Festival of the Virgin de Guadalupe

 Since the 3rd of December, there have been fireworks in the street every night, and sometimes during the day. Hope doesn't wake up for them anymore.After the first night, our baby figured it wasn't really worth the ruckus because we don't let her go to the party. Mexican parents let their kids stay up until the fiesta ends, but we are mean American parents and she is in bed by eight.
The folks in the street are celebrating the Virgin de Guadalupe. This is a big deal in Mexico and it starts the Christmas season, so they take a full 9 days to celebrate. There are parades of icons to the two local Catholic churches and festivals at the churches with food, games and religious services.
The virgin is said to have appeared to a peasant in the Guadalupe suburb of Mexico City in 1531. The location and description are quiet close to an Aztec goddess who was widely worshipped before the Spanish conquered the Aztec empire only a decade earlier. The virgin healed some folks and left an image of herself on the peasant's cloak. This image is venerated and piligrimmaged in Mexico City, but locals build icons throughout the countryto honor and celebrate the VdG every December.
This iconography and saint worship is similar to the veneration of Santa Claus (or Saint Nicholas) in our own culture. Mexicans make requests of the VdG and she is an important part of the Christmas season.
Our favorite correlation was, just like St. Nick, families and children get their photos taken with the Virgin de Guadalupe. Instead of elves, the scene includes horses, bunnies, and ducklings-- all of which probably hate the fireworks.
Now the fireworks have ended for a time, as the virgin's feast day has past, but the Christmas season has begun.

Life South of the Border

I return from a long blog hiatus to announce that I have fallen victim to Mexico's latest scam: one-size-fits-all underwear.
The OSFA approach may work with a garment like a poncho, but underwear needs to at least be slightly tailored to the user. Everyone knows this. But I was sucked in-- it seemed so amazing-- maybe they are really on to something, and I will be a part of the next miracle of science-- akin to scotch tape, or the internet, or virtual reality glasses. Turns out, I just own underwear that doesn't fit. Luckily, thanks to the dollar to peso exchange rate, it was really cheap... I could afford to try another pair in case I got a bad batch...