Each Friday morning during Cuaresma, the forty day period preceding Easter, there is kind of a pageant or popularity contest with young women and their many supporters in Llano Park.
Each week, students from a different preparatory school get to strut their stuff in what is a pretty crazy and festive celebration.
The participants circle around a statue and are presented with flowers by their admirers.
Smiles all around.
Eventually they end up with so many flowers that guys must join them to carry all the extras.
These seem like pretty organized affairs with cheering sections loaded with flowers and signs.
The young lady who receives the most flowers is declared queen.
There were princesses chosen as well, but I have no clue as to how it all went down.
The flowers get dispensed over about a half hour and most of the girls get tons of them.
For me, it was a fun shoot (duh), the challenge to try to get flattering candid shots.
It was pretty obvious that many of these chicas were not used to parading
for thirty minutes in high heels
and by the end, it sure looked like
there were some sore puppies out there.
I liked these two shots. the second one sure made me look at things differently.
I am back next Friday for the last one of the year. I know, I know, it's tough work, but....
2 comments:
I lived in Oaxaca for 3 years, and managed to miss this, but as soon as I asked my (Oaxacan) husband about "Viernes del Llano" he immediately waxed poetic about the lenten Fridays of his youth, when school let out early and the middle school kids got to jump in the fountains at the llano while the high school girls paraded around. Thanks for bringing back great memories, and showing us that Oaxaca still clings to her traditions.
Glad it brought back memories. As in so many things here in Oaxaca, tradition rules. I'll be sure to post shots from this coming Friday... if there are no bloqueos. There have been quite a few lately, but that's a different story.
Post a Comment