El Dia de los Muertos

Halloween! This is not a Mexican custom, but in recent years, it has really caught on. It may have been Mexican kids who had lived in the US and brought the custom back. Or maybe the gringos down here started it. Whatever, the kids love it. They especially head for the areas where there are lots of foreigners, like here in La Floresta and as Rosendo the gardener told me, Chula Vista, an upscale development surrounding a golf course. One group who came here tonight included Letitia, our maid, with her two children from Chapala!

This is also a big day for firecrackers here in Ajijic. It started at 5 a.m. and has been recurring frequently all day. There is a small statue of the Virgin (there are any number of these in Mexico often associated with some appearance of the Virgin and one or more miracles) that normally resides in the small chapel to the Virgin on the north side of the plaza. That chapel is very old dating to the late 17th C. In October, the statue is taken to the parish church just a block from the plaza, but in a long procession that wanders all around Ajijic. There are special masses every day all month in her honor. The statue is even taken to the church in San Antonio Tlayacapan (the village next to us) for 1 night. Anyway, today, the statue is taken back to the chapel where it will reside until the beginning of October next year. Tonight there is a big fireworks display about 10 p.m. We are too tired (we had the 3 girls, plus visitors from Canada staying next door at Steve and Heather’s came over to see the girls and chat). Also, tomorrow Kate, Jack and Sonia arrive.

Actually, the big Mexican celebration at this time of year is El dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). It really takes place over 2 days--Nov. 1 and 2. It is fascinating for several reasons. It is a pre-Spanish and pre-Christian custom. For a while the Catholic Church tried to suppress it but finally decided to link it to All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1) and try to Christianize it. While Christian elements have been added and mixed in, in essence it is still a pagan custom and very different in sensibility. In the first place, Mexican attitudes to death involve humor and whimsy. It is a time to remember friends and loved ones who have died, but it is not a time of sadness. I’ll describe some aspects of the customs, but there is too much to cover in one post. In general it starts on the Nov. 1 as relatives go to the cemetery to clean up and beautify the graves of family members with flowers, paper streamers, even altars. On some, they may have photos of the loved ones as part of the altar; usually, there are lots of candles. They bring lots of food and drink and in fact celebrate, in some cases all night and into the next day. They sing songs and recite humorous poems. There is no worry about spirits or ghosts. Cemeteries are not scary places for Mexicans.

Everywhere, they build fancy altars, some small, but others very large. In Chapala, there is an entire street where altars cover the entire front yards on both sides of the entire street. They close off the street and different groups build the altars. It is like some places north of border where neighbourhoods used to put up massive Christmas light decorations on the houses. In the paper, it says that in Zapopan (a city that is part of Metro Guadalajara) they are building a huge altar (over 2 tons of flowers) to set a record. Often these public altars honor a person. The one in Ajijic this year is in honor of a man who died recently. A number of years ago, he started a youth orchestra and enabled many young people to play musical instruments. Many musicians who played in his orchestra are giving a free, public concert tomorrow night as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations. In some cases people will make an altar for a friend who is still alive. It is intended as an honor, and not an expression of a desire to see the person dead!

A favorite image here is La Catrina. This is Lady Death; it is a skull and skeleton with dresses. They are very fanciful and artists put them in all kinds of guises. I saw one today in a wedding dress, but often they will be dressed in other costumes, including a sombrero. Again, death is not feared or part of some superstition. For example, they make sugar candies in the shape of a skull and you can have the name of friend written in chocolate on the forehead for a small gift. The ones I saw today were a bit smaller than a fist. Joel, our Spanish instructor, got them for Jim and Carole Cook who are providing their house for our Spanish conversation class.

This very different attitude to death seems to be from the pre-Spanish era. In their cosmology, they did not fear death as they thought a good death would ensure a good afterlife. The indigenous peoples were very warlike. The best death was to die bravely in battle. The next best death was to be sacrificed to the gods! Many indigenous peoples, including the Mayans and Aztecs, made generous use of human sacrifice. Warriors who were captured in battle, hoped to be chosen to be sacrificed as this would undo the dishonor and missed chance for a good death. In fact the Maya played a game thought to be a bit like lacrosse. There are playing fields (like hockey arenas) in many Mayan cities. It is believed that the winners (not the losers) were given the honor of being sacrificed! Thus, this pagan attitude to death seems to underly attitudes in Mexico. While altars often have images of the Virgin or crosses, these Christian elements on the whole are a bit superficial; the Day of the Dead seems deeply rooted in pre-Christian paganism as are the attitudes to death.

Back to regular time

October is going by very quickly. Tomorrow night, we change the clocks back an hour. Mexico is still using the old times for the Savings Time changeover. Mexico did not follow the US (and Canada) when it extended the period for Saving Time. Thus, for a couple of weeks, we shall be an extra hour later than in the areas north of the border.

Surprisingly, we have had a couple of rains recently; we don’t expect it this late in October. The rain a couple of days ago was pretty light. However, late this afternoon, it got dark; we got thunder and lightning, but didn’t expect much rain. However, just as we finished eating, it did rain quite hard for 15 minutes or so. After a pause, we got another heavy rain. Barb did not have the rain gauge out so we don’t know how much it will be, but I would think that it is close to half an inch so far. With several cloudy days, the temperatures have been lower. A couple of mornings the temps have been below 16 degrees (I know, your heart bleeds); however, on sunny days, the temps still get up into the high 20s.

Barb is getting more and more satisfied after testing the irrigation system. This week she set the timer (6 a.m each time as early morning is the best and most efficient time for watering): on Monday, the 2 zones in front of the wall, Wednesday, the 2 zones inside the walls and on Friday the zone for the flower beds. She can adjust the length of time each zone goes depending on how dry things get. This is going to relieve a great deal of time and stress the watering had become.

This past week, Barbara had a flareup of her lupus. She made an appointment to see the rheumatologist in Guadalajara. He has prescribed some new medications to get it under control again. When we were going in for the 6 p.m. appointment, we decided to get some other errands in Guadalajara done, altogether almost 7 hours. Guadalajara is a huge city and it is always a bit hectic going there. However, we managed without any serious difficulties, although coming home, we followed signs directing us to the airport and Chapala and ended up taking a route that we had never taken before. It turned out alright, although it was probably a bit slower as we didn’t get on the cross town freeway that we usually take. Also, it was after sunset; seeing street signs in the daytime is hard enough and almost impossible at night. Thus, we had to follow the signs and hope for the best as we couldn’t see what street we were on!

In another week the snowbirds begin to arrive. Things will get busier; already our calendar for November is getting filled.

October again!

I haven’t had as much to report, at least that is my excuse for not doing a post for a while. The watering system has taken longer than we expected. It is mostly finished now; here is the front of the house in the middle. Jose Luis is coming back to make adjustments to the lawn sprinklers. He finally connected the various zones; when he tested them, he was not happy because the pressure did not stay high enough. We agreed to get a new pump. The gasket on the old one was leaking and I was not sure how long it would last anyway. However, I also discovered that Jose Luis had been pretty anxious about whether or not the system would work properly. He had never done one that had to cover such a large area. Thus, he expressed great relief when it seemed to work. After installing the new pump yesterday afternoon, he was beaming because it is working perfectly. There are 4 zones for the lawn and a fifth for the flower beds. For the latter, he has had his worker, Jorge, embed plastic hose a few inches below the surface all through the beds. Then, he is going to go around and beside each plant, punch a small hole in the hose. It will then leak the water underground around the roots. That is certainly a very efficient use of water for irrigation. The control system allows the different zones to be done separately and can be programed to spray whichever days and times you want. Barb plans to have them spray early in the morning before the sun comes up so that much less water is lost to evaporation. The system will relieve Barb of several hours of very boring work. Here is Barb in her hammock!

We had rain surprise this week. We had had no rain for over 2 weeks and I had concluded that the rainy season had ended. However, Wednesday night we had a thunderstorm (over 0.5 inch of rain). The next day, it was mostly cloudy with short brief showers. Then, it started raining about 6 p.m. and continued all night (another half inch). Even today, although we didn’t get any rain here, in Chapala there was a brief shower. It will be interesting to see if we get any more.

Today, we heard from Elizabeth at Love in Action that the girls would not be able to go out as they were sick or just recovering from colds, fevers etc. We went around to see if they needed anything, especially in the way of medicines. We did get some antibiotic for a couple of the girls. Last week, the girls also tried out the hammock.

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to the Lakeside Little Theater for the first production of the season (we got season tickets this year). It is little as there are only 120 seats, but it is lovely and well equipped. The productions are really quite good in spite of the fact that they are all done by volunteers; most of the actors have had considerable professional stage experience in Canada or the US. In so many areas (music, visual arts, drama, science, academia, etc.), there are really talented and experienced people who have retired here and most, probably because they have always been active people, make use of their talents and experience here. On Thursday night, we went to the final (fifth) season concert of Viva la Musica! It was a jazz quartet from Guadalajara; at least 3 of them, are classical musicians. Jazz is not my cup of tea (I don’t hate it, but don’t feel that I understand very well), but Barbara likes jazz. Starting next month, the Music Appreciation Society begins its season of concerts during the winter. Thus, there are classical music concerts here in Ajijic all year round-- amazing for such a small community. Also, during the winter, Viva la Musica organizes bus trips to Guadalajara concerts and ballet; we have not tried that yet. If one has the energy, there are virtually non stop cultural events available.

In an earlier post (September 13), I mentioned the Viva la Musica 4 day trip to Morelia at the end of November. I thought we were too late and were on the waiting list. Subsequently, 4 tickets became available and I snapped them up. Morelia is about 5-6 hours drive south of Ajijic and about 2,000 feet higher in altitude. Jim Cook, who is in my Spanish conversation class, is a terrific photographer; here are his photos of Morelia on his blog.

The Canadian Club has a big Thanksgiving Dinner at the Neuva Posada Hotel each year. However, I was too slow in getting tickets and they were all sold out. Next year, I shall have to be quicker off the mark. Even without the snowbirds, there are lots of Canadians living here. In fact the American Legion in Chapala also puts on a Canadian Thanksgiving Day dinner each year. We shall probably just have a quiet day at home this year.