Every Friday during Lent, there is a big celebration in Llano Park. For each of the five Fridays, a different school shows up to have their young ladies gather accolades and lots of flowers.
And the guys get to help carry all those flowers.
This was the most people I've ever seen for this annual celebration. There looked to be eighty young ladies processing. It may look like some sort of a beauty pageant, but it isn't. Really, it is just an incredible feel-good experience. For sure, the girls strut their stuff and the boys, well, they're boys. They go gaga.
And there is music, of course...
It seems like each girl has a cheering section and gets lots of flowers.
They cheer for a good solid hour...
I mean, they even had a marmota, the large globe. That's some serious love.
It may be some sort of contest, but I don't know what the criteria for winning is. However, I will say, that no one ever looks sad or disappointed, nothing but joy and happiness.
And a few heart throbs...
The beauty of Oaxaca...
Three more Fridays to go..... Be There or Be Square
7 comments:
WOW, we will miss Viernes en Llano, since we don't get back to Oaxaca until the 23rd. We will have to live through this event through your great photo's and coverage over the next few Friday'a.
Steve & Bev
Delightful! The girls are all lovely, each in her own way. Old as I am, it makes me want to dress up and parade, too. I'm astonished by the amount of flowers involved, including loads of roses. Where do the flowers come from? I mean, does Oaxaca State have a large flower growing region?
Diane
Hi Chris, this is gorgeous and so Oaxacan--at what time on Lenten Fridays does this take place? Thanks, Katherine
Glad you enjoy the post. Yes, Oaxaca has a large flower growing sector. Lots of government supplied large greenhouses.
The celebrations starts sometime around 8 or 8:30 AM. It changes.
Thanks so much--and also for the information about flower growing in Oaxaca. Do you think/know if, say, the women from the pueblos who sell flowers at Sanchez Pascuas are also getting them from the large greenhouses, or do they come from their villages?
Thanks Chris. I delight in flowers - amateur gardener myself - and if the flower industry brings income to Oaxaca, Great!, but surely that impacts the limited water resources available to homes and other businesses, no? I do love the exuberance of all those colorful flowers, though, as apparently do the Oaxaqueños, so maybe a tolerable trade-off. Your blog always makes me wish I could be there.
Yes, water is very precious here. However, lots of the greenhouses are way out in the country, like in the stretch between Mitla and Ocatlan. Plus, all the wide valleys probably have deep aquifers.
I would imagine most of the flowers come through the Abastos market. The aisles of flowers there are always such a treat to see. I do think that people come in from the villages with armloads of flowers and hers to sell on the street.
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