September 26, 2009

Alborada Rehearsal Parade

When  you see something like this
On a street corner in town
You just know there's going to be a parade
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Three Mojiganas, bigger than life
Two devils and a skeleton
Are ready for the alborada 'rehearsal parade.'
I think this is one of those cases
Where you begin to believe
That any good old reason
Is reason for a party here.
I mean, how wrong can you go
With a parade that you need a rehearsal?
Further down the street,
Young girls gather on the bridge of the Fabrica Aurora
Putting on dresses, makeup and hats,
Twirling their home made stars,
Waiting for the festivities to begin.
At 5:30 a man runs down the street to the bridge,
Tells them to move up the street to his doorway to begin.
They refuse, saying the parade has always begun here.
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Dressed in the traditional festival clothing
Of Michoacan and the state of Guanajuato,
They are here to re-enact the alborada celebration
Which was originally performed by workers
Of the Fabrica Aurora, a textile factory, in 1924.
These workers pooled together their respective festival rituals,
Creating one big event which began at four AM.
They entered the town porting giant colorful paper stars,
Setting off fireworks, playing music and dancing.
It was the beginning of a tradition
That has lasted over 80 years.
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As we walked down Calzada de la Aurora
The participants were walking in with their stars,
Most were in the shape of stars, but mixed in
Were suns, moons, crosses and parasols.
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Not to be outdone
The Mojigangas, almost as tall as the buildings,
marched down to the start of the parade,
A spectacle to behold making all of us smile.
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Other mojigangas
Were driven in by pickup truck,
Towering over the truck,
Bareley missing the wires overhead.
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Then a straggler, a little late, 
Running full speed down the middle of the street,
Turning everyone's heads as she went by.
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And the parade begins - Mojigangas first.
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Although this looks like the real beginning of  the parade
There's another parade brewing on the other side of town.
But more on that later..
The young girls are ready, bouncing their stars,
Twirling their skirts, laughing, enjoying their roles.
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The conchero dancers are in place
These parades are serious business for them.
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Even the youngest of children participate.
Here's one serious boy in his charro outfit,
His mother says it's his first parade.
He's too young to fully understand,
Not old enough to be acting out the part.
But how beautiful he looks, holding his star.
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And of course,
The real stars of this parade
Blowing around in the wind.
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As for the other 'real' start of the parade...

A little further uptown,
There is the transito cop on his motorcycle, siren running
Talking with an official of the parade -
A woman in a light green pant suit carrying a clip board,
Wearing an official festival tag around her neck,
Giving orders and discussing - well, whatever they discuss
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While the official rocket blower
Inserts a rocket into its holder,
Puffs on a cigarette,
Sticks it at the bottom of the rocket
And kabooom!
He does this every 30 seconds
For the duration of the parade.
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There's a nice orderly crowd sitting on the steps, waiting
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Looking down Calle Canal we discover
There's a second parade that we weren't aware of -
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We are at the moment of convergence of the stars.
The stars of Calzada de la Estacion,
Announced with a banner and men carrying torches.
The Stars of Calzada de la Aurora,
Announced with rockets and music.
The  respective parades take turns interweaving themselves
Around the corner and into the  main plaza
Where they wind around past the church,
Walk up and around a few more streets
Until they wind around the streets and back to the stage,
Where civic and ceremonial activities are happening
And the dancing begins.
And this is just the rehearsal. 
They'll be back next weekend's Festival of San Miguel.
They start off the festivities on Friday at midnight,
Parading around town, dancing until four AM
When the castillo fireworks and rocket show
Will officially open the festival weekend.
Here's the movie of yesterday's parade,


The video begins
With the entrance of all the participants on Calzada de la Aurora,
Ending in the Jardin.

September 25, 2009

Accidental Cheesemaker

cheese5 I've been making goat yoghurt lately. Not the old fashioned way Where it sits In a waterbath At an even temperature Overnight Or all day. I make it In a yoghurt maker That I brought back in my suitcase, my last visit up north. Last night I did my usual mixing, With yoghurt from the last batch as a starter Fresh goat milk, brought to a boil and cooled, Mixed them together, Put it in jars Turned on the machine Then let it run overnight. This morning when I heard the beeping, I lifted out the jars to find That my yoghurt had curdled.
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This is a new development in a process 
That I thought was fool proof.
I was so disappointed, but , as John pointed out I had made cheese.

I wish I had had the forethought to photograph the jars
With their curdled milk bits floating in a milky whey
Before I dumped it all into a white cotton cloth
To let the liquid drip out into a bowl,
Something my mother would have done,
Something I would have done in my hippy years,
Letting the curds settle into a nice soft cheese.
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Besides throwing the batch out,
The only thing that made sense to do
Was go with it and see what it turned out like.
So here we are (below)
Cotton dish towel over glass bowl
I dumped it all into the dish towel
To let let the whey drip into the bowl.
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Speaking of hippy years, I still don't understand
Why everyone made so much fun of hippies.
They did a great service Of keeping the old traditions alive -
I'm speaking of all those things
That became synonymous with hippy life -
Home grown food Hand made houses,
The making of granola
Eating whole foods
Being easy on the earth
Nursing your babies,
Being loving and kind,
All things which had we had embraced
Instead of shunning for having a life of things....
Lots of things....
Well, you know the ending of that story..

  Meanwhile, sorry for the digression
We have beautiful soft goat cheese
Which one can add salt, spices or herbs to
Or finish off with chilis and cilantro (photo at top)
Or a giant poblano (john's contribution to the photo) below
Eat on crackers, tortillas, bread, in salads
Wrapped inside smoked salmon..
The possibilities are endless
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September 19, 2009

Migrating our blog...

We are in the process of moving our blog back here to blogspot.
For now, until we are finished, you can find all of our posts at the following link:


livinginsanmiguel.wordpress.com

Over the next month we'll be importing all of our blogposts back here.
Thanks for reading!

September 17, 2009

Folklorico


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Last night in the Jardin
The Independence celebration
Began at 8pm.
With Ballet folklorico.
Dancers from San miguel
Age six and up
Performed traditional dances
From Michoacan,
Nayarit, Colima, Sinaloa.
The girls,
The young women,

In colorful circular skirts
With ribbons and ruffles,
Whipping and twirling them.
The boys,
The men, wore campesino, charro & regional traditional dress, carrying machetes, dancing with candles balanced on their heads - and a whole lot of foot stomping going on!
The movie - well, it ended up being 10 minutes long
With a nice sampling of all the dances.



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The evening began with young girls ages 5-7 practicing on the stage
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How young the flirting begins - it begins with the dress, I think - then being put up on stage in front of a thousands of people.
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The men
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View from below at the edge of the stage
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Charros and senoritas
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Young boy running around the state prior to the dances
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September 15, 2009

Ballet Folklorico




P1010849
Last night in the Jardin
The Independence celebration
Began at 8pm.
Ballet folklorico.
Dancers from San Miguel
Age six and up
Performed traditional dances
From Michoacan,
Nayarit, Colima, Sinaloa.
The girls,
The young women,

In colorful circular skirts
With ribbons and ruffles,
Whipping and twirling them.
The boys,
The men, wore campesino, charro & regional traditional dress, carrying machetes, dancing with candles balanced on their heads - and a whole lot of foot stomping going on!





The movie - well, it ended up being 10 minutes long,
A nice sampling of all the dances


P1010824

The evening began with young girls ages 5-7 practicing on the stage

P1010841
How young the flirting begins - with the dress, I think - then being put up on stage in front of a thousands of people.
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The men

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View from below at the edge of the stage

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Charros and senoritas

September 14, 2009

It's been a busy three weeks.
Las Pozas
We've had two separate family visits
which prompted us
to look into trips
around the area
and around Mexico
that we have been wanting to take.

First, we went to
Guanajuato
Where we've been so many times and love.
Then local things like the Tuesday market
Walking around town
A tour of the Rancho Canada de La Virgen
(another post that I'm working on)
Then this trip to the very unique Las Pozas in Xilitla.
Las Pozas is Edward James'
surrealistic, labyrinth, Jungle Castle
In the Sierra Gorda Mountains....

The stories about this incredible place are to come
Over the next week - there was so much to see and absorb -
In this inspiring wonderland in the jungle.
This album below has a selection of photos.

For now, here's the movie of the ride there,
Plus the walk through las Pozas



And the album of pictures
Over 300 photos - be warned!

September 12, 2009

Independencia!

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About four pm today
the drumming started.
Indio Dancers, loud
banging drums, whoops
hollers and screaming.

It sounded like it was coming
right down our street
but upon climbing up to the terraza it was obvious
that it was about a quarter mile away in the Colonia Independencia.

That's how the sound travels here -
it's as if the sound is right outside our front door.

I can't count the number of times
I have run downstairs, camera in hand,
Open the door and discover
That what I am hearing upstairs
I cannot even hear on the street below.
But inside the house, on the second level,
The sounds echo in as right next door.