New Baby in Town

Buenas dias~! What a beautiful day it is here.

I am still up around 4:30am and leaving for my walk around 5am. As it gets lighter I will go even earlier.

 January was a very cold month here and I was getting pretty tired of bundling up in cold weather gear just for an hour walk. So, it is warmer now and more enjoyable.

In January, on the 6th, we were excited to be asked to the El Chalaton Barrio, to our friend Modesto's house for a Dia de los Reyes fiesta. This is Kings Day, when the wise men brought their gifts to baby Jesus. In the photo above Modesto, surrounded by children, is making certain they understand the significance of the day. The children are most likely thinking about the toys they will be getting.

 But they were polite and very respectful and they listened to what he said.

After a meal of sandwiches and salad, the parents are beginning the drawing for the toys. Every child's name gets written down and each child is promised a gift.

 The parents read each child's name and a gift in the box was given to that child.

 Modesto told me each gift was hand picked for each child. He knows these children well.

After the gifts we ate tres leche cakes and suddenly Senor said................oh, look what i got..................he got the baby Jesus in his cake.

And that means that he has to host the party on Dia de Candelario, which is February 2nd.

Of course, I am really the one who hosted this party. I did all of the work, the preparation, the cooking, and the research about the day.

 Not being Catholic I did not have a clue.

This is the day that you are supposed to take down your nativity scene, so I immediately put mine back up. 

You are also supposed to have a new born baby laying around to represent baby Jesus and since we did not have one of those handy I went to the Mercado and bought a baby doll for the occasion. 

I dressed it up in white and as you can see, I put it on display.

You are also supposed to walk to the church and take the baby with you to get it blessed, but I figured we could skip all that stuff and no one would be too upset.

 I consulted Modesto on a lot of this and he basically told me the party is more about food than messing around with the baby,

So, he and his friends made guacamole, 

We did not have the traditional Dia de Candelario tamales, (they are so expensive when you are making them for sixty people). Instead we had potted meat mixed with salsa and mayonaise. This is a favorite treat for Mexicans in Sonora, but is just like spam, if you ask me. 

Below you can see how I set up the baby and the nativity. Each parent had their child come and take a look at the baby and I heard a lot of children giggling, so probably there was something not quite right, maybe just the fact that it was a doll and not real.

I don't know. I asked Modesto and his favorites sentence is.....oh, don't you worry about it.

So, I didn't.

Below people are starting to settle in for the potted meat, but the big crowd was out around Senor's raised garden beds. I did not get a photo, but I think the garden was much more popular than the baby doll and the nativity.

I decided to give the children candy even thought Modesto told me that is not important on this day. Well, sometimes traditions just have to be changed.

We had the children decorate small brown paper bags and then loaded them up with candy.

Below is one of the tables where the children colored their bags.

This was a very unique experience for us. 

Not only a Mexican day of celebration, but a religious day as well, it put a new meaning on the word fiesta for me.

Of course, it is not always about the tecate and the loud music and the dancing. 

There are so many wonderful celebrations in Mexico and at the end of the day, we were very happy Senor got that baby in his cake.

Adios!!!

Que tengas un buen dia!!!