Las Fiestas de Agosto are many things, a boost to the local economy amidst the painfully slow season for one, a religious celebration to our patron virgin Maria Asuncion, a chance for the kids in town to ride the mechanical games, etc, there is something for everyone :)
It is important to mention that every tradition present in the Fiestas and more precisely in the ritual ceremonies have it's origins in the ancient Mexica cosmovision and believes, so it's necessary to understand how every element is a mere visual symbol of this material reality, only a small part of a very extensive universe...
Such a complex relationship is the one that developed between the catholic church and their new "devoted followers" with their "strange and loud" ancient rituals and ceremonies...
La Peregrinacion
So with that said! Yesterday was the first of a nine day ritual, ending on August 15th Dia de la Virgen Maria Asuncion as marked on the calendar, this is our church's patron saint, or in this case virgin, La Manzanilla's main street is named after her. Maria Asuncion is the patron of rain and abundance, people pray to her to bless their crops and bring them enough water to subside. On the last day of the festivities they bring her out on a boat to ride around the bay and bless the fishing season for that year; and all the fisher men lend their boats to bring along the live band and all the La Manzanilla families. So getting an early start is important if you want to live the full experience...
Las Mañanitas: around 6:00 am you will hear the callings (cuetes) to wake up and go greet the Virgin with music and prayer (and spiked coffee!).
Loading "La Virgen de Talpa" on the boat,
she sometimes comes to visit and bless uss as well,
all the way from Talpa, Jalisco.
La Peregrinacion: an ancestral tradition, the procession, only in this occasion locals dress up both as biblical and more contemporary Mexican catholic characters and ride in floats while the people follow in prayer starting from a different end of town each day (in case you were going to "forget" to come to this... more cuetes).
Citlali was Maria Asuncion in last years float.
La Danza: this is a very important component of the Peregrinacion because it is another hidden element of ancestral tradition now incorporated to modern Catholicism, the music, the instruments, the dance steps and choreography's all inherited trough generations of danzantes. This year there are two groups of danzantes in our town.
Rebeca danzando en el Jardin
La Misa: the mass offered during this time is very special because higher ranking personalities of the church ( like the bishop) come to visit our town and it's patron virgin. During this time is when most kids do their first communions, confirmations, presentation to the Virgin, baptisms, etc...
La Banda: after the proper respects are paid to the Virgin then it's time for a little pleasure with some live banda music playing on the Jardin's Kiosko, the duration of this pleasure moment depends largely on the priest and his personal views of "how much pleasure" is OK.
El Torito: ah yes, the fireworks continue, and may now land on your dinner plate! If you are not paying attention, there is a key moment when the tuba player makes an "angry bull sound" with his instrument and people start to evacuate the area all around you in a panic!!! That's when you know it's coming... This tradition spreads trough out the country, mostly in small towns; a guy carries a wooden structure (in some cases they pull it and the thing has wheels) in form of a bull over his head loaded with firecrackers and wild explosives, someone lights it for him and he runs through the excited crowd. (Plain good old Mexican fun!)
Nuestro amigo Esau no le teme al Torito... :)
La Feria: during this time traveling vendors and street fares come to La Manzanilla to offer their rides and set up their fosse-ball stands. The famous "cantaritos" set up witch is a mobile bar parked on the Jardin with loud speakers were everyone gathers to drink and dance after the church sponsored music dies out.
Valeria y Fernando "Barris" en los cantaritos.
El Castillo: the grand finale! This is usually reserved for the last days of the Fiestas if not the very last. It is a tall wooden structure about 30 feet tall, adorned with fireworks shooting off in a synchronized fashion reveling a hidden message or figure. At the top is what they call La Corona, this piece while fly off in to the night sky at the end of the performance. The making of castillos and toritos is a full Mexican artisan tradition, about 50, 000 Mexican families are dedicated to this industry.
Castillo con cuetes
The idea of the Fiestas, processions, music, and loud cuetes is to try to bring out the whole town and be apart of the tradition, to participate, be a part of that collective energy. This is a town a people that reclaims their right to exist in their own vision of the world, their customs remain because of their convictions, because of their necessity to share their cultural and historical past with others.
Juan and his award winning Danza.
We invite you to join in to the festivities, dance, support the local temporary businesses,
walk in the procession and pray for rain with us!!
Special Thanks to:
Lin Magali Loza,
Azucena Guzman,
Fernando Leyva Cedano
Luis Esau,
Josefina Padilla Osorio and
Jazmin Rico
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