Time: Sunday. Late morning into afternoon, the day after the castillos and cohetes and fireworks into the wee hours.
Place: El Jardin, San Miguel's main plaza.
Occasion: Day Two-and-a-Half of La Fiesta de San Miguel Arcángel.
Oh boy! We're goin' to a parade!!
And no, the cohetes aren't over yet by a long shot.
The plaza is again teeming with spectators to watch the troups of costumed performers from all over Mexico as they dance for blocks approaching the main venue.
Dancers large and small are fairly pooped by the time they arrive at the plaza, but they put on a fine show nevertheless.
Near the church, the groups disperse for rest and photo ops or to continue performing.
I especially liked the counterpoint of the pre-Hispanic indigenous dancers in the courtyard of the Catholic church.
Countless indigenous peoples are represented here, in full glorious costume, presenting to the modern crowd the ancient practices and traditions.
I had a chat with a few of the young men in one of the most marvelous groups, the Tastoanes of Tonalá.
Tastoanes are ancient figures whose job it was to absorb evil from the world. They are followed by un-costumed young men who brush and whip at them with mesquite branches thereby removing the evil from the tastoanes themselves so they can be purified to continue their difficult work.
One of the men told me that, although the tradition is ancient, it continued into the time of the Spanish conquest, and the tastoanes took on the additional role of absorbing the energy brought by the conquerers.
I never quite understood how this fellow fit in.
Sorry, girls. He's married.
These youngsters from Aquascalientes were very proud of their Olmeca costumes.
A few of the parade participants were more conventional.
The excitement grew as word came in that it was almost time for another treat: the appearance of Los Gigantes!
These huge papier maché figures are crafted in San Miguel and are deservedly popular.
The celebration and performances continued well into Sunday night. Travis and I were able to watch from the roof garden of the rental house the show that we had been directly under the night before, as the castillos and fireworks exploded over the city once more.
Next week, we'll have a calmer column as we visit the beautiful botanical garden. You'll like it.
Adiós for now.
Wow - excellent photos! And yes, as Gretchen said those costumes are stunning!!! So much work!
Posted by: Jeanne | October 22, 2012 at 10:34 PM
Fantastic pictures, now can't wait for the botanical garden pics, holding my breath :-)
Posted by: Jeanie (from the owl house) | October 15, 2012 at 02:43 PM
I don't understand why you took so many photos of Travis. Oh...those were the Tastoanes! Haha! Great photos!
Posted by: Allen | October 14, 2012 at 01:57 PM
the costumes are just amazing... in fact "amazing" is really not adequate! Absolutely incredible. there must be a large number of Sewing Elves in Mexico! Such wonderful pictures! Muchos gracias for the camera work!
Posted by: Gretchen | October 13, 2012 at 01:13 PM