Flower Carpet Night in the Huamantla Annual Festival

Each year the village of Huamantla holds a festival in August which is attended by thousands of locals and visitors alike. We attended the opening earlier this month where we served atole hot drinks and pan de dulce sweet bread to people after the opening mass and saw the donkey races in the street the following day.

Last weekend we returned to Huamantla for the night when most of the streets in the centre of town are closed so beautiful floral carpets made of coloured saw dust decorate the streets. In addition the walls of the buildings lining the street are decorated with flowers and banners and streamers are strung across the street to create a beautiful, transformed street. The shop owners in each street work together to pay for and construct these amazing floral displays. They start decorating their street in the afternoon in order for them to be completed by midnight. Throughout the evening people wander along the streets appreciating the creations.

In addition to the carpets, all the shops are open and street stalls are set up selling lots of different types of food, Mexican textiles, pottery and a myriad of other curios so people can shop and eat all night. 

Outside the cathedral each day during the festival a new carpet made of flowers, fruit and the coloured saw dust is constructed. On this night the cathedral is filled with more new floral arrangements and a special mass is held at 11pm, in time for people to see the carpets being finished at midnight after the  service.

If you don't feel like eating, shopping, strolling by the carpets or going to mass, there is also a side show alley with plenty of rides and of course the Corona and Sol stands competing with one another to sell the most beer.

Sadly, this year there was a downpour just before midnight and all the carpets in the streets were washed away. I thought that would be the end of the evening, but no. Once the rain stopped at about midnight, bands started playing in the streets for people to listen and dance to and the debris from the old carpets swept away so new carpets could be made.

We had an early night and finished dancing about 2am before walking home.

My First Quinceanos (15th Birthday) Celebration

Last night I attended my first fiesta for a 15th birthday and in spite of having an idea what to expect I was still quite blown away at the magnitude of the event. There would easily be as much planning (and cost) involved with a girl's 15th birthday party as with a wedding.

Of course, the event started with a mass to which the birthday girl, called a Quincenera arrived in a car decorated with flower - just like a wedding car. She looked just like a beautiful princess complete with glittering gown and tiara and was accompanied by her parents, brothers and sisters who were all carefully dressed to match her purple gown. Also with her were 4 boys, dressed in suits and purple waistcoats as her attendants. These boys later featured in the dances which she performed for her guests at the fiesta. Traditionally, these boys were relations or friends of hers, but in recent times they are hired especially for the event for their dancing ability.

After the mass in the church, the Quincenera moved to the front of the church to pose for photos and for people to line up to have their photo taken with her. The fiesta in the salon started at 8pm, an hour after the mass finished to allow no doubt for more photos and to allow guests to do their last minute present shopping.

Over 200 invited guests attended the mass and the fiesta in a salon afterwards. Unlike a lot of Mexican fiestas though, the invitees received invitations containing the exact start time and a pass with their name on it. Therefore, people were expected to arrive on time and not to bring any other friends or family along with them for the celebration. This way the family knows how many people they need to cater for at the salon. Even so, some people arrived late and I expect there were a few spare seats for last minute arrivals.

The salon was decorated as if for a wedding, complete with a magnificent cake and a high table for the Quincenera and her family at the front of the room and the Quincenera was officially announced as she entered the room with her parents, the Padrinos (or  Godparents) who paid for much of the fiesta and her 4 male dancing attendants.

Before and during the meal the Quincenera visited every table to thank people for coming and to receive their congratulations and presents.

Later in the night the mother of the Quincenera distributed small boxes of sweets as gifts to each guest and some larger gifts to selected guests.

After dinner she and her four attendants performed choreographed dances for us. The boys were quite good and confident and she looked lovely, but so very nervous and uncomfortable. She definitely appeared to enjoy herself at any other time of the night.

There were four or five dances performed, some featuring the Quincenera and the her four dancers, however some featured only her four dancers, presumably so she had time for the costume changes she required to perform the love songs in her princess dress, pop numbers in her modern gear and the grease number shown here.

After the dance presentation, her father was invited to the floor to waltz with his daughter. After her father, the Padrino was called, followed by Uncles, Nephews and friends until it seemed like almost every invited male guest had danced with her.







The dance floor opened with a light and music show at abt 11am, when everyone hit the floor. Other than a short break for the official cake cutting, the dancing didn't stop until 3.30am when the lights were turned on and the music off and we enjoyed a mixture of salsa, disco, Banda (a form of Mexican country) and danzon.  To complement the party mood, bottles of spirits were distributed for each table during and after the meal and very attendant waiters ensured peoples' glasses were never empty.

Oh what a night for a 15th birthday party!!

Huamantla Village Festival Opening

Last Saturday night we helped my fiance's mum prepare enough Atoli and buy enough Pan de dulce (sweet bread) to serve to about 500 people after the 6am opening mass of the annual festival of the Huamantla village.  Atoli is a hot drink made of corn flour, water, sugar and vanilla. You can also add other flavours like chocolate or fruit to taste and we added chocolate to ours.

Preparing and serving this food and drink is a family tradition for my fiance's Mum and her family and she has been doing this for more than 50 years when she inherited the responsibility from her Mum. Her brother and sister also honour this tradition by serving hot rice, milk drink which tastes like hot runny rice pudding to drink with Tamales to eat.

Like Atoli, Tamales also have a corn flour base which is made into masa (dough), wrapped with sweet or savoury filling in corn leaves and steamed until cooked. They are very traditional Mexican food that dates back to the Mayas which are filling and very tasty.

After leaving home at 4.00am we arrived at the church by 5.30am in plenty of time to hear Mariachis playing in the church before the opening 6.00am mass.

Flowers are an important part of this Huamantla festival, so the church is decorated beautifully with flowers and outside there is a carpet of flowers, which is like a beautiful mural on the floor of flowers and interesting carrots for the colour orange! Throughout the festival more carpets of flowers will be made outside the church and on one day during the festival carpets of flowers will be made on some of the streets, which will be closed for the purpose.

After mass, we moved to the trucks where we and a few other families served the hundreds of people lining up to enjoy a hot drink and tamale or pan de dulce on the cold morning. 

As we finished serving food and the crowd started to clear, fireworks were let off from the roof of the church. It was an official and organised part of the festival which took me by surprise, as I hadn't expected a church to be used as the launch location for fireworks. However, in hind sight, it would not have been fitting for a Mexican festival to open without fireworks and most festivals involve the church.

Later in the day we visited the main street to see the donkeys. As is the tradition, some people choose to dress their donkeys from hoof to ear in fancy dress. Unless you were told it would be easy to think the donkeys were people dressed up in clothes to look like a donkey because there is so little of the poor little donkey actually visible.

Other enter their donkeys in the street racing. It is incredible to see how small donkeys actually are in relation to their passengers. Also interesting is how the donkeys choose to travel at their own pace regardless of the amount of "encouragement" they are given by their riders or by the helpers who run behind some of the donkeys to provide further "encouragement".

Another feature of the festival is the 'running of the toros (bulls)' - just like they do in Spain. I haven't seen that yet, but I am led to believe it is almost as exciting and dangerous for the crowd as well as the runners.

Primary School Graduation

What an eye opener I had the other night. We were invited to the primary graduation of my fiance's nephew and Godson. It was to start with a mass in his local church with the other 13 graduates and their invited 7 guests of friends and family and to follow with a fiesta in a salon. Having been to quite a few Mexican's fiesta's by now I thought I'd "dress up" in jeans, a nice top and heels. Boy did I underestimate the importance of a primary graduation.

As soon as we arrived at the church and saw everyone, from the teeniest tot to Grandma in their finery, I realised I had made a clothing error. Obviously I was a bit embarrassed, but being "the foreigner" I was excused for not knowing any better and a fun time was had by all anyway.

Following the church service (which went for well over an hour) we travelled to the salon for the fiesta. The salon was called "Camelot" and as the name suggests was like a grand castle, complete with a fire lined entrance way. Inside there were statues in armour, medieval English style flags on the walls and the room was decorated in the style of a wedding - complete with fabric covered chairs!

The graduates consisted of  8 boys in black suits with pink or purple ties and 6 girls in matching pink or purple evening dresses. It was hard to believe these elegantly dressed graduates were only 12 years old. The formal part of the evening for them involved a few speeches and they each received certificates.

Following those formalities, the graduates performed three choregraphed dances. Interestingly, these were all the modern english speaking pop songs. the first dance was a formal once involving the couples doing a kind of a progressive waltz. For the last two dances were more like hip hop and were performed in jeans, shorts and casual clothes. All very entertaining and fun to watch. It was obvious a lot of wrk had gone into preparing for these dances and some of the poor boys looked sooo nervous. Even though all Mexican men seem to be able to dance really comfortably, it was a little comforting to see that even they were awkward and clumsy at some stage on the dance floor.

After that, the graduates could relax and it was the waiters turn to perform. Before serving us the 4 course meal, the lights were dimmed and they entered the room in lines, carrying trays of bowls containing fire. Over the meal, Madonna's latest concert was put the large video screens for entertainment. What an awesome show!

As is often the case in Mexico, no alcohol was served with dinner, but plenty of soft drinks were available. It is unusual to see plain water ever served, but I sometimes ask for it. Later in the night, some tables brought out bottles of spirits they had brought from home for the waiters to prepare and serve mixed spirits.

The dance floor was "opened" after dinner in the style of a Mexican nightclub with a music & light show. What occurred after that was different though. This fiesta had lots of children, including babies and toddlers, so the kids were the first to hit the dance floor and they had a ball running around with the floor to themselves until later when adults decided to dance too.

Speaking of kids, something Mexican's do really well is hold parties where people of all ages can go and have a good time. Everyone, from babies to Grandma loves and listens to the loud music and joins in the dancing. Kids also amuse themselves a lot by playing with one another and running around and checking in with Mum & Dad every now and then. Maybe even for a dance with Mum or Dad where they begin to develop their rhythm. There are things though to make fiesta's more kid friendly. Most importantly there are other kids to play with because people bring their children. Sometimes as was the case at this graduation, kids meals are served (complete with toy for amusement) and salon's often have a kids play gym and an outside area so kids can run around. The other curious thing this salon had, which I thought was a great idea was a kid sized toilet in the common area of the ladies toilet so that little kids didn't have to cram into a cubicle with their Mum - or sit there on a large loo with the door open.

We ate and chatted and danced until about midnight before heading home with my fiance's 76 year old Mum, who had had a ball, although she doesn't dance anymore!    

Mole

You may have gathered from my blog that food is a significant part of the cultural experience I am enjoying during my year in Mexico. One especially delicious part of the food here is Mole - the name for several Mexican sauces (and dishes based on these sauces). There are many different types of 'mole', some quite different from one another, including black, red, yellow, green, and one of my favourites pipián (made with sesame seeds).

Perhaps one of the most famous of these sauces is Mole Poblano, which as its name suggests originates from the state of Puebla (luckily for me where I am living). Mole Poblano is found on almost every menu in Puebla and is a spicy chocolate and chilli sauce usually served over chicken or turkey, eaten with rice - and of course tortillas!! Although you can buy the sauce commercially, there is nothing like the home-made mole or the mole which is also home made, but sold in the mercados. Check out the picture of the different moles for sale in the mercado at Santa Ana. The beauty of the mole sold in the mercados, is all you need to do is mix and heat it with chicken stock to prepare. So it is tasty and convenient.

Due to to myriad of ingredients in Mole Poblano and the time it takes to prepare, people tend only to make it at home for special occasions. Recipes vary from family to family, however typically, Mole Poblano contains dried chilli peppers (ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle), ground nuts and/or seeds (peanuts, almonds and/or sesame seeds), spices, Mexican chocolate (cacao ground with cinnamon, sugar and sometimes nuts), salt, and a variety of other ingredients including charred avocado leaves, onions, banana and garlic. Dried seasonings such as ground oregano are also used. In order to provide a rich thickness to the sauce, crushed toasted tortillas, bread crumbs or crackers are added to the mix.

At a recent fiesta I attended for a baptism, the baby's grandmother prepared mole for the fiesta which was attended by well over 100 people. Although she had assistance from family and neighbours, it still took several days to prepare the Mole Poblana. The result was delicious and included below is a photo of the massive cassarole dish of Mole Poblano plus a plate of mole served with chicken and rice. Following this dish too were the mandatory frijoles. All absolutely delicious and very filling - and that was before the gigantic cake was served!!

I would love to enjoy Mole Poblano back in Australia and can learn to make it here, however I am not sure I'll be able to locate all the ingredients required. So please let me know where I can locate the special ingredients, especially the dried chillis.

15 year Old Girl's Birthday - La Quinceañer

While Mexican's have many reasons for celebrations, perhaps one of the more important ones is when a girl turns 15 years old. She celebrates her birthday dressed like a princess at a Thanks Giving mass and typically a grand fiesta with music, food, dancing and a cake in the style of a wedding cake.

In some ways it is like a "debut" sometimes celebrated in Australia, in that it publicly announces a girl having become a woman. However, instead of sharing this occasion with other girls at a debutante ball, the 15 year old girl's "Quinceañer" is dedicated only to her.

The dress is very grand, again akin to a wedding dress, however instead of white it is usually in a bright colour of taffeta and tulle. There are probably as many shops selling these dresses and all the required accessories of tiaras, gloves, cushions, bags, shoes and the like as there are shops selling wedding dresses in Mexico.

The birthday girls may have numerous female attendants, like her bridesmaids and at her fiesta she will have a dance dedicated to her. The dance is called the "vals" and might be performed be her "bridesmaids" or by boys (as is probably the case for the girl in these photos) or by both.

It would not be uncommon for well over 100 guests to attend the Quinceañer. So with the dress, the cake, the fiesta, the band, the food and all other things

associated with the celebration can add up to a very expensive event for the family. So the girls

normally have God mothers and God fathers who are invited to pay for various parts of the fiesta on behalf of

the family.

These photos were taken outside a church where a Quinceañer was starting in the village I

was visiting on the weekend.

See this article for more information about La Quinceañers:

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3192-la-quinceañera-a-celebration-of-budding-womanhood

Painting and Construction

I am sure that these photos are not typical of all construction or painting sites in Mexico, they are certainly representative of most of the work I have witnessed here. The finished product is usually good, but the methods are quite different from what I am used to.

One key difference is the approach to safety, which seems fairly blase. Recently for example, a tradesman was doing some work at our house and he was squinting from the concrete dust he was generating, so we gave him some safety glasses to wear. He seemed amused, but put them and started to use them, however half an hour later when we returned he had discarded them and was back to squinting again. I have not seen anyone here using a safety harness at heights, not are hard hats a frequent sight. They get the job done, in what I suspect might be less time than if they adhered to some of the safety procedures I find normal, but at what human cost I am not sure.

The other difference is that fewer tools and aides seem to get the job done. Take a look for example at this guy painting a house. His only tools to paint the entire house have been a ladder, his paint buckets and two brushes. He hasn't used rollers and because he only has one ladder, he has to climb up and down the ladder carrying the paint bucket the whole time and he has to move his ladder all the time to move along the house.

The other photos of the guys doing some construction on a house in our street, show a great blend of the approach to safety and ingeneous use of materials at hand to complete a job. Note the lack of any harness at height and look at what has been used to construct the "scaffold"!