Mexico is a festive country. If you are looking for a party, most of the info you get from the web won't show much for July and August. However, just about every other month on the calendar has a celebration.
Primarily, the religion practiced in this country is Roman Catholicism. I believe immigration authorities cite about 37 different religions practiced here, but it is still mainly Catholic.
There are very few villages where there are no churches. There might not be a man of the cloth living there, but a visiting priest will celebrate mass on special days. Most villages claim patron saints, and there will be a special fiesta to honor that saint, at least once a year.
Our village has several churches with different patron saints, the major ones being Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. The main icon here is Our Lady of the Rosary, fondly called La Chaparita or The Short One because the statue is only about 20" high. -we have the San Rafael church and the San Miguel church, so we get to do lots of celebrating, and folks come from all over the Republic of Mexico to pay homage to the Short One.
She starts visiting the ranches after the noon mass on the first Sunday of August. she is accompanied by a crowd of devotees who announce thier approach to the rancher by shooting off loud rockets - and I do mean LOUD and LOTS of them! These folks are early-starters, and the first big boom goes off about 5:00 a.m., I find it diffiicult to concentrate on early morning prayers with loud booms knocking me out of bed.
The Virgin is brought back into town on September 10 to have the road dust washed from the statue and gets a new wig and dress. A dress designer in Guadalajara makes the new dresses each year for the statues in Zapopan, San Juan de los Lagos and Talpa. They are not your average Jacque Penne or Target dresses. It is rumored this dress for Talpa cost $20,000. Yes, that's dollars, not pesos.
Then we have another fiesta on September 19 to celebrate her renovation from a bug-eaten, rotten piece of sugar cane stuck together with the glutinous material from an orchid to the splendid shape she now is. Don't forget we have Independence Day on September 16 and on the 29th, we celebrate San Miguel Day. That takes us into October and the 7th is considered the Virgin's birthday, so hoopy-time again. Columbus Day is fairly quiet, but October 29 is San Rafael Day.
Bear in mind, all the fiesta days are begun nine days before the actual day upon which they fall...guess what woke me up this morning?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Golden Friendship
Yesterday we attended the celebration of a Golden Friendship. Some married couples are blessed by celebrating a Golden Wedding Anniversary. Other couples, married or not, are blessed by celebrating fifty years of friendship, love, and sharing a life together. Such was the case of Gayla and Bertha at yesterday's fiesta.
Living in a small, provincial, mountain town in Mexico, you don't keep many secrets. I don't know what the locals thought of two old-maids living together when they moved to the village twenty-five years ago. However, Gayla and Bertha have left their marks on the natives.
Gayla has spent her years teaching the Mexican women to cook Gringo style. There was a time when nobody living here would eat broccoli, okra or butternut squash because they had never heard of them. Gayla planted a vegetable garden and taught them to enjoy vegetables other than beans, tomatoes and chiles. Her pastries became legend, and in turn, she learned the tricks of the Mexican kitchen.
Bertha taught English to the young boys and girls.. Many of them have grown up, married and have children of their own who lerned the English that she taught the parents. Bertha is handy with a hammer and a saw. She also knows about mixing cement and building fireplaces. Their ranch home has expanded over the years to included six private suites, a great room where we dined yesterday. There is also a hot pool and a lap pool.
Mariachis entertained us with their music for three hours while we dined on Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Chiles en Nogado, Gourmet Pozole prepared by Gayla.
May all your friendships be as warming as Gayla and Bertha's, and may you celebrate your Golden Friendship/Wedding Anniversary also.
Living in a small, provincial, mountain town in Mexico, you don't keep many secrets. I don't know what the locals thought of two old-maids living together when they moved to the village twenty-five years ago. However, Gayla and Bertha have left their marks on the natives.
Gayla has spent her years teaching the Mexican women to cook Gringo style. There was a time when nobody living here would eat broccoli, okra or butternut squash because they had never heard of them. Gayla planted a vegetable garden and taught them to enjoy vegetables other than beans, tomatoes and chiles. Her pastries became legend, and in turn, she learned the tricks of the Mexican kitchen.
Bertha taught English to the young boys and girls.. Many of them have grown up, married and have children of their own who lerned the English that she taught the parents. Bertha is handy with a hammer and a saw. She also knows about mixing cement and building fireplaces. Their ranch home has expanded over the years to included six private suites, a great room where we dined yesterday. There is also a hot pool and a lap pool.
Mariachis entertained us with their music for three hours while we dined on Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Chiles en Nogado, Gourmet Pozole prepared by Gayla.
May all your friendships be as warming as Gayla and Bertha's, and may you celebrate your Golden Friendship/Wedding Anniversary also.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Jenny in Mexico
Hello out there, wherever you are,
This is my first day blogging, so bear with me. My husband, Howard, and I have lived in the state of Jalisco, Mexico for the past thirty-five years. We lived and worked in Puerto Vallarta twenty-five years and have since retired to a mountain village roughly two and a half drive from PV.
I am a budding writter. I have published one book and am working on another one. The published book describes the fourteen years I worked as a consular agent for the U.S. Government in PV. Its title is Drama & Diplomacy: In Sultry Puerto Vallarta. It is available on www.Amazon.com.
www.Mexconnect.com is one of Mexico's biggest monthly e-zines, and I have been a contributor for two years.
There will be a writer's workshop in PV this coming February, 2009. We have some fine leaders lined up to conduct the workshop. If any of you writers are looking for a sunny February weekend to do some serious work, check out www.pvwritersgroup.com
I'm looking forward to hearing from you, and will be happy to answer question I can.
Jenny McGill
This is my first day blogging, so bear with me. My husband, Howard, and I have lived in the state of Jalisco, Mexico for the past thirty-five years. We lived and worked in Puerto Vallarta twenty-five years and have since retired to a mountain village roughly two and a half drive from PV.
I am a budding writter. I have published one book and am working on another one. The published book describes the fourteen years I worked as a consular agent for the U.S. Government in PV. Its title is Drama & Diplomacy: In Sultry Puerto Vallarta. It is available on www.Amazon.com.
www.Mexconnect.com is one of Mexico's biggest monthly e-zines, and I have been a contributor for two years.
There will be a writer's workshop in PV this coming February, 2009. We have some fine leaders lined up to conduct the workshop. If any of you writers are looking for a sunny February weekend to do some serious work, check out www.pvwritersgroup.com
I'm looking forward to hearing from you, and will be happy to answer question I can.
Jenny McGill
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