The Muerteada in San Agustin Etla

Every year this famous muerteada in San Agustin Etla gets bigger and better.  It is crazy, but I love it and, once again, I placed myself in the middle of a few moments of total insanity, a Mexican version of a traditional mosh pit... or something like that.  I'll have more, but I wanted to share these shots of the outfits that the people wear.  This young man's cape, covered with mirrors, weighed forty kilos, 88 lbs.... and he was dancing like a maniac!

The other traditional outfit is one covered with bells.  The pants weigh more than the tops and I've worn one and it weighed 15 kilos, the pants 30.

They dance for over 12 hours, with breaks for food, beer and mezcal.  The music is fast and infectious.  You gotta move! Or.... just stand there.

I have video, but the is still more to do.... this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Muerteada Time!

Every year there are more and more muerteadas, but the best and the cuna, the birth of the muerteada, is in San Agustin Etla.  What's a muerteada?  It's a combination of an all-nighter parade with live music, dancing, food, costumes and perhaps, some beer and mezcal.  Starts tomorrow night and goes until mid-morning.

The one in San Agustin Etla is filled with all of the above and the traditional outfits are covered with bells and/or mirrors.  It ends with kinda of a mosh pit as two groups come together at the base of a hill and the bands and dancers go at each other... separated by two lines of security just to keep things in some sort of control.  It's insane, but fun.  Here's last year's.

This one's basically for men, but kids and women participate. However, there's one for the women in two weeks.

Party On!!!

Harvest time for Muertos

What spectacular vistas.

More marigolds and cockscomb, cempasuchil and terciopelo rojo.

These fields are about ten km from Mitla.  We're so ready for Muertos!

Pan del Muerto - Mitla Style

The village of Mitla is famous for many things besides its 10,000 years of history and its archaeological site, one of which is its treatment of pan del muerto.  They know how to do it right!

Yesterday, I posted some of the colorful decorated breads from Zaachila.  Today it was off to the market in Mitla on the Sunday before Muertos, one of the best days to go there.  Why? This!  I got this one for my neighbors.

They were carrying in long planks with today freshly baked and decorated bread. 

Every family has a different style and many have been baking for many years.

Unlike Zaachila, most all of the decoration is done using white icing... with a few sprinkles.

And Mitla has never looked better.  Last year all of this was under construction, wet and muddy.  Today!

There's still time to get your pan del muerto, but time's a wastin'.

Feria in Zaachila

Today was the opening day of the 1st Annual Feria de Pan del Muerto Adornado, Mole, Chocolate y Espuma, the frothy chocolate drink, in Zaachila and wow, it was fantastic.  There were people there from many of the surrounding villages and the bread, mole, etc and all the things for sale... wow, just wow. 

In Zaachila the bread for the altars is decorated with colorful designs.  The decorations are not sweet, made from flour and food coloring.

Every village is different and tomorrow ,we'll check out the pan del muerto in Mitla and Diaz Ordaz where most everything is done with white icing. 

However, today, the bakers of Zaachila showed their stuff and it was spectacular.

People were so warm and friendly, open for conversation and handing out little taste treats of various things.  And lots of good things to eat, too.  My lunch...

It's going on for two more days so.... Be There or Be Square.  We'll be going back again next year.  This is just the beginning of one of the best times of the year in glorious Oaxaca.

Flowers for los Muertos... and the living

This is one of my favorite days of the year, when I go and see if the fields nearby are, once again, filled with marigolds and cockscomb, cempasuchil and terciopelo rojo. 

And they were, glorious, as always.

I'm a plant person, always growing things, so I always meditate on the many aspects of these fields.

From each of the individual flowers forming that ocean of color, to the tens of thousands of people who will use them as a part of their celebrations, all the altars, all the graves that will soon be graced with these flowers. 

Keepin' it clean...

It's a big cleaning job, but someone's got to do it,  Maybe getting ready for Muertos and the hordes of welcome visitors or just a normal cleaning day, but these workers were doing an excellent job.  It actually looked like fun as others joined in.

And the proof is obvious...

A job well done.

Laughng With the Loons

Yes, those are real loons, the birds... and the people, too.  Feel good and love the break...

What is this?

Plant, animal or mineral?

Nature is amazing.

This a voracious insect is eating the huge leaves of the bananas. I'm sure it will turn into some magnificent winged beauty, but for now I am removing them and placing them in a different area.  They've been going after the misperos or nisperos and I must remain vigilant.  Anyone know what it is or what it turns into?

Update:  Trusty readers have all the answers and check out that video!

Bop.... Bop, bop

Going solar....

Following a couple of Oaxaca's exhaust belching buses, a seed was planted and driven home.  Thus...

And it has been unusually cloudy ever since the system went in, of course,  The water is warm, but not super hot.  However, it's good for the house and the planet.

Dance the night away - Teotitlan del Valle

The danza de la pluma in Teotitlan del Valle can last as long as eight hours. There may be as many as forty four parts to the dance,a very long and physically and mentally rigorous ordeal. 

And yet the danzantes just keep on dancin' with Picacho watching from above.

Only one more chance to see this amazing group of dancers on Dec. 12. Be there or be square!

Convite in Teotitlan del Valle - Getting ready.

Whew, what a time!  I'm just trying to catch up from last week's festivities in Teotitlan del Valle.  It is always fun watching the young girls and women arrive for the convite or procession that occurs several times each year for the religious festivals. 

Seeing as though I am always at least an hour early every time, I get to watch the patio in front of the church go from empty to full as the arrivals proceed. 

No matter what, it is always a visual treat, a happy and meaningful time and a real mood elevator.

It is a tradition that draws not only from the village, but many return from the States and other parts of Mexico to participate.  We're almost ready to go and she's all set to lead the procession

But first, I love the look on these girls' faces. "C'mon, buddy, take the picture already."

Much more in a bit, los danzantes and a wonderful party.

Fashion Plate.... Textile Tlahui

Another mini-fiesta near the zocalo, filled with music, food, dance and things for sale from various places like one of my favorites, Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec.  I have been looking for a shirt with their embroidery and, que milagro, there is was from Textile Tlahui.

I had just talked with some of the dancers from the village before buying the shirt and had to go back and show them.  Lookin' and feelin' good  ¡Viva Tlahui!

How ironic... or iconic.

While those old white bastards vote, HBO chooses to show "Mujer Marvilla... uh, "Wonder Woman"  Coincidence?

Sunday delivery

Even though I am on a back road out in the country, I am always surprised at the number of people who knock on the gate offering all sorts of things, from food to furniture and salvation from the evangelicals.  So every Sunday, I have a couple of ladies who stop by with the most delicious chile rellenos.  I mean, the chiles are as good as they look, nice and fat and filled with chicken and various other goodies.

How lucky am I?

Somebody threw a gernade

Ouch, my head and heart...... Again, I am sure I am not the only one thinking about the senate hearings in El Norte.  Thinking and remembering.... What was I doing 35 years ago?  Oh...  I was teaching at a prep school and was very plugged into that world.  I still am, as I follow the lives of many former students.  What else is Facebook for?  I started teaching in the late 70's, so they are contemporaries of the people involved in the hearings.

So it is easy for me to imagine the incident.  The partying and drinking sounded like things I heard on a regular basis.  C'mon, get real, kids weren't that different then from how they were when I was a kid or from how they are now.  You remember, right? Drinking, partying, sex are constants through human history.  Bad things did and do happen.  I lived through some of them.  I saw what it did to kids... and what it didn't do.  Not only what it did to them, but what it did to me, as well.  Some painful memories...

 I remember feeling like a dinosaur in the late 90's, when I talked to 14 year-olds about an incident at another school that rattled the prep world.  This was a generation that thought that oral sex was kinda no big deal.  After all, this was after Clinton and "I did not have sex etc..."  There I was, a "child of the 60's",  pretty much shocked by their attitudes.  Social mores had changed.

As I say, I know the prep school world and it is pretty much a bubble.  They like to handle things themselves. Yes, now we hear stories about lots of inappropriate stuff, but really, it likes to keep its dirty laundry unto itself... like The Church.  But stuff definitely happens..... the things I remember.... memories, all generated by these hearings in the here and now.

Again, I'm sure I am not alone in remembering and thinking about, to the best of my ability, every relationship and interaction I can remember, to examine if my own behavior can withstand the scrutiny.  We are our own harshest judges.  As I said, ouch, my head and heart.

However, I am glad I am not like all those angry white guys we've seen for way too long.  It must be horrible to be them carrying, so much anger and ignorance of their privileges..  History will not be kind.  Tick-tock, mofos.

And yet, we are uplifted and inspired. We have our new profiles in courage, who we are discovering in realtime. 

Primal scream time

Somehow, I think that I am not the only one feeling this way today.  Actually, screaming ain't the answer. Diligence and strength with a healthy dose of that old hope/change thing might work.... and voting the bastards out.