Another Year in Ajijic

Enter 2014

The week between Christmas and New Years was weird and trying on several levels.  Now, I know we can't complain because all of our NOB friends have been going through hell with the polar vortex but, honestly, you KNOW your climate is subpar.  We, on the other hand, have believed that we live in nirvana.  However, of late, our climatic paradise has been turned upon its ear.  During a week in which rain NEVER falls, we recorded over 8"of the stuff.  The winds howled, the temperature dropped (to the 40s over night) and small children appeared on the street swaddled in enough clothing to keep them toasty in the Antarctic.  Chihuahua's were decked out in sweaters, scarves and tiny, tiny boots.  There was not a space heater to be bought for 50 miles and the smell of burning wood was heavy in the air as fireplaces were put into use.  The mood was grim and sulky.  Michael got a hideous cold.  But the New Year came anyway.

A Most Politically Incorrect Parade

Let me preface this by saying that the New Years Day Parade is neither sanctioned nor sponsored by anyone.  It is a totally organic event which originated, if you believe the street, as a method of smoothing over "tensions" between various neighborhoods in the west end of town.  It is a far better method than street warfare, but to say that it is a tad rough around the edges would be a fair statement.  And the beauty of the village is that basically you can do what you want (within a very broad range of options) without any permission or permits.  So, to give examples.  Your Uncle Santiago dies and you want to have the wake in the street outside your house.  Fine.  Shut down the street with upended, empty barrels, throw up some chairs and tables and you're good to go.  No permits.  You want to have a Zombie Dance that will totally take over the Plaza followed by a parade which will disrupt traffic for an hour.  Fine. No permits.  You decide to have a rave attended by 3,500 people that rips up the entire soccer field and sends six people to the hospital with anxiety attacks from the noise.  Well, not OK.  You needed a permit.  But you didn't get one.  But nothing happens to you anyway. So, those are the rules in Ajijic.

For the first day in a week, New Years Day dawned bright and dry.  The denizens breathed a collective sigh of relief, stripped off the thirteen layers of fleece they'd been wearing, slipped on the Ray Bans and were ready to face the Day.  Other than the above, there is not much to say about The New Years Day Parade other than that it is the warm up to Mardi Gras.  Well, the Sayacas start acting up in January to get ready for Mardi Gras but the New Years Day Parade is really the first shot fired across the bow.

It is hard for me to pick a favorite float in this parade.  Some are just adorable (like the little kids in the dwarf/elf outfits), some are just inexplicable (like the Obama supports La Villa float) and some are just so out of sync with what is proper (bushmen vs. bwana) that it is hard to choose.  But you KNOW I chose the bushmen vs. bwana.  I mean the NERVE!  Can you even begin to fathom what would occur if they put this float in the Macy's Parade?  I mean they went ballistic over Shamu or Seaworld or whatever. I regret that my Spanish is not good enough to have engaged in a conversation with the group that came up with this idea.  It did not appear mean spirited or even particularly racist (well, of course it WAS but that didn't seem to be the intent).  And I mean they had just offered up a really nice float to Obama.  This is another of those quien sabe moments.  If it had been Cortes and the Aztecs……

There's nothing like a glass gun filled with Tequila to keep you warm.

Drinking & riding is allowed during the parade.

The hood of the truck says it all...

and here he is.  With retired Secret Service gringos no doubt.   Or exiled Fast and Furious agents.

The young ones participate as well.

We didn't know our lake had its very own Medusa.

The bushmen made an appearance...

although one preferred to ride.  What you don't see is the Bwana
 in pith helmet shooting a rifle at the bushmen from the truck bed.  Tough to capture on film.

Even the Mario brothers participated in the parade...

as well as pirates.

But the cutest were the little kids throwing confetti at the crowd...

dressed in their parade costumes.

The smurfs were in the parade as well...

as were the drag queened  Polynesians.

And of course no parade is complete without some loud explosions, as the firecracker is lit by a tribe of mimes.
I hate mimes.

Some of the spectators needed sunglasses to cover up their bloodshot New Year's Day eyes. (Photo credit to Barbara Hildt)

On to Tres Reyes

I was always jealous of the kids who got to celebrate Christmas and Chanukah.  I mean really.  That is cool.  Well, here almost all the kids get the same kind of double whammy.  America has exported Santa  Claus (or as my Spanish conversation teacher calls him Coca Claus) and so the kids get presents at Christmas.  But traditionally (and don't think the little guys will let tradition die) they get presents on Three Kings Day which is January 6th.  I know.  You want to know why my Spanish teacher calls him Coca Claus.  According to him, Santa only really took off here after Coca Cola introduced him in their ads in 1952.  And, I must admit they really do a great advertising job to this day.  Their Santa is just the jolliest, cutest, pudgiest one you have ever seen.  And this year the slogan was Santa saying: Yo creo in ti.  or… I believe in YOU.  Nice huh?  But I digress.

So, Epiphany or Three Kings Day is a big deal here.  Children do the present list here too.  They usually either put the list in their shoe and under the bed or tuck it into the Nativity scene in their house on the night of December 5th.  Now, of course, the presents are delivered on the 6th-- so either these parents have ESP or the stores are really crowded around 10PM on the 5th.  I must ask a Mexican friend about this.  Beyond the presents, there are many festive events that transpire.  On the Plaza each year they recreate the Three King's visit to the newborn king.  This is replete with bonfires, live animals, a cute real Baby Jesus and all the supporting cast.  There is a special cake (Rocas de Reyes - Crown of the Kings) that is baked in the shape of a crown.  Decorating it are candied fruit pieces which represent the jewels in the crowns of the Three Kings.  And, inside each cake, resides one or more monitos (small plastic baby Jesus').  It represents hiding the baby Jesus from Herod.  If you get one of these it is your responsibility to host a tamale dinner for all your friends on February 2nd which is Candlemas and the official end of the Christmas season.  Our friend Luzma says they used to also put a thimble and a ring in the cake.  The ring represented that you would marry in the year while the thimble indicated you'd still be an old maid at year's end.  Somehow, those items were deleted when the cakes became mass produced.

A picture of the Rosca de Reyes.

These children from Love In Action, where Deirdre and Barbara volunteer, are ready to celebrate Dia de Tres Reyes. (Photo credit to Barbara Hildt)

Now, not this year, but some years, Christmas barely ends at Candlemas before Mardi Gras and then Lent begins.  And you wonder why we, in Mexico, are tired.

A New Year's Cultural Note 

Some of the New Year's Eve Traditions:

*  You know this one.  Eat 12 grapes in one minute at Midnight.  Some just gulp them down.  Others eat a grape and say "Happiness" grape 1, grape 2 "Health, grape 3 -- well you get the idea.  This is not as easy to do as one would think.  And the grapes are big.
*  If you want to travel in the coming year, you take a suitcase and walk around the block with it to ensure that your wanderlust will be sated.
*  Wear red underwear for success in love and yellow to ensure wealth.  If you wear red and yellow striped underwear you will just be judged weird and get neither.


Well, Happy New Years to you and yours.  We probably won't blog again until after the next road trip. Once again, we will be wending our way through the enchanting thoroughfares of Michoacan.  This time we SWEAR we will stay on the toll roads.  It will all be fine…..

(The parade pictures are courtesy of Deirdre and Barbara Hildt, since Michael was not well enough to make it out of the house that day.)  He is fine now.