Another topic of much interest: What do kids in New York play with? Many of the kids here had tops with strings. They were able to do lots of tricks.

This entire class wanted us to sign our names in their notebooks.  As Steve said,"This is the closest we will ever come to being rock stars!"

This photo of Suzanne and Stan with a young reader was taken on our Libros Para Pueblos tour.  We visited two different towns with small libraries that are looking for sponsors.

Lucky Stan!  He was given a drawing by this lovely girl in the library at Huizol. The kids did a project in which they read a book then made a drawing about it.

Part of the beautiful old kitchen in Huizol's church.  It has been in use since the 1500s.

Oh happy day!  Cristian Flores Perez, a student we have sponsored for three years, with his parents.  They came down from their town in the mountains to see the first person in their family graduate from college. They both went to school until third grade, so you can imagine what Cristian's achievement means to them.

The biggest smile we have ever seen on his face- he told us he could not believe that he was really a college graduate.

We joined the family after graduation to celebrate.  This is the outside area of the place Cristian and his sisters have been renting so they can attend school in Oaxaca.  The chicken was absolutely delicious!

All the furniture was moved out of the room that is usually his bedroom and chairs and tables were set up.  More guests came after the evening mass, we only stayed for afternoon comida. 

His mom gave me this beautiful traditional blouse and lent me her skirt for the photo.
( By the way, I am 5'2''!)

The porch where the family usually eats. Recognize Cliff from the sponsoring organization Oaxaca Street Children?  Cristian told his dad that Cliff was his second father; he has seen him through high school and college.  Alan and I felt so honored and proud that we had anything to do with this wonderful success story.

Susan, Alan and I were very excited at this calenda.  The men's costumes were unlike any I have seen before. Their heads were covered with scarves and cowboy hats, they wore carved wooden masks with large black moustaches,  fringed jackets and fur pants, and big silver spurs that they clicked as they danced.

Later that same afternoon, we saw this reenactment of a marriage ceremony.  Sorry, I do not know the name of this particular group of people.  There are more than 25 different tribes and languages in the state of Oaxaca.

 The groom is at the front holding the poles but the women do the heavy lifting.    By the way, they keep backing up, turning around, go forward again, all the time dancing to music -  no easy feat!  Does the bride looks like this because she thinks she may fall off, or is she not sure she wants to get married?  As we leave this magical place, we know we don't look so happy either.  Thanks for sharing our journey - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Que le vaya bien!