Barrio San Lucas, St. Luke's: Where tradition and modernity rub against one another.
Sunday is not a day on which we hurry to get up. It is, after all, supposed to be the Day of Rest. So on the second Sunday in June, we arrive late at the Barrio San Lucas, St. Luke, to meet el Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion, on his continuing series of visitas to the pueblos originarios in la Delegación Coyoacán. San Lucas, which is walking distance from our apartment, just across División del Norte boulevard, is a small barrio of winding, one-lane callejas or callejuelas, side streets.
Sadly, when we arrive, el Señor de la Misericordia is already there.
The current church of San Lucas was built in the mid-20th century. However, the original, small chapel, constructed some time in the 16th century, still stands to one side of the new church, at the rear of a small atrio. I ask a member of the fiesta organizing committee, identifiable by his pink polo shirt, if the chapel is ever open. He says it is open on St. Luke's feast day, in mid-October, and for special occasions such as weddings and baptisms. So we know we will have to mark the autumn date for a return visit.
Some other caballeros, gentlemen, offer us a libation of tequila. The Franciscan friar, Bernardino de Sahagún describes in his Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 'The General History of the Things of New Spain', how an alcoholic drink, pulque, a beer of fermented agave juice, which is now distilled into mescal and tequila, was a part of indigenous fiestas. We decline, politely making the excuse that at this time of day it would put us to sleep. They laugh in a manner muy amable, very kind.
Sunday is not a day on which we hurry to get up. It is, after all, supposed to be the Day of Rest. So on the second Sunday in June, we arrive late at the Barrio San Lucas, St. Luke, to meet el Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion, on his continuing series of visitas to the pueblos originarios in la Delegación Coyoacán. San Lucas, which is walking distance from our apartment, just across División del Norte boulevard, is a small barrio of winding, one-lane callejas or callejuelas, side streets.
Sadly, when we arrive, el Señor de la Misericordia is already there.
How we wish we had seen his llegada, arrival, from Barrio San Francisco, on this wonderful canoe, covered with mums! We hadn't attended his arrival, a week ago, in Barrio San Francisco, just south of Villa Coyoacán, as we had friends visiting.
El Señor is already in his place inside the church. Mass is being celebrated.
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| The Lord of Compassion, seated in St. Luke's Church, this time in a sky-blue robe, again surrounded by hundreds of flowers: roses and lilies. |
Outside, la fiesta, the party, has already begun.
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| The community gathers. Original chapel is at the rear. |
The current church of San Lucas was built in the mid-20th century. However, the original, small chapel, constructed some time in the 16th century, still stands to one side of the new church, at the rear of a small atrio. I ask a member of the fiesta organizing committee, identifiable by his pink polo shirt, if the chapel is ever open. He says it is open on St. Luke's feast day, in mid-October, and for special occasions such as weddings and baptisms. So we know we will have to mark the autumn date for a return visit.
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| Fiesta committee member, Alfonso Reyes, his daughter and wife. Note image of el Señor de la Misericordia on his shirt. |
Compañeros, buddies
Some other caballeros, gentlemen, offer us a libation of tequila. The Franciscan friar, Bernardino de Sahagún describes in his Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 'The General History of the Things of New Spain', how an alcoholic drink, pulque, a beer of fermented agave juice, which is now distilled into mescal and tequila, was a part of indigenous fiestas. We decline, politely making the excuse that at this time of day it would put us to sleep. They laugh in a manner muy amable, very kind.
When I ask if they are from San Lucas, one says he is from Barrio San Francisco, which brought el Señor here today. Another is from Barrio San Mateo, St. Matthew, which is right next door to us in Parque San Andrés. We tell him we are neighbors and will be sure to attend the barrio's fiesta in September.
Muchas señoras, many ladys, at least those not attending mass, are sitting, awaiting the serving of la comida, the afternoon meal, another tradition of fiestas.
We note that there don't seem to be many children and few young adults, and we wonder why. San Lucas nonetheless appears to be a barrio with many modern, more upscale Mexican homes, although their gated street facades are so simple that they blend in with older houses,
As we leave, we notice a sign hanging on a house directly across from the church. It advises "anyone interested in buying or renting in San Lucas" to first acquaint themselves "with the barrio's customs," in order to respect them. It is a sign of an encounter, if not a clash, between two Mexican cultures: traditional pueblo-based and globalized modern.
It reminds us of articles we have read in the Mexico City press about el pueblo, the people of traditional barrios, resenting the arrival of high-rise apartments and their residents, with their mascotas consentidas, pampered pet dogs, big cars and lack of respect for traditonal ways. In turn, the apartment dwellers resenting the noise of cohetes, the rocket-like firecrackers that announce fiestas and frighten their dogs.
Nos preguntamos. We wonder. In San Lucas, there are no high-rise apartment buildings like the one we live in in Parque San Andrés, only two-story houses. High-rises are evidently not allowed. But there is a tension between old and new. The fiesta says that the traditional is still alive, but the sign says there is a lucha, a struggle going on in el barrio, even if it is a virtually invisible one.
Barrio Niño Jesús: More Co-habitation of Tradition and Modernity
Because we missed El Señor's colorful arrival and animated reception in Barrio San Lucas the previous Sunday, we make sure to get to the meeting place for his arrival in Barrio Niño Jesús, Child Jesus, plenty early. We have passed its picturesque entrance arch many times while riding by on Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, but have never entered the neighborhood.
El Señor arrives, accompanied by members of San Lucas. The members of el Niño Jesús parish carry their saint across the wide avenue, stopping traffic, in order to welcome their sacred guest.
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| Señor from Barrio San Mateo |
Y las señoras, the ladies
Muchas señoras, many ladys, at least those not attending mass, are sitting, awaiting the serving of la comida, the afternoon meal, another tradition of fiestas.
We note that there don't seem to be many children and few young adults, and we wonder why. San Lucas nonetheless appears to be a barrio with many modern, more upscale Mexican homes, although their gated street facades are so simple that they blend in with older houses,
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| One joven, young man, in the gathering |
Two Cultures
As we leave, we notice a sign hanging on a house directly across from the church. It advises "anyone interested in buying or renting in San Lucas" to first acquaint themselves "with the barrio's customs," in order to respect them. It is a sign of an encounter, if not a clash, between two Mexican cultures: traditional pueblo-based and globalized modern.
It reminds us of articles we have read in the Mexico City press about el pueblo, the people of traditional barrios, resenting the arrival of high-rise apartments and their residents, with their mascotas consentidas, pampered pet dogs, big cars and lack of respect for traditonal ways. In turn, the apartment dwellers resenting the noise of cohetes, the rocket-like firecrackers that announce fiestas and frighten their dogs.
Nos preguntamos. We wonder. In San Lucas, there are no high-rise apartment buildings like the one we live in in Parque San Andrés, only two-story houses. High-rises are evidently not allowed. But there is a tension between old and new. The fiesta says that the traditional is still alive, but the sign says there is a lucha, a struggle going on in el barrio, even if it is a virtually invisible one.
Barrio Niño Jesús: More Co-habitation of Tradition and Modernity
Because we missed El Señor's colorful arrival and animated reception in Barrio San Lucas the previous Sunday, we make sure to get to the meeting place for his arrival in Barrio Niño Jesús, Child Jesus, plenty early. We have passed its picturesque entrance arch many times while riding by on Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, but have never entered the neighborhood.
When we arrive at the arch, some residents of the barrio are waiting.
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| The lady in bright pink shirt tells me she looks forward to the visit of el Señor every year. |
Encuentro de los santos, Meeting of the Saints
En un rato, in a little while, we hear the explosions of cohetes, announcing the arrival of a procession.
From within the barrio, the procession emerges, bearing its patron saint, el Niño Jesús, the Child Jesus.
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| "Welcome, Lord" |
Different from San Lucas, youth are among those accompanying the saint. Young women are the bearers of the palanquin.
Soon, we hear other cohetes coming from the north. ¡El Señor llega!, the Lord arrives!
El Señor arrives, accompanied by members of San Lucas. The members of el Niño Jesús parish carry their saint across the wide avenue, stopping traffic, in order to welcome their sacred guest.
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| Papier maché figures of chinelos, Moorish-like dancers, accompany el Señor, once again, with hundreds of fresh roses and lillies. |
Long Live el pueblo
El mayordomo, the head of the committee from Niño Jesús, calls out greetings:
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| "¡Viva el Señor de la Misericordia! ¡Viva San Lucas! ¡Viva el Niño Jesús! |
Los feligreses, the faithful, from both parishes echo each "¡Viva!", "Long live...!" As saints are, by definition, eternal, we wonder why the wish for long life. Then we realize, the cheer is for each barrio, each pueblo, itself, for the long life of its people and its traditions, for the continuation of its identity.
¡Bienvenida! - Welcome!
With el Señor leading the way, the two saints and their followers enter el Barrio del Niño Jesús.
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| Iglesia del Niño Jesús |
A couple of short blocks down a narrow calleja, we all arrive at the church. The priest comes out to receive the saints and el pueblo, the people
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| The priest is a friar, member of an order, either Franciscan or Dominican. |
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| To applause, el Señor is carried into his new hospedaje, lodgings, for the week |
And, after mass, la comida comunal, the communal meal.
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| Among the diners, at right, we recognize the man in the yellow and purple shirt and red cap and his son with the dinosaur, from Pueblo Tres Reyes. |
Afterwards, we amble around the barrio to get a better sense of it.
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| Narrow callejas characterize the barrio |
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| Virgin of Guadalupe watches over another approach to the church. |
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| Modern, upper-middle class homes and new, multi-story construction |
At the end of one calleja, we even ecounter a guard house, protecting the entrance to a gated community of homes. Later, in a newspaper, we see ads for rentals and purchases of apartments, condominiums and houses in what is obviously presented as an ideally private, tranquil neighborhood near the center of historic, de moda, fashionable Villa Coyoacán.
So, like San Lucas, Niño Jesús, is a combination of traditional pueblo and contemporary upper-middle class urban Mexican life. And the Lord of Compassion is still welcomed and honored.
We think of the priest, receiving El Señor at the door of the church. The Franciscans, then the Dominicans and other Catholic religious orders, arrived in Mexico in the early 16th century to undertake the Spiritual Conquest. It looks like they were successful.
See also:
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| Barrio San Lucas: Upper-right star Barrio Niño Jesús: Lower-left star Villa Coyoacán: Purple colonia west of San Lucas Parque San Andrés: gold "arrowhead"-shaped colonia just east of San Lucas |
See also:
Mexico City's Original Villages: Introduction - Landmarks of the Spiritual Conquest
The Spiritual Conquest: The Franciscans - Where It All Began
Mexico City's Original Villages: Coyoacán's Many Pueblos
Coyoacán: Pueblo of Tres Santos Reyes and the Lord of Compassion
Coyoacán: The Lord of Compassion Goes Visiting
Coyoacán: Pueblo Candelaria Welcomes the Lord of Compassion
Coyoacán: The Lord of Compassion Travels from San Pablo Tepetlapa to Santa Úrsula Coapa
Coyoacán: The Lord of Compassion Returns Home to Pueblo Tres Santos Reyes
Coyoacán: San Mateo Churubusco - Identity Via Church and Market
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