Coyoacán
Before the arrival of the Spanish in 1519, the historic center of what is now the Delegación Coyoacán was an indigenous Tepanec village that the Mexica had subdued. When Cortés sought to conquer Tenochtitlan, he gained the support of Coyoacán's Tepanec tlatoani (head speaker) to give him access to the causeway in order to attack the city. He then set up headquarters in Coyoacán while the Mexica city was destroyed and the core of Mexico City was built in its place. He named it called Villa Coyoacán, officially making it a village under Spanish law. Hence, some of the earliest Spanish Colonial buildings and churches in Mexico City—and thus in the Americas—are here.
There are, however, other Coyoacáns. Not far from Villa Coyoacán and its companion colonias is a cluster of pueblos that were indigenous settlements long before the Spanish arrived.Coyoacán's Chapel of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, Part I: Small Church with a Big History
In August 1521, Hernán Cortés and his forces defeated the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, bringing the so-called Aztec Empire to a sudden end. While Cortés awaited the razing of Tenochtitlán and the building of the Spanish Ciudad de México atop its ruins, he took over this center of Coyoacán as his temporary headquarters.
Cortés named the town la Villa Coyoacán. Declaring it a Villa had specific political purposes under Spanish law. When Cortés landed on the mainland in February 1519, he immediately had his soldiers declare the establishment of la Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, intending thereby to officially create a Spanish village according to Spanish law, with rights to elect its own leaders and to make direct appeals to the king. The "residents" of this Villa then elected Cortés their "general". Declaring Coyoacán a Villa was a reinforcement of his claim to independence from the governor of Cuba and his right to act on behalf of the king in governing the newly conquered people and their territory.
During the three years that Cortés was based in Coyoacán, he had constructed an ayuntamiento (city hall) and residences for himself and his soldiers in la Villa. Thus he began the transformation of Coyoacán from an indigenous village into a Spanish villa whose colonial architecture and ambiance make it so picturesque and popular today.
Being a devout Catholic and seeking to transform the defeated indigenous into believers in the True Catholic (Universal) Faith, Cortés also had a chapel built dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Concepción. It was located just east of the center of the Villa. As such, it was the first Catholic Christian Church built in Mexico and the oldest remaining church in the Americas. It is familiarly referred to as La Conchita, "the Little Shell".
As it happened, during the recent renovation of la Capilla (2011-2015), archeologists discovered that it had been constructed atop the site of the earliest settlement that was to become Coyoacán. Under and around the current plaza in front of La Conchita, they found remains of an initial settlement dating from around the year 200 CE.Coyoacán's Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Part II: "La Conchita" Celebrates Its Rebirth
On December 8, we go to Coyoacán's Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, popularly called "La Conchita", "the Little Shell", to experience the Fiesta of its patron saint, the Virgin Mary and its restoration to its original beauty. Happily, when we arrive, the chapel is open and we get our first look inside the church that, when we moved to Coyocán in 2011, had been in great disrepair and had been closed for four years for restoration by the National Insititute of Anthropology and History.
As we leave the chapel, we see a small procession coming up one of the sidewalks crossing the tree-filled plaza. The procession is led, of course, by a statue of the Virgin Mary. Behind the Virgin are concheros, indigenous-style dancers such as we have seen at many fiestas.
The next group is something quite different from any comparsa we have ever seen before. They are the Dancers of the Battle of the Moors of San Bartolomé Atlatlauca, in the State of Mexico. The basic dance was brought by friars to Nueva España to dramatize the message that Christianity was superior to any other "pagan" religion. But, we have never seen such fantastic tocados (headdresses) as those worn by these "Moors" (Muslims). They are completely original in style. They appear to be huge half-moons. Their masks are also different from any we have seen, starkly white and black. We are enchanted and overjoyed that we come to the fiesta of La Conchita.Coyoacán: Pueblo Tres Santos Reyes and the Lord of Compassion
Looking through the arched wall of the atrio of the Church of the Three Sacred Kings, we could see its facade, covered with a floral portada (design). Three, or four representations of the suffering Christ of Holy Week are portrayed, surrounded by thousands of fresh flowers. Who is this Christ or multiple Christs being honored today, some weeks after Easter, with such abundance? And why? This is the Pueblo of the Three Sacred Kings, the Wise Men or Magi who came to see the Baby Jesus on Ephiphany. El Dia de los Tres Reyes, Three Kings Day, on January 6. So why a fiesta celebrating Christ's Passion after Easter?Coyoacán: The Lord of Compassion Goes Visiting
The suffering Christ of the Pueblo of Three Sacred Kings is el Señor de la Misericoridia, the Lord of Compassion. Some centuries ago, he was seen as the source of a miracle, saving "el pueblo", the people, of the various indigenous villages in what is now the borough of Coyoacán, from an epidemic.
So every summer, el Señor is carried forth from Tres Reyes to visit several of these other pueblos and barrios, where he is received by their respective saints, gives his blessing to the people and receives the adoration and thanks of the faithful. He spends one to two weeks in the church of each pueblo before moving on to the next. Hence, a series of "bienvenidas" and "despedidas", welcomes and farewells, to el Señor are celebrated across Coyoacán from late May to early September. On the next to last Sunday in May, he departs Tres Reyes. In the summer of 2016, we return to Tres Reyes to follow the beginning of his journey.Coyoacán: The Lord of Compassion Visits Barrios San Lucas and Niño Jesús, the Child Jesus
We arrive late in Barrio San Lucas, St. Lukes, to meet el Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion. He has already arrived and is seated in the modern church. Mass is in process. At the side of the church is a small atrio (atrium) full of people chatting and awaiting the serving of comida, the afternoon meal. At the rear is a the small, original 16th century chapel of this village within the City.
The following Sunday, we make sure to arrive early at the corner where el Señor, carried by the people of San Lucas, will be greeted by el Niño Jesús and the people of his barrio. When the two saints and the residents of the two neighborhoods meet, there are cries of "¡Viva!", "Long live..!" to each. We realize these are calls for long life for the barrios and their ancient traditions.Coyoacán: Pueblo Candelaria Welcomes the Lord of Compassion
On the last Sunday morning in June, El Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion, travels from Barrio Niño Jesús to Pueblo Candelaria. Un tapete de aserrín, a sawdust carpet, is laid out in the southbound lanes of Avenida Pacifico. These colorful decorations are one of many medieval European Catholic traditions brought by Spanish friars to Nueva España. At the far end of the carpet is a gathering of small statues of saints. June 25 also happens to be the feast day of San Juan Bautista, St. John the Baptist, so the faithful have brought their saints from various barrios, not only in Coyoacán, but from elsewhere in Mexico City and even from the state of Michoacán, some two hundred miles to the west, to join in this celebration.Coyoacán: The Lord of Compassion Travels from San Pablo Tepetlapa to Santa Úrsula Coapa
On a Sunday in mid-July, it is time for El Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion, to travel from San Pablo Tepetlapa to Santa Úrsula Coapa. Both barrios are located along the Calzada de Tlalpan, the highway that follows the original Mexica causeway south from Centro Histórico. When we arrive in San Pablo, the sounds of cohetes /fireworks being shot off, and a banda tells us the procession is already underway. Following the sounds, we find it and a surprise, chinelos, a type of dancer that accompanies fiestas in the state of Morelos, south of Mexico City. Their dance consists of brincos, jumps, and spinning like Sufi dervishes. Their elaborate costumes seem to be a takeoff on Islamic Moorish dress. We seem to be in Andalusia, Spain.Coyoacán: The Lord of Compassion Returns Home to Pueblo Tres Santos Reyes
The first weekend in September we return to the intersection of Pacifico and Candelaria Avenues, in the center of Coyoacán, to witness and participate in the last stage of El Señor's peripatetic journey. Today, El Señor is returning home to Tres Reyes, which is next door to Candelaria. In our prior visit to the intersection, we were amazed that the saint's transfer to Candelaria for the first of two visits was accompanied by a sizeable procession of other saints from a number of pueblos, each on their flower-covered andas (platforms). We wonder what we will encounter today. We have been told it is the biggest fiesta in the Lord´s travels.Coyoacán: San Mateo Churubusco - Identity Via Church and Market
Our "neighborhood" Mercado Churubusco, Churubusco Market, with all its traditional Mexican flavors, literal and cultural, is in El Barrio San Mateo Churubusco. San Mateo, St. Matthew is mostly a lower-middle class, working-class neighborhood. It is tiny—one block wide from north to south and three shorts blocks long east to west. The double name, San Mateo Churubusco—combining a saint's name with an indigenous one—gives a clue that it is a pueblo originario, an original indigenous village. So when we walk to the mercado and cross Mártires Irlandeses (Irish Martyrs in Mexico? We'll get to that in our next post) we are crossing not just a street from modern Parque San Andrés, where we live in an eight story apartment building, but also a frontier between modern Mexico City and the vestiges of an ancient world.Coyoacán: San Diego Churubusco, Thrice Strategic Over 400 Years
Before the arrival of the Spanish, Churubusco was an indigenous village located on the southwest shore of Lake Texcoco. When the Mexica/Azteca took control of the entire lake in the early 15th century, they built a causeway south from their island city to the village in order to connect with Coyoacán and other important villages in the south of the Valley of Anahuac. They renamed the settlement Huitzilopochco (Wee-tzeel-lo-POCH-ko, "hummingbird from the south") after their primary god, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and built a temple to him there. Thereafter, the village occupied a strategic crossroads. After the Spanish Conquest, the Franciscans tore down the temple and built a small church on the site which, in 1587, they handed over to the Order of San Diego, a branch of the Franciscans. The "Diegans" built a large church and convent dedicated to Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, Our Lady of the Angels. Three hundred years later, the convent was once again strategic in the U.S. attack on Mexico City in August 1847. The chruch and convent still stand at the center of el Barrio San Diego Churubusco.Coyoacán: Barrio San Mateo Receives the Lord of Compassion
Last year, in 2016 for reasons unknown to us, the Lord of Comapassion did not visit San Mateo, so we were surprised and happy to see an announcement that in 2017 el Señor was coming to San Mateo, three blocks from our apartment. He would be coming from San Lucas, just across Division del Norte boulevard, but He would only be staying for an hour or two for a Mass on a Saturday morning, before returning to San Lucas. The next day, Sunday, He would move on, as He had last year, to Niño Jesús.Coyoacán: San Mateo Churubusco's Christmas Posada
The celebration of Christmas in Mexico is focused within the privacy of the family rather than in the communal space of the parish church or the public space of the neighborhood streets. The central celebratory event is a family cena (dinner) held late on the evening of Noche Buena (literally, Good Night), Christmas Eve, before going to Mass.
There is, however, a wonderful tradition that takes place in public space, the individual streets of neighborhoods. It is the tradition of posadas (literally, "inns"). Held each of the nine nights prior to Christmas, beginning December 16th, each night's posada is hosted by families living in a different street. They are called posada (inn) because the celebration centers on a re-creation of the arrival of the pregnant Mary and her husband, Joseph, in the town of Bethlehem.They search for an inn in which to stay.
In the re-enactment of their quest, children dressed as Mary and Joseph, or statues of the saints, with Mary riding a donkey, approach a series of three homes in the street holding the night's posada. The members of the parish accompanying the Holy Couple sing a petition to the residents of each home, pleading that they be given shelter. At the first two homes, from behind closed doors, the residents reject the plea. Finally, at the third home, the resident family opens its doors and receives the Couple and those with them. The rosary may be recited. Then, the party begins, piñatas and all!Coyoacán: Christmas Tradition in Barrio El Niño Jesús
We were surprised when we saw an announcement that the patron saint fiesta of Coyoacán's Barrio Niño Jesús was to be held on January 1, New Year's Day. We had assumed it would be on Candelaria, February 2, and we wondered why a day marked by secular celebrations was His feast day. A check of the Catholic litugical calendar informed us that, following Jewish custom, Jesus was circumcised on January 1, the eighth day of His life.
We first met the barrio's Niño Jesús in the summer of 2016, as we were following the series of visits made every summer by el Señor de la Misericordia (the Lord of Compassion), who resides year-round in the adjacent Pueblo Tres Santos Reyes, Three Holy Kings) to many of the pueblos and barrios of Coyoacán. One of those visits was to Barrio Niño Jesús. It is a very small barrio (two short blocks wide and maybe six long), immediately south of the Colonial-era Center of Coyoacán.
As we walked down the barrio's typically narrow central street towards the church that Sunday afternoon, we observed that the neighborhood seemed composed of a mix of modest cinderblock houses and larger, newer, more upscale ones (one notable marker was the two-car wide, stylishly modern electric garage doors, instead of iron gates, facing the street). Past the church, at the end of the street, was the gated, guarded entrance to a group of private homes.
Our impression was that the barrio was being "gentrified". This was understandable, given it is adjacent to the highly desired and, hence, expensive neighborhoods of Coyoacán Centro. Given our questions about the extent to which the barrio residents have been able to maintain the traditions such as fiestas in the face of gentrification, we were especially interested in re-visiting it to witness and experience how those faithful to el Niño Jesus expressed their devotion to Him and their communal identity.
Coyoacán: Pueblo Candelaria, Fiesta of Candelaria, an Extra Special OccasionOur conclusion, at the end of experiencing its procession through its narrow laneways, is that communal tradition and the shared identity that goes with it is doing fine in the barrio. The fiesta has all the traditional, essential components: portada (even one covered with fresh flowers) over the church entrance, banda, cohetes, anda carrying the patron saint and covered with fresh flowers, papel picado (even hand-cut ones) hanging above the streets, tapete de aserrín, castillo (a big one!) for the grand, pyrotechnic finale on the last night of the celebration. Clearly, Barrio Niño Jesús still has a community of residents committed to investing the time, energy and money required to carry out the fiesta of their patron saint.
Candelaria, (in English, Candlemass) is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on February 2, forty days after the birth of Jesus the Christ, celebrated on December 25. It was Jewish custom that a first-born son be presented at the Temple in Jerusalem the fortieth day after his birth. According to the Gospels, Mary and Joseph followed this tradition. Candelaria is the feast day celebrating this early event in the life of el Niño Jesús, the Child, or Infant, Jesus.
We have written about Pueblo Candelaria twice before, as part of the visits paid by el Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion. But we had never gone to Candelaria for the fiesta of its patron saint, the Virgen de Candelaria, that is, the Virgin Mary in her advocación (representation) at the moment of her purification at the Temple forty days after Jesus' birth and, also, as the Queen of Heaven, which she became upon her assumption into heaven at the moment of her earthly death. So on February 2, which is a Saturday in 2018, we go to the church of Candelaria.
A large floral portada of fresh flowers—always amazing in their complex design, vibrant colors and workmanship—covers the three arches of the church entrance. But even more spectacular, taking up most of the large atrio is a huge tapete de aserrín, sawdust carpet, a fiesta tradition, created for each fiesta by a group of mostly young people, the Alfombristas del Pueblo de la Candelaria, Coyoacán. But not much is happening except for individual parishioners coming and going from the church with their own Ninos Jesus. Then we find an announcement of events which says the main procession is tomorrow.
So, shortly before noon on Sunday, we return by taxi to the corner of Candelaria and Pacífico Avenues. Pacífico, south of Candelaria, is blocked to traffic. A crowd is gathered in the closed street. A short distance down the block we see the Virgin standing on a flower-covered anda (platform) for being carried in the procession to the church. Standing in front of her, on both sides of the southbound lanes of Pacifíco, a large number of saints are lined up on their andas. Most all the saints of the original pueblos of Coyoacan are here. including el Señor de la Misericordia. This is going to be a grand procession, such as we have seen before in Candelaria. It knows how to do a fiesta!Coyoacán: The Quadrante del San Francisco, Part I: Surprises!
Due to various random circumstances of life, when we were following el Señor de la Misericordia in the summer of 2016 on his visits to the many original pueblos of Coyoacán, we did not make it to one of them, east of el Niño Jesús, officially called el Quadrante del San Francisco (The Quarter of St. Francis). The other obvious opportunity to visit San Francisco was during its patron saint fiesta held the first week of October. In the fall of 2018, we finally made it.
As in is the case of many old barrios in Mexico City, the original pueblo of San Francisco is hidden behind the modern facade of a major boulevard. 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. A large statue of St. Francis greets us.
Continuing down the street that forks to the left for a couple of blocks, then turning left into a street named Callejón (Alley) del Atrio del San Francisco, we come to the entrance to the atrio (atrium) of the church. Working our way through the labyrinth of puestos (stalls selling food) filling the atrio entrance, we finally come into a large, open space facing the church. 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. Entering, we are suddenly in a space that feels like a cathedral! Its large, unadorned, rounded, granite arches take us back to the Romanesque era. It is clearly modern, but with Franciscan simplicity.
We 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. Continuing our reconnoitering we walk around the north side of the church. There, in the rear corner of the atrio, stands the answer, the original, 16th century chapel of San Francisco in all its Franciscan simplicity.Coyoacán: Quadrante del San Francisco, Part II: Ritual of Reconciliation of Two Worlds
We return on Sunday morning to witness two rituals listed on the fiesta announcement: a Procession of the Crosses leading to the main Mass and, after the Mass, a Raising of the Crosses. Five months after the Fiesta of Santa Cruz, the Feast Day of the Holy Cross, always on May 3, we are mystified and intrigued as to what these rituals centered on the Cross will be and why they are being enacted as part of the Fiesta de San Francisco.
Arriving in the atrio of the church, we quickly realize that an event of significant proportions and, therefore, meaning, is going to take place. A single, huge cross stands in place opposite the church. In front of the church entrance lie two more large crosses — one draped in beige cloth, the other in green. Behind them is a row of andas, platforms that can be carried, bearing various saints. Between the crosses, an altar has been laid out on the pavement. We quickly realize that it is a deliberately constructed, complex and deeply significant conjunction of indigenous and Catholic religious symbols.
This combination of indigenous and Catholic symbols is the epitome of the syncretism by which Franciscan and other friars supported the transformation and integration of indigenous religious practices into Roman Catholic ones in order to enable the indigenous to "convert" from their religion to Catholicism.
This combination of symbols, we are to come to experience as the rituals of the day unfold--a procession of concheros (indigenous dancers) the raising of the two crosses beside the one already standing and their veneration with indigenous songs and dance-- is a virtual re-enactment of the mission of the original Franciscans.
The Franciscans had the insightfulness to realize that the only way to bridge the chasm between the alien cultures was to offer the indigenous people a vehicle to reconcile themselves with the Spanish Conquest and European Roman Catholicism. They opened the way for the indigenous to actively, concretely and visibly integrate their traditional attire, symbols and cultural expressions with those of Catholicism. In that way, they could maintain the continuity of their heritage and identity while accommodating to a new one. This syncretism is reenacted here, today, in this Franciscan church.Coyoacán: Santo Domingo Welcomes the Lord of Compassion
This summer, (2017) when we learned that one Sunday in August the Lord of Compassion was moving between two pueblos we had not visited last year, we were excited to have the opportunity to get to visit them. The receiving parish was la Parroquia de los Santos Fundadores, the Parochial Church of the Holy Founders, in la Colonia Pedregal Santo Domingo. We arrive at the church as the procession is about to start off. Puzzled by the name Holy Founders, we approach one of the men attending the anda, the portable platform which bears two saints, and ask their identity. "This is St. Francis (in the front) and that is St. Dominic." They were the founders of the first two religious orders to come to New Spain to convert the indigenous, hence the "Holy Founders." However, Colonia Santo Domingo is not an original indigenous pueblo, but was created by squaters on barren pedregal, volcanic rock, in the 1960s and 70s.Coyoacán | Colonia Ajusco, New Villages - Old Traditions: the Lord of Miracles and Religión Popular
In following Catholic Church patron saint fiestas as our guide and way of entering the original indigenous pueblos now incorporated into Mexico City, we came across an historical anomaly in our own Delegación Coyoacán: relatively new neighborhoods, founded by squaters from rural Mexico in the 1960s and 70s, that culturally look very much like their neighbors, pueblos that existed when the Spanish arrived 500 years ago. Untangling their history leads to a fascinating story of the persistance of culture in the face of major social change.Coyoacán: Indigenous Purépecha Traditions of Michoacán Live On in Colonia Ajusco
One sizable group that moved into Colonia Ajusco when it was founded by squaters in the 1960s and 70s was from the indigenous Purépecha pueblo of Nahuatzen, in the area known as la Meseta Purépecha, the Purépecha Highlands, just west of Lake Pátzcuaro, in the southwestern state of Michoacán.
Serendipitously for us, we learned that the Purépecha community in Ajusco, now consisting of grandparents, parents and grandchildren, celebrate the fiesta of San Luis Rey, King St. Louis (of France) who is the patron saint of the pueblo of Nahuatzen. The celebration in Ajusco is deliberately held a week ahead of the one in Nahuatzen, so those from either pueblo who desire can attend both. Having lived in Purépecha territory in Pátzcuaro for three years, we were determined to attend. We weren´t disappointed. We felt like we were back on the Purépecha Meseta.
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