Semana Santa Has Begun

Hola. Buenas tardes. que tal.

We are in the heat of Semana Santa.
Above is one of the fariseos. These tribal men come from villages far away during the weeks leading to Semana Santa. For forty days, leading to the Easter week, they travel by foot through towns and villages, wearing masks and dancing to steady drumbeats. Representing the negative forces of their villages, they are instructed by the tribe elders to abstain from washing and speaking. When they dance they signal for money and by giving money you are washing yourself of your sins.

They travel door to door and even when they are far away you can hear the solid beat of the single drum. When they have finished their travels they return to their villages where their masks and clothes are burned or thrown into the rivers and their money is turned over to the village elders.

Several days ago I ventured onto a side street because I thought I heard the drum. The exhausted fariseos had removed their masks and were lying under a mesquite tree, their hair fell against their shoulders in tangled masses and their arms were thrown back over their heads, their chests rising up and down as they snored. One of them was a girl.

As badly as I wanted a photo I was terrified to take one, afraid that they might awaken and knowing I had seen them without masks, signal me for a lot of money because that is probably a sin to see them without masks. So, I crept backwards and got away as quickly as I could.

While the Alamenses take leave of Alamos and head to the beach, the Mexicanos from other towns and cities of Sonora, Sinaloa and even Jalisco, keep coming in droves to visit our Pueblo Magico. They discover the hidden secrets of this town during the day, party hard at night and take their children to the church in the mornings for baptism.

I have been to the church this week to watch several of el bautismo. In Alamos they are done in the morning for many children at once. The children are all dressed in ropon, the white clothes which symbolize their purity. The mothers hold the children while the family looks on and the priest recites to them all. Sometimes I have seen thirty small children at once. The parents leave the church, beaming with pride that their child has been baptized in Alamos, the Pueblo Magico of Sonora.

This Semana Santa week is much more popular than Christmas or any other holiday. School children have two weeks off and college kids bring their ice chests filled with tecate to Alamos. It is a little like a mini small 'Spring Break' in the US. The smell of carne asada is thick in the air and at night there is beautiful music. It starts late and goes all night. Last Sunday, Old Jesus' nephew Iban's party was going strong all night and at four am the tuba player arrived. Senor and I both sat up in bed at the exact time and said............oh,no. Not too long after the church bells called for mass. Other than a complete lack of a good night's sleep, it is an exciting time really for everyone.



Things keep rolling along here. I am still trying to get out of my blogging slump, but really keeping busy with outside activities and the glass. The vacation I had planned to take from glass work did not last long. It is just a real good thing I like doing it.

Senor is back to work after a cold and some ankle problems. The portal roof is almost finished and soon he and Humberto will start on another section of the varro blanco roof that will be over the sala.

And, of course, there is Cookies. Never one to be lazy, he keeps up his daily exercise on the bed.
I am off now, to water palms and hibiscus and nasturtiums and jasmine and lime trees. Life is good. More manana...............linda lou