Original Villages | Coyoacán: The Quadrante del San Francisco, Part I: Surprises!

Finding a Path to the Original Pueblos of Mexico City

In early 2016, we realized that our overriding desire to come to know our adopted City of Mexico meant seeking out the ancient, originally indigenous villages that existed in what is now the Valley of Mexico before the Spanish arrived nearly five hundred years ago and that still exist and proudly retain a knowledge of their history and maintain their identity.

Their presence was no secret to us. One of them, San Mateo Churubusco, is literally next door to us and announced its presence to us with innumerable cohetes (rocket-style firecrackers) signaling its patron saint fiesta a few weeks after we moved into our apartment in modern Parque San Andrés in August 2011. After that, nearly every weekend since, the sound of cohetes seemed to go off around us, from one direction or another, so we knew there must be a number of other such pueblos not far from us in Delegación Coyoacán.

However, once we realized that in order to know Mexico City, we needed to get to know these pueblos and how they have managed to maintain their identity across five centuries, we decided that we ought to begin our exploration of them by first going back to the literal Center of their transformation into what is now Mexico City. To establish a basis for exploring the original villages, we needed to go back to el Centro to seek out any remnants of the beginning of the process of transformation that all the other villages and their culture underwent with the victory of the Spanish over the Mexica and other indigenous peoples of the land.

So we sought out in Centro the first marks of what has been termed the Spiritual Conquest, the religious and cultural process that turned Mexica Tenochtitlán into the beginnings of Mexico City. Even as we were uncovering there the four indigenous quarters established by Cortés, what officially became the Indian Republic of San Juan Tenochtitlan, we knew that both cities had occupied only one of several settled islands in the largest of a set of five lakes in the Valley. These lakes were, in turn, surrounded by many other villages, all within the large valley. With some understanding of the four indigeous quaters of el Centro we felt ready to move on to these other original villages.

Our Search for Original Pueblos Began in Coyoacán, Our Home Base

Once we finished our investigation of how Tenochtitlán actually continued for some time to exist as an indigenous city after the Spanish Conquest, we could then expand our horizon and begin to seek out the more than one-hundred-fifty other original villages still existing within what is now Mexico City [there are many more in the larger Valley of Mexico, now in the State of Mexico].

We live in Delegación Coyoacán which, as we noted earlier, contains a number of these original villages, so it was the natural place to start. All we had to do was wait to hear and see cohetes exploding on a weekend to know one or another pueblo was holding a fiesta. Those fiestas were our opportunities to go visiting.

By sheer luck, the first cohetes in Coyoacán that we followed turned out to be to the Fiesta of el Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion, in Pueblo Los Tres Santos Reyes (The Three Holy Kings), about fifteen minutes by taxi from our apartment. We headed there when, one Sunday morning in April 2016, we heard the explosions and saw the smoke of cohetes from our balcony. Arriving in Tres Reyes, we were initiated by an amable (kind, considerate) resident, Sr. Llanos, into learning that el Señor de la Misericordia was a kind of super-saint for all the pueblos in Coyoacán.

The April celebration was just a preparation for his spending the summer touring all the other original pueblos in the delegación (and a few in adjoining delegations — a 20th-century governmental creation that often ignored traditional village organization.). We learned that el Señor is the physical, symbolic embodiment of the ancient ties between these pueblos which once stood on or near the southwest shore of Lake Texcoco and along rivers that flowed into it.

Simply by following el Señor's travels over two summers, we got to visit and begin to know eight of the nine original pueblos in Coyoacán, as well as a couple more, Santo Domingo and Ajusco. By no means original, these last two are the result of squatters from rural Mexico moving into empty land in the mid-20th century. Although these settlements are relatively new, the settlers brought with them their old traditions, which were just like those of the delegation's original pueblos, so they were welcomed by el Señor de la Misericordia into that community.  

San Francisco 

However, due to various random circumstances of life, in those two summers, we did not make it with el Señor to one of the pueblos, officially called el Quadrante del San Francisco (The Quarter of St. Francis). The other opportunity to visit San Francisco was during its patron saint fiesta held the first week of October, but we also missed that (it coincided with the birthday of our nieto, grandson, in Chicago). Like most of the original pueblos in Coyoacán, San Francisco's original indigenous name seems to have been forgotten, or is, at least, not used.

In any case, this year, we couldn't make it to Chicago for el nieto's birthday party, so nothing stood in our way to attend and we were determined to do so. We were particularly attracted by the barrio being named for the saint of the religious order, Franciscans, who initiated the transformation of the indigenous peoples into Spanish Catholics, as this is the transformation we have been delving into for the past two years.

The barrio lies along the south side of  the wide Avenida Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, just west of Barrio El Niño Jesús. La Avenida is mostly a modern commercial boulevard. However, as in many cases in Mexico City, the original pueblo of San Francisco is hidden behind the boulevard's modern facade. San Francisco's facade happens to be a large outlet of an international hamburger chain.

But, as always, once we pass behind the facade and enter a narrow street, we know we have crossed a frontier in time and culture. We are now in a traditional old barrio. Walking into San Francisco, we are greeted by a special surprise — as it turns out, just the first of several we are to encounter.

The entrance street immediately splits into two narrower ones,
and between them stands what looks like a medieval castle.
A large statue of St. Francis assures us we are in his barrio.
A tile of the Virgin of Guadalupe is to the right.

The sign underneath reads:
Quarter of San Francisco in the Villa de Coyoacán, 1570.
This makes us wonder if el Quadrante was
somehow officially tied to the Spanish Villa de Coyoacán,
created by Hernán Cortés as his headquarters in 1521,
in a way that the other original pueblos near la Villa were not.
La Villa de Coyoacán is directly across Ave. Miguel Ángel de Quevedo.

We continue down the street that forks to the left, also called Quadrante del San Francisco, for a couple of blocks, then turn left into a street named Callejón (Alley) del Atrio del San Francisco. A short block down the alley, we come to the entrance to the atrio (atrium) of the church.

Discovering Hidden Treasures

The rather decrepit state of its entrance arch makes us wonder what we will find inside. Then the wooden frame supporting the arch reminds us of the major earthquake that shook Mexico City on September 19, 2017, and the damage we have seen done to the arches and walls of a number of the ancient churches and their atrios that we have visited in our ambles over the past year. We have found some churches and/or their atrio entrances closed because of the damage done to them. Ojalá, hopefully, the money will be found to repair them.

Entrance arch to atrio
of the church of San Francisco.
Puestos selling food and other items
line the walkway inside.

The entrance to the atrio is in one corner, which is unusual. They are usually in the center. The walkway is lined with puestos selling food and other items typical of a fiesta, but usually these are outside the atrio, in neighboring streets. Here, evidently because of the narrow alley leading to the church, the puestos are allowed inside. This crowding makes it difficult to get a clear look at the space, but it appears to be quite large.

Working our way through the labyrinth of puestos, we finally come into a large, open space facing the church. 

Chapel of San Francisco

The church is plain, covered in adobe, in simple Franciscan style. Again, we are a bit confused. It looks traditional, but it is much larger than any of the original Franciscan churches we have seen. In front of the church are various items waiting to be part of the rituals of the fiesta. Nothing yet seems to be happening or about to happen, so we enter the church and encounter our next surprise.

Sanctuary of the Church of San Francisco

We are suddenly in a space that feels like a cathedral! Its unadorned, rounded, granite arches take us back to the Romanesque era. It is clearly modern, but with Franciscan simplicity in place of the ornate Baroque style that, in the 17th and 18th centuries, replaced the simplicity of most early Mexican churches. We are truly awed. We have seen no other church like this in Mexico. We feel like we have been transported to Europe.

Apse,
the classic, semi-circular, domed space containing the altar.
St. Francis stands at center rear.

Altar

Behind and above the altar, is a statue of San Francisco. Beneath him is a miniature, golden tabernacle in the form of a baldachin, a canopied space reserved, since medieval times, for a royal, or here, sacred Presence. The canopy is supported by two spiral columns, known as Solomonic. The baldachin and columns are tiny replicas of the colossal bronze Baldacchino above the altar in St. Peter's Basicila. 

In 1629, when Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to complete the interior of St. Peter's, he chose ancient columns of this spiral style, surrounding the altar of the original, 4th century St. Peters, as his model for his colossal bronze Baldacchino. The original marble columns had been brought by Emperor Constantine to Rome from the eastern Mediterranean in the 4th century for inclusion in the first St. Peter's. They were reputed to be from the original Jewish Temple of Solomon and, hence, were called Solomonic columns.

With their dynamic twists, the Bernini columns became, in turn, the models for others as part of ornate 17th and 18th-century Baroque architecture, including in Catholic Spain and Mexico. They appear in many Baroque churches in Mexico City. The tiny, Baroque baldachin, here, in a spare, modern version of the Romanesque, is likely from those earlier centuries. (See our posts: California Colonial: From Emperor Constantine to Mexico Via Spanish Baroque, and on Mexico City's Baroque Architecture)

Within the baldachin, inside a white frame, is the golden sunburst, representing the Divine Glory or Resplendence. It contains, at its center, a bread wafer of the Mass, the Host (from Latin, meaning both a stranger and a victim of sacrifice). It is the Catholic version of the bread Jesus shared with his disciples at the Last Supper, saying, "Take and eat. This is my body, given to you. Do this in remembrance of me." It is the embodiment of the Body of Christ, the Incarnate Son of God, which the faithful ingest in the Eucharist (Greek for Thanksgiving) or Communion.

The arch in front of the dome is painted with a mural depicting the arrival of the so-called Twelve Apostles,
the twelve Franciscan friars or brothers who arrived in Nueva Espana in 1524.
Three others, including Fray Pedro de Gante, had arrived in 1523.
They initiated the conversion of the indigenous peoples to Roman Catholicism,
what has been termed "the Spiritual Conquest" of Mexico, and then, of Latin America.

The upper right seems to portray a lone Franciscan traveling across Nueva España, 
accompanied by an indigenous servant and an ox cart.

At the left, in the background, appears to be a Japanese or Chinese building,
representing Franciscan efforts to bring Christianity to Asia,
and a martyred, crucified Franciscan.

The inner dome presents St. Francis in his role as pastor, shepherd, of the faithful.
Above him, cherubs and the Dove representing the Holy Spirit,
bless him as a saint.

St. Francis of Assisi
(1181-1226)
Founder of the Order of Friars Minor in 1209,
surrounded with flowers,
in preparation for his patronal fiesta.
The dog is actually a wolf
that Francis is believed to have turned
from being a predator of people into being their protector.

We leave the sanctuary feeling a mixture of surprise, awe and confusion. Here, in a working-class barrio, behind crumbling atrio walls and inside a crowded atrio, we have encountered a classic Romanesque church in pristine condition, filled with the chiaroscuro of light and darkness and the hushed quiet that makes one feel they are truly in a sacred space.  

We wonder when this masterpiece was built, and by what architect it was designed, with such sensitivity to the Franciscan tradition of simplicity. But we also wonder what happened to what must have been the earlier church, the original one built in the 16th century.

We do not have long to wonder about that. Continuing our reconnoitering — one might say, snooping around — we walk around the north side of the church. There, in the rear corner of the atrio, stands the answer.

Original, 16th century chapel of San Francisco.

Sanctuary of the original chapel,
in all its Franciscan simplicity.
(Granted, neo-classic facades have been added at each side.)

Bienvenido, Welcome to Our Pueblo

Leaving the original chapel, glad that it is still there and that we have found it, we walk back out into the atrio to see what events may be in the offing. Walking toward the front of the atrio, we pass a family seated, relaxing, on the stone wall beside the modern church. We greet them, "buenas tardes", "good afternoon". With customary Mexican courtesy, they reply in kind. The gentleman, wearing a yellow playera (T-shirt) then approaches and starts asking the questions we typically receive, "Where are you from? What brings you to our fiesta?"

We give our now routine reply that while we used to be a Neoyorquino, New Yorker, we have now lived in Mexico for ten years, seven here in Coyoacán, and consider ourselves to be chilangos (the colloquial name for Mexico City residents, technically those who have moved to the City from somewhere else). This always brings a friendly laugh.

We tell them "Tenemos muchas ganas conocer ...." (We have a strong desire to get to know) the original pueblos of the City and how they carry on their customs and identity and that we write stories on the internet about our visits to them, illustrated with our photos. We give him one of our cards, identifying ourselves and Mexico City Ambles (Paseos por la Ciudad de Mexico), with its web address and Facebook page link. He thanks us and says, "Bienvenido a nuestro pueblo", "Welcome to our pueblo", which is how these introductory exchanges always end. We ask if we may take a photo of the family. They happily agree.

Familia mexicana of three generations.

Bidding farewell, "Qué les vaya bien," "May it go well for all of you", we move on to the front of the church.

Waiting

In front, everyone seems to be just hanging out, waiting for something to happen.

Facing the church is a large cross draped with a V-shaped, flower-covered cloth.
The radiating solar circle is a symbol of the Holy Presence of God,
embodied in the crucified Jesus the Christ, the Incarnate Son of God.

We have seen such decorated crosses at the Fiesta de la Santa Cruz,
Festival of the Holy Cross, on May 3, but not at other times.
We wonder about its presence here, in October, at a patron saint fiesta.

Another statue of St. Francis
is also waiting in front of the church,
He is tied to an anda, a platform 
with handles used to carry saints
in processions.

Two women are waiting beside the church door for customers
to buy their knit and woven goods.
Their dress tells us they are indigenous. 
We ask where they are from. "Oaxaca", they reply.
They have traveled a long way in hopes of making a few pesos. 

The Fiesta Begins!

Then, quite suddenly, there is a commotion in the narrow entrance way to the atrio. A brass banda can be heard playing. Shortly, a comparsa (troupe) of chinelos, in their Moorish-style robes and towering hats of felt and their masks as "the disguised ones", make their way into the space in front of the church and begin their twirling and jumping dance. 

Comparsa de chinelos.
The banda is behind them.

The chinelos soon enter the church to pay reverence to San Francisco
and the Sacred Host.

Returning outside, the chinelos pay homage to San Francisco.
This is what he has been waiting for.

The dance then begins in earnest.

Twirling...

...and "brincando", jumping.

                                

Joining in the Fun

This young boy creates his own sense of surprise,
with artificial snow from a spray can.

¡Hasta Mañana! Until Tomorrow

Today is only the first of two days of celebration. The chinelos will accompany San Francisco on a procession through the streets of the pueblo. We do not follow. We need to save some energy for tomorrow. A posted schedule of events says there will be a Procession of the Crosses, and, after the Mass, a Raising of the Crosses.

Although we have witnessed numerous processions of saints, a Procession of Crosses is not a term we have heard or anything we have seen before, apart from Good Friday. We have also seen a Raising of the Crosses, during the Fiesta de La Santa Cruz, the Feast Day of the Holy Cross, but we wonder why one will be carried out here in Quadrante de San Francisco, during his feast day in October.

So wondering what we will encounter when we return, we bid hasta mañana, until tomorrow, to the fiesta and church of San Francisco. We wend our way between the puestos, through the damaged atrio gate and along narrow Callejón del Atrio de San Francisco to Calle Cuadrante de San Francisco. 

Soon, we pass the statue of San Francisco that welcomed us to his pueblo. We nod to him in thanks for all the experiences the pueblo, another original village that predates the City, has given to us today. Then we pass the international hamburger chain restaurant and return to the present-day world, that is, hasta mañana. (See: El Quadrante del San Francisco, Part II: Ritual of Reconciliation of Two Worlds.)

Delegación Coyoacán (purple)
sits in the middle of Mexico City.

El Cuadrante del San Francisco 
(marked by the green/yellow star)