Easter

Easter was a quiet day for us. Although I still managed to overcook a key lime pie. I put the pie in the oven, checked the time and thought, I have 30 minutes. So I went to do some more research on the computer for a project. Poof! One hour later I thought about the pie. So that one went in the garbage and I went to the store to get the ingredients for another key lime pie. This time while I waited for the pie to cook, I did a bit of ironing. No way I'll get so distracted by ironing that I'll forget about the pie.

We went to Mike and Betsy's for Easter dinner. She made a wonderful dinner of lamb chops, peas, baby carrots and roasted potatoes but it wasn't just lamb chops, peas, carrots and potatoes. She added a special touch to each dish. The weather was so nice that we sat outside on the terrace. It is such a blessing to have a meal with the family. Just wish Doug and Susan and their boys could have been with us.

In case you are wondering, going around the table from the guy in the shorts, Mike, Gary, Ned, Will, Jack (who probably grew 1/4 inch while we were having dinner) and the marvelous cook, Betsy.

I Missed Good Friday

Yesterday I kept thinking about Good Friday in San Miguel. I was missing not just Good Friday but all the San Miguel rituals around Easter. Yes, it is Easter here too but about all that exists to remind you of Easter are colored Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. Oh, and grocery store advertisments about food for Sunday.

Since I wasn't there to photograph the procession in Colonia San Antonio for Good Friday, I started looking back through my files at what I had photographed in prior years. When I got to 2007, I stopped. I had almost 100 images from that Good Friday and none of them had been processed. I don't know what happened that year but for some reason they have just been sitting there. I worked on them in Lightroom and put some of them in a gallery if you'd like to go see them.

Mexican Ingenuity

I have drawn a couple of arrows to point out a ladder because it is a little hard to see in the context of this beautiful church.

We were in the Parroquia church on Holy Wednesday in the late afternoon. There were some men in the church doing little chores preparing the church for the Easter events. One man brought a tall ladder and leaned it on the pillar in the right foreground. He looked up and decided that it wasn't going to be tall enough. So he pulled a.....I'm not sure about the terminology but a seat with a place to kneel in prayer over, then he put the bottom of the ladder into the seat and leaned it against the pillar. Ahh....now we understood what he needed to do. He was going to change out some light bulbs in the chandelier. Who needs a motorized lift and a safety belt to do a job? Not this man. He has Mexican ingenuity.

Seriously, I'm amazed at how Mexicans figure out ways to get things done with what they have available and they do it without getting hurt. I think anyone who has watched a house renovated or being built here in San Miguel can tell you a story or two about how the men work together to do things that just leave us gringos with our hearts in our throat.

Semana Santa

Holy Wednesday

It has been a busy week for Semanta Santa. This was the procession on Wednesday evening. Usually this is a huge procession but this year it did not include all the angels and women carrying symbols of Christ's last week before the crucification. This year four or five of the Santos from the Oratoria church were carried to the Stations of the Cross in the Centro.  We walked along with it part of the way and then we went to the Sunset Bar to watch the lights come on in town.

Holy Thursday

By the evening of  Holy Thursday, the town was filling up with tourist. There were some gringos but mostly they were Mexican tourists. The street in front of the Parroquia was full of balloon and toy sellers, food vendors and of course people. Also in the Plaza Civica there were rows and rows of food vendors. There would be no need for anyone to go hungry.

We visited all of the churches in the Centro along with a steady stream of tourists. Then we needed nourishment too. We went to The Restaurant at Sollano 16 and sat in the bar. We knew that we could have a glass of wine and nosh on some of The Restaurant's appetizers. What we didn't know is that Thursday has become Hamburger Night. The place was full and we watched these huge delicious looking burgers being served. It had been almost a year since we had been there and restaurants come and go in San Miguel so we weren't sure if they were still living up to their reputation. They definitely are. We will be going back soon to try out Hamburger Night.
Good Friday

Today, Good Friday, there were a number of events but as usual I stayed in my colonia and followed the procession from the San Antonio church through my neighborhood to the Stations of the Cross. It is a wonderful procession and I see some of my neighbors or people I know from the tiendas. It amazes me how it all gets coordinated. There are people distributing water, men who watch to see that all of the statues can clear the low electric lines, the families that put up and decorate for each Station of the Cross and plenty of people to take turns carrying the statues. Carrying these statues is no small matter. The procession takes about three hours, on rough cobble stone streets and in San Miguel there are some steep inclines to cover.

I photographed the Good Friday procession with the Lensbaby just to change things up a bit.

Palm Sunday San Miguel Style

This morning there were two beautiful processions in San Miguel. Palms, colorful costumes, incense, statutes and even Jesus on a Donkey. All led by the Priests and altar boys. This is the scene in front of the Parroquia as one of the procession went into the church. The Jardin was full of people walking and talking. The sun was shining. What a beautiful peaceful day!

Then sirens started screaming and entering the Jardin along with a truck carrying huge speakers blasting music. The locos who dress in costumes, like this Muppet, started dancing right in front of the church. Then next to them three drummers were pounding a rhythm for indian dancers. Off to the side the Rotary Club had tables and speakers set up. You just wonder how much of this noise was penetrating the thick walls of the Parroquia Palm Sunday Mass.

It is one of the things I love about San Miguel, the juxtaposition of the religious and the profane.

Viernes de Dolores

Last night we walked with some friends through our neighborhood to look at the altars built in the doorway of homes. The occasion was Viernes de Dolores and commemorates the pain and sorrow of the Mother of Christ.

People use their religious objects of Jesus on the Cross and a picture of Mary in great sorrow and usually with tears in her eyes looking up at the cross.

The color scheme is purple, white and gold. They use sprouted seeds, oranges, herbs and greenery to decorate.

Fruit waters and small ice creams are served to those who come to pray at these home altar.

In the Centro the altars are more elaborate and the crowds are huge but I much prefer walking in my Colonia and seeing my neighbor's altars. For me it is much more spiritual experience.

Click this link to learn more about this event that is usually considered the start of Semana Santa.

Returning to Atotonilco

Before Easter I wrote about Senor de la Columna's procession and arrival at the San Juan de Dios church. Today he will be returning to Atotonilco. I guess I have never been to the San Juan de Dios church on his departure day but today on my trip to the mercado, I noticed the booths that had been set up all around the church. I walked over to check it out.

The church was full although no service was being conducted. Everyone was kneeling in prayer. The smell of the wilting bouquets and burning candles was heavy, almost like liquid. The spiritual feeling was overwhelming. I sat down and let the moment flood into my senses. Some of the people had stopped in from their daily routines and some appeared to have come a long way to pray to Senor de la Columna. There was a long line of people, mostly women, waiting to go to confession. The church was quiet, dark and solemn.

Outside the church the sun was brilliant and the street was filling up with temporary tiendas. One one side of the street the tiendas were full of religious objects and on the other side of the street the tiendas were preparing food for the pilgrims who would accompany El Senor de la Columna back to Atotonilco.

I had the holga lens on the digital camera and I am glad that I had my camera with me.

Holy Thursday

Thursday evening we went into the centro to visit the churches. The town is packed with Mexican tourist. There are lots of families with small children and lots of cars. It is a good indication that there is a growing middle class in Mexico.This Thursday is known as Holy Thursday and it commemorates when Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples, when he washed the feet of his disciples, when Judas betrayed him, and when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. All of the churches were open except the Parroquia. Ned and I, along with the Mexicans were out visiting each of the beautifully decorated churches. Some of the churches had removed benches to make room for the throngs of visitors. The church along the side of the Parroquia had cleared almost everything out so that all of the lanterns and saints, readied for the Good Friday procession, could be staged. Many people were in that church stopping at each saint to pray. However, all of the churches had a steady stream of people going through them. Many stopped to buy the tiny rolls of bread as a symbol of the Last Supper.

After visiting the churches we went to the Sunset bar to watch the sunset and then we lingered long enough to watch the full moon come up. When we came back on the street there were even more people in the streets. Traffic around the centro was almost in gridlock although the Transito Police were doing their best. Overall though, it was a religious event, a family time, a quiet evening.

Palm Sunday

We haven't been in San Miguel for Palm Sunday for a couple of years so of course I wanted to see the processions. After a great breakfast at the Parroquia Cafe, I headed up San Francisco to the El Calvario chapel at the top of the street. The procession assembled very quickly with Jesus on a donkey in the lead. It only travels a couple of blocks to the San Francisco church. It is a tough procession to photograph because the light is behind the procession and traffic is barely stopped for the procession. If you move out into the street you can get mowed down by a bus.

Today I tried to take advantage of the difficult light and I was hoping that when I photographed into the light I would get a string of light reflections across the image. No string of reflections but I did get this light blub leaking light. And somehow having Jesus and the donkey squeezed in by the bus and the car just seems appropriate for San Miguel.

The next procession starts in Parque Juarez and comes down Sollano which is a fairly narrow street. The sun is still a strong side light which reflects off of the painted buildings and back on the procession. I decided to use narrow depth of field and try to isolate some faces in the procession.

There were lots of photographers out today. All kinds of equipment from a simple point and shoot to some very impressive big long lenses on high end DSLRs. I think that everyone with a big camera was impersonating a National Geographic photographer. Get in, get close and get the shot no matter what. I hear there is a photography workshop or two here in town from now until Easter Sunday. I don't think I can stand to watch. It is like they paid their money and the religious processions have been arranged for them to photograph. I really don't think I want to see what they do at the solemn and silent procession on Friday night.

The Easter Season Has Begun

The Easter season began this past weekend with the Procession of the Lord of the Column from Atotonilco to San Miguel. El Senor resides in the beautiful World Heritage Site Church in Atotonilco but on the fifth Sunday of Lent, he is taken out of the church at midnight, shrouded in scarves and carried in a silent procession for about 10 miles to the San Juan de Dios church in San Miguel de Allende. This procession originated in 1812 when there was a plague in San Miguel and so in hopes of stopping the plague the statute of Jesus Nazareno was carried from Atotonilco to San Miguel. The statue of El Senor de la Columna replaced Jesus Nazareno a few years later.

Here you are seeing the 'better' side of El Senor. His back shows the flogging that Jesus endured. His back is bloody and the ribs are exposed. Mexican Catholic symbolism is much more graphic and bloody than what you may be use to in the American Catholic church.

The procession enters San Miguel at the top of Avenida Independencia where they stop and carefully take off the scarves that have been protecting El Senor though the night. Their arrival is announced with fireworks and the singing of solemn liturgies. The procession is welcomed by the residents who have paved the streets with flowers, fragrant herbs and sawdust "paintings." Overhead there are purple and white balloon arches and palms line the sides of the streets.

Everyone falls in behind the procession that has been walking since midnight and follows them to the San Juan de Dios church where there is a giant outdoor mass. El Senor will reside at the San Juan de Dios church until Easter Wednesday when there is another but smaller procession to take him back to Atotonilco.