Iztacalco: A Festival of Traditional Music and Dancing Brings Country Folk and City Slickers Together

The Facebook page, 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) is turning into a major resourch as we seek out these original indigenous settlements and villages in what is now Mexico City. Recently, we saw an announcement on the page of a festival "Son para Milo" to be held for four days in the Delegación or borough of Iztacalco.

16 years
Son para Milo
Encounter of Traditional Mexican Music
Esplanade of Delegación Iztacalco
June 1 to 4, 2017

Entrance Free

More than 300 musicians, conferences and workshops,
gastronomical and crafts demonstrations.

Son para Milo
is an independent, self-managed, citizen cultural initiative

We had no idea what "Son para Milo" means. Clearly, it isn't a patron saint fiesta in a barrio or pueblo such as we usually seek out, but a kind of fair to be held at the ayuntamiento, borough hall. The announcement promises "300 musicians", much typical Mexican food and artesanía, crafts for sale. So we decide it could be fun and it would at least be an opportunity to visit a part of Iztacalco, a delegación we haven't explored much.

Iztacalco is the smallest of the sixteen delegaciónes that make up Mexico City. At its core is a group of original indigenous villages that once sat on a group of islands in Lake Texcoco, southeast of the islands on which Tenochtitlan was built by the Mexica. When the Lake was drained by the Spanish, the villages remained alongside the Royal Canal, aka La Viga, so they were significant centers of trade and transportation to and from the center city.

Going to the Fair

On the Saturday morning that is the third day of the festival, we call Andrés—one of our favorite taxi drivers because of our always cheery conversations, and ask if he could take us to Iztacalco. He has told us before that he lives there, so he will certainly know where the ayuntamiento is. He says he is available and will pick us up in ten minutes. When he arrives and we get into his cab, we repeat where we want to go. He says that he lives very nearby. We get onto the Río Churubusco Highway and head northeast.

In about fifteen minutes, Andrés takes an exit and travels up a service road a short distance. Turning right onto a wide street, he says, "Aquí estamos" —  "Here we are."

So we pay the fare, with our usual tip, which Mexican cabbies don't expect, thank him and get out. Facing us is a group of rather large three-story buildings that constitute the offices of the Delegación of Iztacalco.

Around the buildings is a large, tree-shaded park that looks very inviting on this sunny summer day. We think that we will have to return some other day to explore it. Now, it is on to the fair.

A wide sidewalk along the side of one of the buildings
leads to tents we can see in the back.

The first tent is full of puestos, stalls, selling food.
Tlayudas are plate-sized, thin, toasted tortillas covered with a variety of ingredients.
They originated in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Walking past the food stalls in the first tent, we enter what is evidently a large, open plaza now filled with two huge tents and a couple of smaller ones. A kind of traditional Mexican music can be heard coming from the largest tent.

Music tent

La Alegría de Bailar, The Joy of Dancing

Attracted by the music, we enter the large tent which appears to be bigger than a basketball court. The space is filled with people. At each end, there is a stage. Musicians are playing on one of them. Taking up most of the space is a temporary wooden platform. On it, perhaps a couple hundred people are dancing the foot-stamping style, basic to much Mexican folkdance. Along each side, several rows of folding chairs are filled by lookers-on.

Photo from the Son Para Milo Facebook page

This group is from the southwestern state of Michoacán, where we lived for three years.
The Purépecha indigenous people have a strong presence there.
Their sombreros, with flat tops, brims curved on the sides,
and a tassle tied at the back
are typical in Purépecha pueblos.

Many of the women dancing and watching, and some of the men, are dressed in traje regional, the traditional attire of the various regions of Mexico. It is a kind of fashion show of traditional Mexico. As we are aficionados of dance of any style, including folk dance, and of the beauty and variety of the attire, we are in seventh heaven as a photographer. Once again in our Ambles, we have hit a jackpot.

She is wearing a Chiapas,
Maya-style huipil blouse.
He is wearing a traditional sombrero
and guayabera shirt.

Her dress is from Tamaulipas, in northeastern Mexico.
He wears a sombrero of the Purépecha style.
His neckerchief (paliacate or pañoleta) is also traditonal, especially in sourthern states.

She: a Chiapas huipil
He: modern but "traditional" tropical-style Veracruz shirt

The rose in the hair, very Spanish; think tango.

His sombrero is western Mexico style, from cattle and vaquero, cowboy, country.
(Yes, cattle and cowboys came to the "New World" from Spain, via Mexico.)

               

This couple is from Oacaxa

Here there are only the markers of tradition: sombrero and kerchief, ...

... But the gift and the joy of folk dance are the same

also get in the groove.

The young ...

the youngest.

Even ...

Mercado de Artesanías

Next to the music and dance tent is another of equal size, in which a mercado, market, has been created with puestos selling artesanía, arts and craft items such as rebozos (shawls), jewelry and traditional clothing, as well as specialty foods, such as Oaxaca chocolate, natural honey and fruit wines.

Rebozos
These are from Oaxaca.
Each region has its own style.

Beaded jewelry
from the Huichol people of Central Mexico

Traditional Mexico in the Big City

The fair is a wonderful experience of traditional Mexico in its various dimesions of folk music and dance, food and crafts. We have seen nothing like it before in Mexico City. One hardly ever sees a chilanga, Mexico City woman, dressed traditionally. Occasionally, one sees a traditionally dressed indigenous woman selling in a tianguis, street market, or as an ambulante, itinerant street merchant, but that is all. 

In Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, where we lived for three years, there were many indigenous Purépecha women in traditional dress in the mercado and on the streets. Non-indigenous women would wear rebozos, traditional shawls and, perhaps traditional jewelry, but little else in that style. Indigenous men often wore jeans, "western-style" cowboy shirts, boots and sombreros. The dress of non-indigenous men was indistinguisable from the casual dress of men in a small U.S. city or town: T-shirts or golf shirts, jeans or slacks.

We spoke with a number of the celebrants at the fair, asking where they were from. Many were from the states south of Mexico City which have significant indigenous populations: Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, as well as Veracruz and the State of Puebla to the east and the State of Mexico, which surrounds Mexico City, as well as Michoacán to the west. Yet many wearing traditional dress also replied that they were from the City, while their attire was from "las provincias", the provinces, i.e., one or another of the states. They were clearly enjoying dressing in traditional fashion and dancing to traditional music. We wondered how this blending of city and country people in a shared folk tradition had come about.

Son Mexican, The Mexican Sound

Talking with one of the merchants, from whom we bought a pair of traditional peasant cotton muslin pants which are cool and comfortable for wearing at home in the summer, we asked what was the meaning of Son para Milo. As it happened, he spoke fluent English, as he had worked in the U.S., but he couldn't readily find the English word for "son". We knew it meant sound in the sense of a musical tone. Together, we finally came up with "song and dance".

When we got back home, we did some research. It turns out Wikipedia has a wonderfully clear and extensive article on Son Mexicano:

"The term 'son' applies to a category of Mexican folk music which includes a variety of styles that vary by region. However, these styles share a number of common characteristics in rhythms, lyrics and dance. The music is a mix of Spanish Baroque, African and indigenous elements, which mingled at least as far back as the 18th century.

"It is most popular on the Gulf Coast and certain sections of the Pacific coast, with three main regional varieties: son jarocho in Veracruz, son huasteco (or huapango) in the La Huasteca region (east-central Mexico) and son jaliscience, in Jalisco, which has morphed into what is now known as Mariachi. In Guerrero and Oaxaca it is called Chilena, for some legendary ties to Chilenean sailors shipwreaked on Mexican shores. In Michoacán, the Purépecha play pirékua.

"Mexican son is usually played with string and percussion instruments. All musicians generally sing but there is usually one or two lead singers. Most son songs are about love, mythological figures, legends, the landscapes of Mexico as well as political and religious themes.

"Dancers are generally couples executing zapateados, stomping with hard-heeled shoes on a raised wooden dance floor called a tarima. The zapateado provides most of the percussion in son jarocho and son huasteco."

Para Milo

As for the Milo that the event was "for", well, further research uncovered a wondeful story of a Mexican folk artist.

Professor Hermila 'Milo' Rojas Aragón

For Love of Milo

Hemilo 'Milo' Rojas Aragón was born in in the Zapotec pueblo of Zaachila, in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca in 1961. He took an early interest in the folk music and dance of his people. In the fall of 1976, at the age of fifteen, he entered the Distinguished National Teachers School in Mexico City. There, he joined one of the dance workshops, called Tezcatlipoca (Nahua god of the night and obscure matters), a workshop that sought to be a vehicle for preserving and promoting traditional Mexican music and dance. 

Milo demonstrated great talent as a dancer. One of his teachers said that "he danced with his heart". Upon his graduation, he became director of choreography and then artistic director of the workshop. Parallel to his participation in the dance workshop, he entered the school of Mexican folkloric dance of the National Institute of Fine Arts (Bellas Artes) where he trained from 1980 to 1983.

Milo was the founder, in 1985, of one of the most renowned Mexican dance courses within the National Teachers School, "Dance as an Integrator of Art", in which he participated for more than 10 years. He was also an elementary school teacher in several schools in Mexico City. He participated in projects focused on the development of new methods for teaching the arts and in training workshops in the country's normal schools. He received numerous recognitions from Mexican institutions of higher education for his artistic and choreographic direction of Mexican dance.

Milo died suddenly on June 18, 2002, at the age of forty-one. In September of the same year, on the initiative of friends and outstanding musicians, a tribute was organized for him at the National Teachers School. Five traditional music groups participated. In June of 2003 the memorial event was organized again, and called "Son Para Milo"—"Music and Dance for Milo".

The event was very successful, it was decided to institutionalize it as an annual event "Son Para Milo: Encounter of Traditional Mexican Music".

Within ten years the event had grown to include fifty-six musical and dance groups. The audience had also grown so large that in 2015, the event was moved from the teachers college to the plaza of the Delegación of Iztapala. This plaza was chosen because it provides a large, open attractive space, and the delegación is rooted in indigenous pueblos. This year over three hundred musicians participated. (Translated from a article in Spanish by Huget Cuevas, sucedioenoaxaca.com)

Clearly, Milo loved traditional Mexican music and dance, and he communicated that love to his students and fellow teachers. Out of that shared love, they, in turn, created Son Para Milo both to honor him and keep alive that love and that tradition.

What we saw in our visit to this year's festival was how much many Mexicans of all ages—whether from the "provinces" of highly indigenous Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas and other states or hip, urbane chilangos, Mexico City residents—share a love of their traditional music and are enthusiastic bailadores, dancers, who incarnate this love in their bodies con mucho ánimo, with much spirit.

The mission statement of Son Para Milo, now a non-profit, volunteer organization, reads:

Son Para Milo is the promoter of all the tangible and intangible heritage of which we are the possessors, which we assume as an inescapable and responsible commitment to maintain the values that give us identity as Mexicans.

Son Para Milo is a cultural movement that brings citizens closer to an encounter with their culture, customs and traditions. It is a flow of emotions where the joy of music, the colors of the apparel, the smells and flavors of their traditional food, which is rich and extensive, is manifested.

Countryside and City Joined 

We have read much about the split between traditional indigenous and mestizo (mixed-race) Mexican peoples and "modern", European and U.S.-oriented urban Mexicans—a split instituted with the Spanish Conquest and the Spanish caste system. In Son Para Milo, in their dancing together and wearing traditional dress, the two groups, country pueblerinos and urban citadinos, blend indistinguishably together, con mucho alegría, with much joy, and with mucho orgullo, obvious pride in their shared Mexican heritage and identity.

Our sense is that Son Para Milo gives them the opportunity and freedom, publicly and together, to celebrate being Mexican. We are sure Milo would be very happy that his goal has been achieved.

Delegación Iztacalco
is the small, dark green area in the northeast,
southeast of Cuauhtémoc
the location of Centro Histórico.

Original Villages | Delegación Miguel Hidalgo: Tacubaya - Labyrinth Leading from the Present to the Past

In our effort to visit as many as possible of the original indigenous villages now incorporated into Mexico City, we have, for some time, wanted to visit Tacubaya, in a part of the Delegación Miguel Hidalgo that is to the south of Chapultepec Woods.

Tacubaya
lay on the southwest shore of Lake Texcoco.
Until 1428 it was under the control of the Tepanecs of A(t)zcapotzalco.
After the Mexica of Tenochtitlan defeated A(t)capotzalco,
it came under their control.

The area has been inhabited since the fifth century BCE. Archeological evidence shows continuous human habitation here since between 450 and 250 BCE by chichimecas, hunter-gatherer tribes. The Mexica tried to settle here in 1276 but then left in 1279. It was renamed Atlalcuihaya by the Mexica of Tenochtitlan when they took control in 1428, after defeating Azcapotzalco, which had dominated the west shore of Lake Texcoco. The name meant “where water is collected.” This name was Hispanicized to Tacubaya by the Spanish. Wikipedia

We had previously explored Tacuba, another original village north of Chapultepec. However, Tacubaya has a reputation for being a poor, unsafe area, so we were hesitant to go. Recently, on Facebook, there appeared an announcement of a tour of Tacubaya led by a chilango, Mexico City resident. Seeing this as our opportunity to go there with others, we called and made a reservation to join the tour. The following Sunday morning, we took our Line 2 of the Metro north to the Chabacano Station, where we changed to Line 9, which heads west and ends at Tacubaya. 

Finding Our Way Through Labyrinths

The Tacubaya station is a labyrinth of long tunnels and many stairways, as three lines cross there, the third being Line 7. We have been in the station before to view the wonderful murals by Guillermo Ceniceros portraying the gods of the Mexica and foundational legends of how in 1225 they came to arrive in the Valley of Anahuac, now the Valley of Mexico. 

Jade death mask of an indigenous king.

by Guillermo Ceniceros

Tacubaya Metro Station

Metro stations have good signage, directing travelers through the correspondencias, connections between one line and another. The leader of the tour has told us to meet him at "the exit to the Periferico (ring road expressway) from Line 1", so we follow the signs leading to Line 1. 

When we arrive in the area of Line 1, a large, two-story hall leading to multiple exits, we ask a policeman where the exit to the Periférico is. He seems puzzled but points us in a direction. Farther on, we ask a subway employee where the exit is in order to confirm we are on the correct path. Again, the person seems puzzled by our question, but points us in the same direction. 

We exit up some stairs and find ourselves near the entrance to a very large mercado, indoor market, that faces a large plaza mostly covered with concrete, yet containing a few trees, many free-standing puestos, merchant stalls, and a juego mecánico, carnival ride. We ask a couple of the puesto merchants if this is the exit to the Periférico. Again, they seem puzzled, but clearly thinking that we want to go there, indicate that the Periférico is on the other side of the mercado. 

It is a few minutes past 10:30, the appointed hour for the tour group to meet, but none of the people standing around the Metro entrance look to be candidates for such an adventure. They are mostly teenagers and adults hanging out on a Sunday morning. Not at all sure we are at the correct exit, but even more unsure about finding an alternative one, we call the tour leader's cell phone. There is no answer. We repeat the call several times over the next several minutes, with the same lack of result. 

Going It Alone Through a Labyrinth

Finally, we accept that we are on our own. Since we have made it to Tacubaya, we decide not to waste the trip and to seek out its historic buildings on our own. It is near noon on a Sunday, the safest time to wander about the city, as parents have the day off from work and take their familes out to church, one market or another, maybe to a museum (which are free on Sundays) or just for a paseo, stroll, though some plaza, park or along a tree-lined boulevard.

Our first destination is such a park, the Tacubaya Alameda, and a church likely to be having Mass, the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Purificación, Our Lady of the Purification. This Lady is the Virgin Mary at the moment of her purification forty days after the birth of Jesus, when she presents herself and the infant at the Temple in Jerusalem to be blessed by the priests. Her annual festival, on February 2, is Candelaria (because participants traditionally hold lighted candles), so the church is also better known as la Parroquia de la Candelaria, the Parish Church of Candelaria.

So we approach more merchants and ask directions to the Alameda and church. They point us along one of the multi-lane streets and highways that crisscross the area and tell us that, at a certain point, we will cross a pedestrian bridge. This leads us through what could only be described as another modern-day labyrinth. 

Puestos line an underpass beneath a major street.
This seems to be the "mens' wear" section.

Literally every centimeter of the way is lined with puestos, including an underground passageway. Tacubaya is certainly a good example of the muliple ways markets, broadly defined as any place where merchants and customers meet to sell and buy, are realized in Mexico City! 

Coming up from underground, we soon spot a pedestrian bridge over yet another multi-lane street. We confirm from a merchant that the bridge leads to the Alameda and the Church. 

Tacubaya Alameda

Tacubaya Alameda

We soon arrive at the Alameda. The Wikipedia article on Tacubaya warns us that the park is "full of drug addicts, alcoholics and garbage", one of the reasons we were leery of coming to the area. But we don't spy any of the three plagues of urban parks (we are familiar with them; we lived in Manhattan in the 1970s). A policeman sits on his motorcycle eating a snack. Parents and children are taking a Sunday morning paseo. In one corner, a group is listening to an evangelical religious sermon. The sidewalks are in excellent condition and the traditional cast iron benches are freshly painted. These are all positive signs the park is currently being cared for by the government of the Delegación Miguel Hidalgo.

In the center is an obelisk honoring the Mártires de Tacubaya, the Martyrs of Tacubaya, soldiers who died fighting for the Reform government against conservative generals who had declared support for the Plan of Tacubaya, a rebellion against the new, liberal constitution of 1857. The generals used Tacubaya, then a village outside Mexico City, as the base for their uprising, which led to the so-called War of Reform (1857-1860). During the War, Benito Juárez became president in exile, returning to the City when the conservatives were defeated. 

Benito Juárez' triumphant re-entry into Mexico City,
January 1861
Juárez is the middle one of three men in black suits.
Painting in the National History Museum,
Chapultepec Castle

Walking through the Alameda, we come to the wide Avenida Revolución, a main north-south Eje, Axis road, and see the wall of the atrio, atrium, of the Church of Candelaria on the other side.

The Church of Candelaria  

Church of Nuestra Señora de la Purificación, Our Lady of the Purification,
aka Church of Candelaria

The atrio is a large, tree-filled, quiet retreat from the traffic noise of Avenida Revolución and the barullo, din, of the nearby mercado and ubiquitous puestos. It is one of those classic, tranquil Spanish Colonial spaces hidden within, and in total contrast to, the city around it. 

Church atrio

First Call

As we approach the church door, we hear a single toll of the church bell, followed by a series of tolls. A man standing to one side of the door is pulling a rope that leads upward to the bell tower. As he finishes, we comment, "First Call to Mass." He smiles and nods.  We had learned the system of bell tolls when we lived in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, which has many churches, such that bells ring frequently every day of the week. 

Our Spanish teacher clarified that they are not marking clock time but are preparatory calls announcing a coming Mass. About twenty minutes before the service is scheduled to begin, a single toll of the bell announced First Call. Ten minutes later, Second Call begins (or depending on local custom, ends) with two tolls; then as Mass begins there is Third Call, initiated or ended with three tolls. All the tolling of the bell that takes place after or before the telltale toll(s) serves for nothing more than getting people's attention.

Sanctuary
As First Call to noon Mass has just been sounded,
only a few parishioners are present.
We especially love the azulejos, blue tiles of Islamic origin.

The sanctuary retains the simplicity of the early churches founded by the religious orders. Our Lady of the Purification is the only 16th century Dominican church remaining in Mexico City. The date 1590 is inscribed into the walls, and in the arches the names of the indigenous peoples who helped in its construction are inscribed: Tlacateco, Huitzilan, Nonohualco and Tezcacuac.

"Queen of the Holy Rosary, pray for us."
The Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus,
also in a simple artistic style.

Walking along one of the side aisles, we notice a door opening to the outside. Such doors usually lead the way to a patio or inner courtyard surrouded by a cloister, containing monks' rooms above and dining rooms and other common spaces below. Stepping over the threshold, we are not disappointed.

The rooms around the courtyard are still being used by the church, which is not always the case. During the Reform Period (1857-75) and after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917), the cloisters were often taken over by the government as part of its effort to reduce the wealth and power of the Catholic Church. They were put to secular use. Now many are museums or government offices.

Another door leads from the patio out into a side street where we glimpse some interesting buildings.

Colonial Period or 19th century homes

Because of its natural beauty, during the Colonial period, the Spanish came to Tacubaya for respite from the City's Centro. Even after the Mexican War of Independence (1810-20), Tacubaya remained a popular getaway for the wealthy. Many of the well-to-do bought land here for second homes, making the area a summer-home suburb of Mexico City, similar to Mixcoac, Villa Coyoacán, San Ángel and Tlalpan to the south of the city. Across the side street from the church are two of the only such homes we have seen on our amble through what is now mostly a working class commercial area dominated by highways and puestos.

Returning to the front entrance of the church and passing again through its wonderful atrio, we step out onto Avenida Revolución and into all its modern barullo. Since our next destination is somewhere to the west of the mercado and Metro Station and the church is on the east side, we hail a taxi to avoid any attempt to wend our way on foot through the labyrinth of puestos and highways that lies between them. 

Museum of Cartography and the Convent of San José

When we tell the driver who stops for us where we want to go, the Museum of Cartography, he says he doesn't know where it is, but when we say it is at the corner of Avenida Observatorio and the Periférico, he replies, "Está bien"—"That's fine."

We make some turns and are soon on Observatorio, another multi-lane commercial street, heading west. Shortly, we see the two-level Periférico expressway crossing ahead of us. The driver stops and we get out.

In front of us is a very large, two-story building of Neo-classic style, obviously from the 19th century. Mexican Army soldiers are standing guard at the entry gate. We approach and ask if this is the Museum of Cartography, which we know is operated by the Army. They tell us, "No," it is the School of Military Studies. The Museum, they say pointing to an underpass below a Periférico entrance road, is just up Observatorio. Just then we see a sign identifying the museum, so we enter the tunnel.

Coming out of the tunnel, we see some stairs leading up to an ornate metal gate. Climbing the stairs, we come face to face with the museum.  Between us is a very attractive brick-paved atrio, but this one is not a peaceful refuge from the city. It is open to the two-level Periférico on one side and the entrance road on the other. Behind us is Avenida Observatorio. We have found a small island of the past in the midst of a contemporary urban sea.

A metal plaque on one side of the atrio tells us its story. Shortly after they arrived in the 1520s, the Franciscans established a "visiting" chapel in Tacubaya, where friars came weekly to administer the Sacraments and teach the indigenous people about Catholicism. This chapel was thus another outpost of the Spiritual Conquest. In 1590, a suborder of the Franciscans, the Order of San Diego, came and built the original convent. dedicated to San José, St. Joseph, Jesus' "godfather", the same saint to whom the first Franciscans who came to Nuevo España in the 1520s had dedicated their homebase convent in Centro. The "Diegans" were the same order that built the Convent of San Diego in Coyoacán, in what is now San Diego Churubusco. In 1686, the order built the church we see in front of us. Shortly afterwards, in the early 1700s, the convent was transferred to the Dominicans. 

Closed in the 19th century as part of the Reform expropriations, it was subsequently used by the Army and other government agencies, and even closed at various times. In 2000 the Secretariat of Defense, i.e., the Army, took it over to create the Museum of Cartography which displays many old maps of Mexico City, Mexico and the Caribbean region.

The former sanctuary has the simplicity of the Franciscan churches.

Returning to Avenida Observatorio, and having accomplished all of our goals of the day, we plan to take a cab back to the Metro, as we are tired and don't know how long a walk it would be. 

A Guide Out of the Labyrinth

As we walk by the School of Miliary Studies, one of the soldiers we had spoken to on our arrival calls out to us, "¿Comó se fue?"— "How'd it go?" "Muy bien", we call back. "Very well."

At that point, he comes out from the gated entrance and walks over to us. "Where are you going now?" "I'm catching a taxi to get to the Metro."

At my reply, he offers, "Oh, you don't have to do that. The taxi would have to make many turns and the Metro is just down the hill. See that yellow pedestrian bridge (about two blocks away)? Cross over and the mercado is just on the other side. The Metro is just beyond." 

We thank him mucho, adding that we had arrived at that Metro exit by the mercado. This soldier is another example of Mexican amabilidad, kindness, consideration, that we consistently meet on our Ambles around the city, and as we have in our journeys around the country. There is always someone ready and willing to help you out. There is always a guide to show you through whatever labyrinth you may feel you are in.

Delegación Miguel Hidalgo
is the dark brown area in the northwestern part of the city.
Just west of Cuauhtémoc, the location of Centro Historico.

Colonias of Delegación Miguel Hidalgo

Tacubaya (red and orange star)
is at the southern edge,
south of Chapultepec Woods (dark green area).

Tacubaya (green area)

Red/orange star in middle is the Mercado.

Green/yellow star to the right is Church of the Candelaria 
(acutally in another colonia).
The Alameda is to its left, across Ave. Revolución.

Mustard/yellow star, upper left, is Museum of Cartography.

Note how crisscrossed the colonia is with major highways and avenues,
making walking around it like a trip through a labyrinth.

Original Villages | Xochimilco: Barrio de Belém - Dancing Through Bethlehem

The announcement posted on 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) caught our attention for two reasons. It was an invitation to a "Brinco de Chinelos"—a "Jumping" (Dance) of Disguised Ones, those colorful, masked, inventively costumed Moor-like dancers who frequently appear at fiestas in and around Mexico City.

And the event was to occur in the Barrio de Belém, the small neighborhood of Bethlehem, in the Delegación Xochimilco. This combined two things that nos encantan, enchant us: chinelo dancers and an original indigenous neighborhood in Xochimilco, one of the delegations or boroughs most connected with its indigenous past and traditions.

The announcement said the event would begin at 5:30 on a recent Saturday afternoon, so at 4:30 we took a taxi down the Calzada de Tlalpan highway to San Lorenzo Huipulco, in the Delegación Tlalpan, where we caught the Light Train to the center of Xochimilco. Exiting the station, we walk east on Avenida Cuauhtémoc (commemorating the last Mexica ruler) a couple of blocks to Avenida 16th de Septiembre (commemorating the beginning of the War for Independence) and turn north for a couple more blocks to Nezahualcóyotl (commemorating a 15th century ruler of the altepetl, city-state, of Texcoco who allied with the rulers of Tenochtitlan to defeat the dominant power in the Valley, Azcapotzalco).

There, we turn right and enter the Barrio de Belém, the Barrio of Bethlehem, heading towards its church. As we walk through the working class neighborhood on this Saturday afternoon in late May, we wonder what is being celebrated, as the patron saint of the barrio is el Niño de Belém, the Child of Bethlehem, Jesus the Christ as a newborn, whose fiesta day is, of course, Christmas.

A short block and a half farther along, we come to a small, barren plaza. In one corner at the rear, facing perpendicular to the street, is a small chapel.

Church of Barrio de Belém, Bethlehem

Walking across the plaza and around to the front of the simple building, we see a group of maybe twenty people seated at tables on a narrow street that begins in front of the church. They are evidently enjoying a merienda, a light, late afternoon meal. 

It is 5:30 but there is no sign of any chinelos. Approaching the group, we ask a gentleman who is pouring drinks if there is going to be a brinco de chinelos. He assures us that there will be, at 6:00, and offers us a drink of agua de jamaica, Jamaica or hibiscus water, a cold tea made from red hibiscus petals. Full of vitamin C and quite delicious, it is our favorite "agua" (flavored water). Our host also invites us to enter the house and pay our respects to el Niño de Belém. 

We thank him for the information and his hospitality and stand to one side, sipping our agua and wondering what will transpire. Suddenly we are surrounded by five or six kids, ranging from about five to ten or eleven years old. They begin peppering us with questions. 

"Do you speak Spanish?" ... "Sí".

"Where are you from?" ... "Estados Unidos" (the United States).

"Do they have tornados there?" ... "Yes, in the middle of the country."

"Did you ever experience a tornado?" ... "No, we lived in New York, on the East Coast."

"Do they have earthquakes there?" ... "Yes, in California, on the West Coast, just like here."

We have the distinct feeling that although their barrio is near the center of Xochimilco and home to some of the embarcaderos (piers) from which trajineras (flat-bottomed boats) depart taking tourists for rides on the canals around the chinampas (man-made islands), these youngsters have never been up close or engaged with an extranjero (foreigner). To them we are some kind of alien from another world about whom they have great curiosity. We ask if we can take their photo. Some skirt away. Others are happy to pose.

Having finished our drink and the conversation, we enter the house.

"This home gives you welcome, Child of Bethlehem."

Señora Yadira Escobar

A woman, perhaps in her late forties, with bleached blond hair and nearly golden skin, is holding a small figure dressed in a pale blue gown. It is el Niño de Belém, the Child of Bethlehem, the patron saint of this barrio. The woman is strikingly dressed in a tight-fitting, gold lamé dress that stops above her knees. She is clearly a woman accustomed to displaying her physical attractiveness. She is Señora Yadira Escobar. She and her family are hosting el Niño. Tomorrow he leaves for a visit to a church in the far away state of Guanajuato. And today is her birthday.

This is something new in our experience. We have met, now three times, another Niño of Xochimilco, el Niño Pa', the Child of This Place. We met him first in Barrio Xoco, in Delegación Benito Juárez, just north of our home base in Coyoacán, where he was on a visit to the local parish. Then we joined his major celebration on February 2, the Feast of Candelaria (Candlemass), here in Xochimilco, when He was transferred to the care of a new mayordomo for the coming year.

Subsequently, in a kind of postscript to our Candelaria encounter, we came across El Niño Pa' a few weeks later as he was staying in the home of the new mayordomo, and being venerated, in the Barrio of St. Peter, just a few blocks down 16th de Septiembre from where we are now.

As we have learned, El Niño Pa' is a primary, centuries-old symbol of communal faith, identity and pride for the barrios and pueblos of Xochimilco. As such, he is venerated with large fiestas and a very formalized process of staying in homes. So we wonder about this less preeminent manifestation of the Child God, protector of this single small barrio, and His participation in a birthday party.

But this is not the time or place for questions. Señora Escobar is busy showing el Niño to his visitors and, as we leave the house, we see that the chinelos have arrived and are putting on their costumes. Soon a banda joins them and begins to play. It is time for the fiesta—whatever its reason—to begin.


                

The band begins to play,
The fiesta gets underway.

Once the chinelos are dressed, the procession heads off up the street.

Procession is led by banner of the comparsa, the dance group.
Ribbons and buttons on the robe
are mementos of participation in various fiestas.

There is much spinning and jumping.

                  

At the rear, Señora Yadira Escobar and her family
carry el Niño de Belém.
A large umbrella protects the Holy Child from the sun.

At one point in the procession, the oldest boy in the group that quizzed us gets to hold el Niño de Belém.

Son of Señora Escobar

Children of Bethlehem

Eventually, the procession returns to the church.

A good time was had by all.

Xochimilco Delegación
is large, pink area in southeast Mexico City

Barrios and Pueblos of Xochimilco

Barrio of Belém, Bethlehem,
green and yellow star,
sits virtually at the center of the original indigenous city.

Dark green area to the northeast is composed of the chinampas, man-made islands
in what is left of Lake Xochimilco.

Dark, gray-green area to the south is the foothills of the mountains
that form Mexico City's southern boundary.