The Festivities Never Stopped

The Festivities Never Stopped

Just outside our window on an early January dawn, a brass band serenaded a birthday boy or girl with Las Mañanitas. “You’ve got to be kidding,” our friend Brian moaned, eyes still glued shut. It wouldn’t have been so tough had the Christmas festivities not barely concluded, rockets exploding day and night.

Oaxaca is a non-stop party in December and early January. Consider:

Dec 8th – The Celebration of the Virgin of Juquila, curing ailments of money and commerce. We had plenty to ask of her – Tyler went to the dawn mass with her friend Lis in San Juanito.

Dec 11th – The Celebration of the Virgin of Guadelupe. Centuries ago, Guadelupe was seen etched on a rock by a poor peasant, Juan Diego. She has been embraced by the poor and marginalized as the common person’s Virgin. But not only for the poor: I watched a gaggle of Oaxacan bank employees process to the church of Guadelupe bearing flowers for the altar, led by a priest contracted to perform a special mass. Oaxacan families dress their 2 year old boys up in white peasant cloth, paint a moustache on them and sit them upon a burro for a photo.

December 18th – The Celebration of the Virgin of Soledad – Oaxaca’s patron saint. I watched the burning of the “castillo” – a 5 story scaffold of interconnected fireworks, Rube Goldberg style in which one story flames out but the fuse burns on to light the next one. It ends when a whirling crown bursts into sparks and spins skyward. Some of the faithful had arrived at the church walking on their knees from their villages. Dozens of families spent the night in the cold courtyard to accompany 2 am processions and the dawn mass. Sparks poured upon them; they laughed and shook the embers off their blankets.

December 23rd – The Night of the Radishes. Oaxaca holds a contest for the most outrageous carvings of giant radishes. The artist moistens their creation every few minutes with a spray bottle to prevent it from wilting. The ornate diaramas tend towards the religious, saints processing through neighborhoods. It is truly among the most remarkable displays of popular art I’ve ever seen.

December 24th – Night of the Calenda. On Christmas eve, parishes parade ornate floats through the historic center. Tuba led brass bands precede them. The faithful buy hollowed eggs filled with confetti to smash on peoples’ heads.

There was very little Santa Claus and department store displays and certainly no snow, so the kids wondered if there was any Christmas spirit in Oaxaca. It sure seemed abundant, even overflowing and Three Kings day a couple of weeks later added another boost. It was glorious and exhausting. We dragged ourselves back to school and work.