Original Villages | Tláhuac: Crossroads Between Two Lakes and Two Cultures

The Outer Boroughs

Since the spring of 2016, we have been ambling through several of Mexico City's sixteen delegaciones, or boroughs, seeking out the indigenous pueblos that existed around the lakes and on their islands in the Valley of Anahuac (now the Valley of Mexico) before the Spanish arrived and subjugated them. In doing so, we have discovered that there is a definite geographic difference in their distribution among the delegaciones and in the degree of their continuing vitality and conscious identity as original villages.

Delegaciónes (boroughs) of Mexico City
Cuauhtémoc, in north center, now Centro Histórico,
is the site of Mexico-Tenochtitlan

In the north of the City, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, site of  the Zócalo, the "Heart of the City" and the original Mexica city of Tenochtitlan, and adjacent delegaciones such as Benito Juárez and Miguel Hidalgo, are some such pueblos, or at least vestiges of them in the form of Catholic churches built by the Franciscans and other religious orders in the 16th century.

In Cuauhtémoc, around the Centro Histórico, which the Spanish took over for themselves, there were four indigenous barrios carried over by Cortés from Tenochtitlan, as the Republic de San Juan Tenochtitlan, whose original churches (or later replacements), plazas and mercados, markets, remain. Tacubaya and Tacuba in Miguel Hidalgo, are two examples of pueblos in adjacent delegaciones where churches, plazas and a few other vestiges of the transition from the indigenous to the Spanish Catholic world remain.

In the western, rural, mountainous delegaciones of Cuaujimalpa and Magdelena Contreras, vital original pueblos exist, but getting there is a challenge we still seek to overcome. However, the largest concentrations of original pueblos lie in the southern delegaciones. Our own Coyoacán contains at least a dozen. In neighboring Iztapalapa, Xochimilco and Tlalpan are many more. The far southeastern delegations of Tláhuac and Milpa Alta are, or have been until recently, rural areas consisting totally of traditional pueblos.

Traveling around Coyoacán is easy for us; however, traveling into the "outer boroughs" of Iztapalapa, Xochimilco, Tlalpan, Tláhuac and Milpa Alta is more of a challenge. They require longer rides on the Metro, if a line even exists, or extensive taxi trips. Tlalpan and Milpa Alta have no Metro; Tláhuac has only recently become reachable with Line 12. 

Probably more a factor is that most of their pueblos, barrios and newer post-WW II colonias (except for Tlalpan) are barrios populares, working-class neighborhoods with reputations for being unsafe. Many chilangos (Mexico City residents) from the central delegaciones consider them "dangerous"  and won't go there. Nevertheless, with the help of our friend and guide, Alejandro, who lived in Iztapalapa, we made initial forays into some of these outer boroughs. However, Alejandro recently moved to Guadalajara, far to the west, so we have been left on our own. 

As we have commented in other posts on these boroughs, we have found that it is perfectly safe to visit them when there is a fiesta being celebrated that brings el pueblo, the people as a community, into the streets, along with the community leaders who have organized the celebrations through their centuries-old system of mayordomos and their supporting committees. These committee members are almost always identifiable by their colorful shirts with the fiesta name written on them or by wearing ID tags.

Our consistent experience has been that members of el pueblo always warmly welcome us and our interest in their customs. Our visit to the old center of Iztapalapa for its Passion Play is, perhaps, the most outstanding example. But every Amble to these fiestas in the "outer boroughs" has been a wonderful experience of the ánimo, spirit, of el pueblo, expressing and celebrating its primary identity, and of its amabilidad, kindness to fuereños, outsiders who show respect for their traditions and treat them comfortably as prójimos, fellow human beings.

On to Tláhuac

We have made progress in fulfilling our goal of becoming acquainted with some pueblos in Iztapalapa and Xochimilco, but except for an initial, exploratory visit with Alejandro some months ago, we had not gotten to Tláhuac (the reddish-brown area on the lower east side of the City map above). A couple of weeks ago we learned, via our new "guide", the Facebook page of the Fiestas Mágicas de los Pueblos y Barrios Originarios del Valle de México (Magical Festivals of the Original Pueblos and Barrios of the Valley of Mexico) that the patron saint day of San Pedro, St. Peter, was going to be celebrated in Tláhuac for the entire last week of June. What appeared to be the high point of the fiesta, a procession, was scheduled for late afternoon on Wednesday.

So on that Wednesday afternoon, we head off east, first via taxi across eastern Coyoacán to Culhuacán in Iztapalapa, then southeast via the Metro's new Line 12 to its final stop, Tlálhuac, or more precisely, San Pedro Tlálhuac. Traveling above ground, we get a good,closeup view of la Sierra Santa Catarina, a row of ancient, extinct cinder cone volcanos that forms the border between Iztapalapa and Tláhuac.

Tecuauhtzin and Guadalupe,
the two easternmost volcanoes in the Santa Catarina chain
marking the boundary between Iztapalapa and Tláhuac.
Cerro de las Estrellas, Hill of the Star in Iztapalapa, is the most western volcano.

Ancient Roots in Lake Waters

Cuitláhuac (circled in blue), shortened by the Spanish to Tláhuac,
was situated on an island between Lake Xochimilco (to the west)
and Lake Chalco (to the east).

The area of what is now the Delegación of Tláhuac, in southeast Mexico City, shows signs of human occupation at least from the Preclassic period of Mesoamerica (1800 BCE–200 CE). The island of Cuitláhuac and the Tlaltenco riverbank (on the Iztapalapa peninsula, north of Lake Xochimilco) were occupied by agricultural villages at a time contemporaneous with the development of Cuicuilco (c. 700 BCE – 150 CE, west of Lake Xochimilco and buried when Xitle volcano erupted).

In the environs of Tlaltenco remains of ceramics have been found that date to the year 1500 BCE and correspond to a village located on land what is known as Terremote Tlaltenco. Equally old vestiges of human occupation have been found in San Juan Ixtayopan, located in the southeast of Tláhuac on the slope of the volcano Teuhtli. Both the Tlaltenco and Ixtayopan sites were abandoned by the end of the Late Preclassic period, when Teotihuacan became the main political and urban center of the Mexican basin.

In 1222 CE, a Nahua group founded Cuitláhuac—the present San Pedro Tláhuac—on a small island between lakes Xochimilco and Chalco. It is thought they came from nearby Xochimilco, founded three hundred years earlier. Around the island, they created chinampas—man-made islands like those first invented in Xochimilco for growing produce.

Models of chinampas at the San Pedro fiesta,
Created by a community group seeking to preserve this ancient form of horticulture
that is quite modern in its use of "all natural" techniques.

Cuitláhuac did not remain an independent altepetl, city-state, for long. In 1230, the altepetl of Chalco-Atenco (to the east, today in the State of Mexico) conquered Cuitláhuac, Míxquic and other lakeside pueblos that are now part of the borough. In 1393, Azcapotzalco (on the west shore of Lake Texcoco) subjugated the Cuitlahuacas, as it had most of the Valley.

In 1428, the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Tlalcopan (now the Colonia Tacuba) and Texcoco (on the east side of Lake Texcoco) defeated the armies of Azcapotzalco. The Mexicas of Tenochtitlan, as the dominant power, took control of Cuitláhuac. As they did in Lake Texcoco, they built a causeway to connect Cuitláhuac to the north and south shores of the lake.

Goal from indigenous ball court
at the site of Church of St. Peter
on the former island of Cuitláhuac

Hernán Cortés and his soldiers passed through Cuitláhuac to reach the Iztapalapa peninsula and its causeway leading to Tenochtitlan. After the defeat of the Mexicas in 1521, as part of what has come to be called the Spiritual Conquest, the Franciscans built the church of St. Peter the Apostle on the site of an indigenous temple on the island of Cuitláhuac. At the end of 16th century, St. Peter's was transferred to Dominican control.

Tlálhuac, with St. Peters Church, on Cuitláhuac Island,
with causeways constructed by the Mexicas.
From:
 Atlas eclesiástico de el Arzobispado de México, 1767
Templos y Capillas del México Viejo, Delegación Tláhuac.

From the colonial period through the 19th century, Tláhuac alternated being under the governance of either Xochimilco or Chalco. In 1928, it became a delegación (borough) of the Federal District, now Mexico City.

Until the 1980s, Tláhuac was a rural borough of original indigenous villages, surrounded by chinampas in the former Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco. Together with neighboring Xochimilco, it was part of the area declared Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO in 1987. During the last thirty years, as with Xochimilco, Iztapalapa, Tlalpan and other peripheral boroughs, the demographic pressure from Mexico City has resulted in the borough's rapid urbanization, such that the urban areas now cover approximately a third of it (see delegacion map below). Wikipedia

Seven Pueblos

In Tláhuac are seven native pueblos from pre-Conquest times, each having a dual Spanish saint and indigenous name:

• Santiago (St. James) Zapotitlán, 
• San Francisco (St. Francis of Assisi) Tlaltenco, 
• Santa Catarina (St. Catherine) Yecahuitzotl, 
• San Pedro (St. Peter) Tláhuac; 
• San Juan (St. John the Baptist) Ixtayopan;
• San Nicolás (St. Nicholas) Tetelco; and 
• San Andrés (St. Andrew) Mixquic.

Seven Original Pueblos of Delegación Tláhuac

(Each pueblo is divided into various barrios)

Green/yellow star in the center marks site of Delegación offices
and Church of St. Peter in the original Pueblo of Cuitláhuac,
now San Pedro Tláhuac.

(Just to the east of San Pedro is a remnant of Lake Chalco. 

Gray-green areas marked by rectangles are chinampa fields.
Other gray green areas to the north and south are volcanic mountains)

Northwest of San Pedro Tláhuac (on the former north shore of Lake Xochimilco) are:

 Pueblos Santiago Zapotitlán (red/orange star) and 

San Francisco Tlaltenco (red/yellow star)

Northeast is Pueblo Santa Catarina Yecahuitzotl (purple/orange star)

(on the former north shore of Lake Chalco), 

Southeast (on the former south shore of Lake Chalco) are:

San Juan Ixtayopan (orange/red star),
San Nicolás Tetelco (mustard/yellow star), and
San Andrés Mixquic (navy blue/red star)

Pueblo San Pedro Tláhuac

The Tláhuac Metro station is a half-mile or so from the center of Pueblo San Pedro Tláhuac, so, upon leaving the station, when we see no taxis, we take one of the ominpresent gray and green jitney buses for the short ride south. 

On the left side of the two-lane road are the simple, concrete block buildings typical of a Mexican village. In contrast, on the right are fields, some growing corn or other crops; cows and horses graze in others. Narrow canals crisscross the fields, irrigating them. These are the chinampas, the man-made islands built up centuries ago in what were once Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco, surrounding what was once the island of Cuitláhuac, now the Pueblo of San Pedro Tláhuac.

In a few minutes we come to a plaza with a bright orange mercado, indoor market, on the far side, and what looks like an old ayuntamiento, "town hall" on our right, which we recognize from our earlier visit with Alejandro, so we know this is where to get off the bus.

Traditional ayuntamiento, "town hall", with its Spanish-style portico.

Plaza,
filled with many puestos, for the fiesta or fair,
as signs tell us it is called here.

Across the street, to one side of the plaza and behind the ever-present street puestos, commercial stalls, and some juegos mechanicos, fair rides, we can see the entrance to the atrio, atrium, of the Church of San Pedro. Certainly, we have here all the physical ingredients of a pueblo: a plaza surrounded by a market, a government office and a church, the trinity of Commerce, the State and God.

Fiesta Preparations

The doorway to the atrio is decorated with a portada,
unusual in that it is made of reeds that grow in the canals,
instead of the usual flowers.

St. Peter's Atrio
It is also unusual in that it is filled with several huge royal palm trees,
which, strangely, aren't that common in Mexico City.

"Long live St. Peter, the Apostle"
Papel picada, cut paper (now plastic),
announces the celebration of the patron saint's day.

Church of St. Peter the Apostle,
built by Franciscans sometime after 1529,
handed over to Dominicans in 1554.

The design on the facade is mudéjar, Moorish, i.e. Muslim.

Typical of patron saint fiestas, the sanctuary is filled with fresh flowers,
likely grown in Tláhuac's own chinampas.
St. Peter sits at the center of the Baroque retablo, reredos,
probably added in the 18th century.

Going through a side door and down a few steps
we enter the cloister of the convent or monastery,
built by the Dominicans in 1586.

The Celebration Gets Underway

Outside, a band is playing 1950s show tunes
and songs from the U.S.
The band is that of
the Mexico City Police Department.

This, too, is a first in our fiesta visits.

Soon, St. Peter is brought out of the church.
As Christ´s chosen leader
and first Pope of the Catholic Church,
he holds the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The banda, an essential component of a procession, arrives and begins to play.

Acolytes appear

A Queen and two Princesses of the Fiesta arrive.
They pose for us, as beauty queens are supposed to do.
The addition of a beauty pageant to a saint's day is
also something new in our experience.

The priest appears.

With the emergence of the priest from the church, all the components of a traditional saint's procession are present. However, while a number of people look on, more are listening to the police band or eating food purchased from a number of vendors lining the atrio walkway. This does not seem be one of those processions we have witnessed where more or less significant numbers of parroquianos, members of the parish, participate. Perhaps more will join along the way, which is often the case.

The procession starts off.

At this point, another representation of St. Peter is brought from the church.
Above him is the name Cuitláhuac, the original name of the pueblo.

The saint is accompanied by two more females, attired in traje traditional, 
traditional dress, who also readily strike beauty queen poses for our camera.

As with the "Queen" and two "Princesses",
we get the feeling this is as much a beauty pageant
as a saint's procession.

Procession into the Darkness

The procession starts off, but it is starting to get dark. Black clouds are gathering. It is the rainy season, so we decide not to follow, as we usually would.

We learn the next day, from the Magical Festivals Facebook page, that the procession takes an unusual path. 

A waterfall of light

St. Peter, in both his representations, is carried to an embarcadero, a pier on the canals, placed in trajineras, flat-bottomed boats, and poled out onto the waters. As darkness falls, they are honored with a pyrotechnic display, a waterfall of light. Quite special, clearly a meeting of the Catholic saint, the First Pope, with the ancient world of his indigenous pueblo. Another unique manifestation of the Spiritual Conquest, or better, of the reconciliation of two disparate worlds.

We are both moved by this hidden climax and saddened that we could not witness it. Quizá, otra vez. 

!Ójala! Perhaps, another time, God willing!

Mexico City's Original Villages | Xochimilco: Field of Flowers Still Blooms

"Floating Islands" and Flat Boats

Xochimilco—“field of flowers” in Nahuatl—is now a delegación, or borough, in southeastern Mexico City. A UN-designated "World Heritage Site" world-famous for its canals and chinampas, these so-called "floating gardens" are actually man-made islands used for growing flowers and vegetables for sale in city markets.

Chinampa in current cultivation.
From: The Chinampas of Mexico,
by Jason Turner, Ph.D.

These chinampas have a history that goes back more than a thousand years. But their current fame centers around the canals and the trajineras, flat boats, that traverse them. Poled by local men, trajineras carry tourists though parts of the labyrinth. On weekends, especially, they constitute a kind of floating fiesta or party, with supporting trajineras providing fresh-cooked meals, beer and singing mariachis for the visitors.

"Sporty Independence"?

 

Mariachi offers his song, for 100 pesos
(now about US$5.00)

Cold beer
(note pilings and trees to rear,
 holding in chinampa)

View 30 second film taken in 1912,

of an indigenous celebration on the canals

But behind this very Mexican-style show for tourists, Mexican as well as foreign, there is a long history and a very different side to Xochimilco.

Thousand-Year-Old Field of Flowers

Xochimilco was originally settled on an island near the southwest shore
of Lake Xochimilco

Around 900 CE, the Xochimilca people, considered one of earliest of the seven Nahuatl-speaking tribes to migrate into the Valley of Mexico, settled on the south shore of the lake that would come to bear their name. Their first chief was Acatonallo, who is credited with inventing the chinampa system, which greatly increased crop productivity. These chinampas eventually became the main producer of crops of corn, beans, tomatoes, chili peppers and squash in the Valley of Anáhuac.

The altepetl, city state, of Xochimilco was founded in 919 CE, about three hundred years after the Toltecs had established Culhuacán on the peninsula on the north side of the lake. Over time, the city came to dominate other areas on the south side of the lake and across the mountains to the south, in what is now the State of Morelos. 

In 1352, the tlatoani, "speaker", Caxtoltzin moved the city from the mainland to the island of Tlilan. Possibly, this was done to make it more defensible, like the island city of the Mexicas, Tenochtitlán, which was coming to be a rival. The island was connected to the mainland by three causeways. One of these still exists in the form of Avenida Guadalupe I. Ramírez, one of the borough's main streets. 

Mexicas of Tenochtitlán Take Control

In 1376, Tenochtitlán attacked Xochimilco, forcing the city to appeal for help from Azcapotzalco, the Tepaneca power on the west side of Lake Texcoco. The attack was unsuccessful, but Xochimilco then became a tributary of Azcapotzalco. Tenochtitlán finally conquered Azcapotzalco in 1428 and conquered Xochimilco in 1430. Shortly thereafter, the Mexica huey tlatoani, "chief speaker" Itzcoatl built the causeway or calzada to Coyoacán and Culhuacán that would also create a land route to Xochimilco.

During the reign of Moctezuma Ilhuicamina (the Elder, the First, 1440-1469), the Xochimilcas participated in the further conquests of the Mexica/Aztec Empire. For their service, they were granted autonomy in their lands. 

Spanish Conquest

When the Spanish arrived, Moctezuma Xocoyotzin (the Younger, the Second) imposed a new governor, Omácatl, on Xochimilco to take tighter control. With the chaos that followed the imprisonment and death of Moctezuma, other Mexica nobles took control of Xochimilco.

Because of Xochimilco's resistance, Cortés decided to attack the city before his final assault on Tenochtitlan. Using indigenous allies, he attacked on April 16, 1521. Although Cuautémoc, the last Mexica tlatoani, sent ten thousand warriors by land and two thousand by canoe to defend the city, the Mexicas and Xochimilcoans were defeated. After the defeat of Tenochtitlan in August 1521, the land around Xochimilco was granted, as an encomienda, to Pedro de Alvarado, one of Cortés' lieutenants. Wikipedia

Spiritual Conquest of Xochimilco

As they did in Tenochtitlan and in all the altepetls and villages around the lakes, the Spanish destroyed the ceremonial center of Xochimilco, called the Quilaztli. In 1522, Apochquiyauhtzin, the last tlatoani of Xochimilco, was baptized with the name of Luís Cortés Cerón de Alvarado and allowed to continue governing under the Spanish. .

Franciscan monks then came to the city. Construction of their first church, San Bernardino de Siena, and their convent or monastery was begun around 1535 on the site of the Quilaztli, in what is now the historic center of the Delegación Xochimilco. Like other churches of the Franciscans and other religious orders, it was converted into a parochial church in the mid-18th century.

San Bernardino de Siena Church
after Sunday Mass
It sits at the end of a large atrio,
at the east end of the main plaza

Portion of atrio, atrium

Reredos is Neo-classic in style,
(probably late 18th century)
with Greek-style columns
and triangular pediments

Dome
A vision of Heaven
God the Father (in blue)
and Christ (in red) are below center;
Virgin Mary is below them.
Opposite them, above, is St. Michael the Archangel,
patron saint of Mexico.

Inner patio of Convent,
with traditional Moorish-style fountain

Vestiges of the Spiritual Conquest: Many original barrios and pueblos

Today, like most of the Valley of Mexico, the original Xochimilco is almost swallowed up by the indiscriminate spread of the megalopolis that now covers most of the former lake beds and surrounding land. However, at its heart Xochimilco still retains living vestiges of an earlier world. In part, this is because its remaining canals and chinampas have been declared a World Heritage Site and Patrimony of the Nation of Mexico—making for tourist income. But even more so, these living vestiges remain because their extensive roots in the ancient indigenous world are still nurtured in original barrios and pueblos.

At the center of the old city are those landmarks that we have found at the core of the Spanish transformation of indigenous Mexico: a plaza, church (San Bernadino), ayuntamiento (town hall) and mercado. In Xochimilco, unlike in other colonial neighborhoods in the City, they all remain in place, alive and well.

Xochimilco plaza
Large and tree-filled

"Honey Fair"
takes up large space at one end of the plaza.
Various fairs, actually temporary markets, frequently take place.

Street musician
Vaquero, cowboy dress is not uncommon

Aztec danzante group performs dances
and cleansing rituals.

Cuates, buddies, pass the time.

Generations

Large, indoor mercado
is on south side of the plaza

Walking around this core, the heart of Xochimilco, we feel like we have entered a world apart from most of the rest of Mexico City. It feels like a city located in what chilangos, Mexico City residents, refer to as las provincias, Mexico's other states, with their more traditional, rural ambiance.

Circling this core are some sixteen barrios that made up the original indigenous altepetl on the island of Tlilan. Beyond them are another fourteen or so pueblos that were on the original mainland to the south. The contemporary delegación or borough also includes newer colonias.

It is to these barrios and pueblos originales that we will direct a series of Ambles. As there are so many, we expect to return to Xochimilco many times.

Delegación Xochimilco
is large pink area in southeast Mexico City

Barrios, Pueblos and Colonias of Delegación Xochimilco
Barrios of original altepetl of Xochimilco marked by yellow star.
Ecological Park of chinampas and canals is gray-green area in northeast
Southern side of delegación is mostly mountainous forest preserve.

See also:

• Portraying Mexico City's Azteca-Mexica Origins
• Mexico City's Original Villages: Landmarks of the Spiritual Conquest
• The Franciscans - Where It All Began
• Tepeyac and the Virgin of Guadalupe
• Centro's Four Indigenous Quarters
• Coyoacán's Many Pueblos
• Iztapalapa, Part I: Hill of the Star and the Origins of Culhuacán and Iztapalapa
• Iztapalapa, Part II: Contemporary Culhuacán, Gods of Darkness and Light
• Delegación Benito Juárez: Xoco, the Little Barrio That Survives
• Delegación Benito Juárez: Mixcoac, Place of the Milky Way
• Álvaro Ogregón: San Ángel and Chimalistac, Alliance of Indigenous and Spanish Nobility

Mexico City's Original Villages-Coyoacán: Pueblo Candelaria Welcomes the Lord of Compassion

On the last Sunday morning in June, El Señor de la Misericordia, the Lord of Compassion, is traveling from Barrio Niño Jesús, where we left him last Sunday, to Pueblo Candelaria, (pueblo indicates a neighborhood larger than a barrio). Having learned that delivery of el Señor from one pueblo or barrio to the next, during his summer tour of visitas across Delegación Coyoacán, happen a tiempo, on time, we make sure to arrive before the scheduled hour of 11 AM at the corner of Avenidas Pacífico and Candelaria, in the virtual center of the borough.

Getting out of our taxi, we see people gathered on the northeast corner of Pacífico, the direction from which El Señor will arrive. Crossing the wide street, with its camellón, median strip of trees, we first notice un tapete de aserrín, a sawdust carpet in the southbound lanes, which have been closed to traffic. These colorful decorations are one of many medieval European Catholic traditions brought by Spanish friars to Nueva España.

The tapete is a relatively simple one of floral designs, but their large size means they were drawn by hand, without the use of pre-cut stencils. 

Then we notice, at the far end of the carpet, a gathering of small statues of saints, each on its equally small palanquin. We haven't seen this at el Señor's other encuentros, encounters, so we wonder what is happening. Approaching the compañeros, companions, of one of the saints, we ask. 

Santiago Matamoros,
St. James the Moor-slayer

Saint of unknown name
(We need to take better journalistic notes)

                   

Saint Isidoro, the farmer
(note mazorca, ear of corn)
brought from a pueblo in Michoacán

Señor de la Columna
Christ in his Passion

Gathering of Saints

In customary amable, kind/considerate, Mexican manner, they explain that this weekend (June 25) is the feast day of San Juan Bautista, St. John the Baptist, an especially important one in the year. So they have brought their saints from their various barrios, not only others in Coyoacán, but elsewhere in Mexico City and even from the state of Michoacán, some two hundred miles to the west (where we lived for three years) to join in this celebration. 

St. John the Baptist

San Juan Bautista, St. John the Baptist, is the patron saint of Villa Coyoacán, the upscale center of the delegación, and its large church where he is also being celebrated today. But this is something else, a celebration of el pueblo, the common people. We recall that he is also the patron saint assigned by the Franciscans to all of the original indigenous quarters of the Mexica city of Tenochtitlán, renamed San Juan Tenochtitlán, as well as to its lead parcialidad, quarter, San Juan Moyotla. 

We suspect that the importance of St. John the Baptist in relation to the indigenous communities of Nueva España is due to his role as the first one to baptise people into what would become the new faith of Christianity. Hence, he represents the conversion of the "heathen" indios from their old gods to the new one.

St. James the Moor Slayer

St. James is the patron saint of Spain. A disciple of Jesus, James, the brother of John, is believed to have come to the Roman province of Iberia (now Spain and Portugal) to proselytize and establish the Christian faith. He then returned to Judea, where he was martyred. His remains were subsequently returned to Spain and are buried in the church at Compostela. He thus represents the foundation of Christianity in Spain independently of St. Peter and Rome.

During the Reconquest of Spain from the Muslim Moors, it is believed that St. James appeared during the Battle of Clavijo, in 844 C.E., bringing victory to the Christian forces. He then became known as Santiago Matamoros, St. James the Moor Slayer. He is always represented astride his white horse, a Moorish soldier trampled beneath its stamping feet.

Santiago Matamoros, St. James the Moor Slayer
Statue in Church of los Tres Santos Reyes,
Three Saintly Kings, Coyoacán

He is a popular saint in Mexico. In an indigenous Purépecha church dedicated to him in Michoacán, he is dressed as a vaquero, Mexican cowboy, in sarape and sombrero. As with St. John the Baptist, we think his popularity is related to his symbolizing the victory of Christianity over heathen faiths, a task accomplished once again in the Spirtual Conquest of Mexico.

Virgin of Candelaria

As we are contemplating the significance of the hagiography represented at this street corner, we hear the familiar sound of cohetes, the rocket-style firecrackers that announce the arrival of another saint.

La Virgen de Candelaria arrives.
To the left, cohetes are shot off;
the banda wears blue T-shirts

Proceeded by dancers in charro dress, elaborate gentleman/lady cowboy/-girl costumes typical of the western state of Jalisco, a brass banda and coheteros (shooting the cohetes), a large palanquin approaches up Pacífico from the south. It bears a grand queen, dressed in white, holding a child, also in white, and other smaller saints.

Virgin of Candelaria, holding the infant Jesus.
St. John the Baptist is in front.
Other two saints, including a black friar, are unidentified.

La Virgen de Candelaria is the Virgin Mary at the moment when she presents her infant son at the Temple in Jerusalem, traditionally celebrated on February 2, the mid-point of winter and forty days after his nacimiento, birth at Christmas. She is the patron saint of today's host pueblo. With her arrival, all is ready for the reception of el Señor de la Misericordia.

Charros

While we are waiting, with our inveterate curiosity, we approach the charro dancers whom we have not previously encountered at fiestas, to inquire about their participation and their origins.

Lead charro

                                  

The lead charro tells me they are Comparsa San Francisco, a dance troup that accompaines fiestas from San Francisco Culhuacán, a large, originally indigenous pueblo at the eastern edge of Coyoacán. We tell him we plan to visit their pueblo at a later time. The charro dress is an expression of mexicanidad, Mexicanness. It is a very colorful, ornate, dare we say Baroque, Mexican variation on a Spanish theme. The Mexican charro tradition derived from Spanish horsemen who came from Salamanca and settled in Jalisco.

Aztec god of death

     

          Aztec warrior and maiden,

            with eagle of the Mexica

Charros of Comparsa San Francisco Culhuacán,
In customary Mexican style, they ask us to take their picture, posing formally.

La Virgen and El Señor 

At this point, the sounds of cohetes coming from further up Pacífico tell us that el Señor is approaching.

The Lord of Compassion arrives, accompanied by el Niño Jesús, the Child Jesus, his host for the past week, who also represents the events of Candelaria, but for his own barrio.  Their flower-bedecked palanquin is as elaborate as that of the Virgin's. Perhaps the meeting of Mother and Son, in his two representations as Child and in His Passion, increase the importance of this particular encounter. Pueblo Candelaria is also right next door to Pueblo Tres Santos Reyes, el Señor's home base.

Accompanied by cries of "¡Viva!", "Long live!", el Señor is removed from his palanquin and carried to that of la Virgen, where he is carefully placed among the group of saints.

Flowery Procession of Saints

With el Señor firmly in place, the confradía, brotherhood of the parish of Pueblo Candelaria, starts the procession of saints down Avenida Pacífico, toward their neighborhood. As we watch the palanquins go by, bedecked in hundreds of roses, chrysanthemums and other flowers, with the charro dancers and two bandas accompanying them, we can't but think of the Rose Parade of Pasadena, California. We opine (Mexican writers use this verb a lot) that that commercial affair has nothing on this delightful home-made version, which is also certainly older.

We note that the bearers include many adolescent boys

The other visiting saints follow behind. 

El Niño Jesús, now alone 

Crucifed Christ, who arrived just in time, is followed by Santiago Matamoros.
(In November 2017, we discovered his home, the Church of the Lord of Miracles,
from Colonia Ajusco, just southwest of Candelaria.)

St. Isidoro, the Farmer, followed by the Lord of the Column

A few blocks south, we reach the arch marking the entrance to el Pueblo Candelaria.

The pueblo, like virtually all the original settlements in Mexico City, is distinguished by its narrow callejas, side-streets, which were created long before invention of the automobile.

Calleja of Pueblo Candelaria.
Blue and white papel picado, cut paper, are colors of the Virgin.

The Reception

A few short blocks along, the procession arrives at the church. A traditional portada of flowers surrounds the entrance to the simple, modern edifice.

"He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit"
The words of St. John the Baptist regarding the coming of Jesus the Christ.
The portada is made totally of chrysanthemums.

The original iglesia was built early in the 16th century. Records of it go back to 1577. In the 1950s, the building was razed to make way for construction of the current church. 

El Señor is lowered from the palanquin, followed by his host, la Virgen, and the other attending saints. This time, a new touch is added to the reception.

Two wind machines shoot silver confetti into the air.
The tower at the right of the gate is the only remaining part of the original 16th century church.

St. John the Baptist, the Virgin of Candelaria and the Lord of Compassion are received

Las charras dance

El Pueblo, the People, Watch

Or at least some of them do.

Conclusion

The saints are carried into the church for celebration of Mass.

A group of rondalla musicians accompany the ceremony.

Rondalla is a "folk-style" of guitar-playing singers.
It is one of our favorite styles of Mexican music.

Outside, the clean-up begins.

A joven, youth, wearing a T-shirt marking the day's fiesta, 
uses a traditional broom of twigs to clean up
the tapete de aserrín that greeted the saints.
The type of broom goes back to pre-Hispanic times.
It was a sacred duty of householders
to sweep their house and patio every day.
So one sees Mexicans daily sweeping the entrances
to their homes and shops.

Despedida, Farewell

So ends another passage of el Señor de la Misericordia from one pueblo of Coyoacán to the next. This one is especially memorable for its elaborate, colorful, flower-bedecked parade of multiple saints and its charro dancers.

As we walk out of Pueblo Candelaria, we note some explicit statements of its indigenous roots.

"Cande", portrayed as an Aztec lord, is evidently short for Candelaria.
To the right is a portrayal of the facade of the church.

The battle between the Spanish and the Mexica/Aztecas.
The symbol, upper right, is Ollin, the primal energy of the Universe.
"That it may be infinite while it lasts!"

The Virgin of Guadalupe,
who unites indigenous and Spanish peoples with her love.

"Forum in Defense of Water and Our Territory"
"Water is life and life is defended"

The presenters are all faculty of UNAM,
the National Autonomous University of Mexico,
also located in Coyoacán.

So one has the sense that Candelaria is a pueblo active in defense of its ancient territory, resources and identity.

It is also, clearly, a traditonal working-class neighborhood where one can always find in its callejas something to eat.

And the beauty and vitality of flowers.

Pueblo Candelaria - starred, yellow pueblo.
Pueblo los Tres Santos Reyes, home of el Señor de la Misericordia, is green puebño just west of Candelaria

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: The Lord of Compassion Visits Barrios San Lucas and Niño Jesús, the Child Jesus 

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