Forums > Areas > Jalisco's Lake Chapala Region

spiderwoman

May 3, 2003, 12:09 PM

Post #1 of 9 (469 views)

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Cinco de Mayo

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Are there any celebrations in Lakeside this weekend to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Or is it just firecrackers 24 hours a day?

PeggyS

May 4, 2003, 1:47 AM

Post #2 of 9 (446 views)

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Re: [spiderwoman] Cinco de Mayo

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I thought it was Baghdad - no it's Ajijic bombs, fireworks and firecrackers, if you can call the noise at 3 A.M. that lifts you out of your chair (who can sleep?) firecrackers. Hard to believe, that people can stay awake all night just to blast you out of your bed with NOISE. AT two, at two-thirty, at three, at three-thirty, and then starting it all again at six, WHAT IS THE POINT?? It makes no sense at all.

spiderwoman

May 4, 2003, 5:44 AM

Post #3 of 9 (450 views)

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Re: [PeggyS] Cinco de Mayo

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Yes, it is beyond me what the point is, or why it is allowed all night long. My two little dogs have been a nervous wreck from it all weekend. I can't even imagine if you had a baby trying to sleep. This is our first experience with us (we just recently arrived). I told my hubby that if we are still living here next year at Cinco de Mayo,,, we are flying to the states for a visit that weekend.

esperanza

May 4, 2003, 7:30 AM

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NOT Cinco de Mayo

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This weekend's fireworks in Ajijic have nothing to do with Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo is barely celebrated in Mexico outside Puebla. It commemorates Mexico's win over the French in the Battle of Puebla, but is scarcely a national holiday. It's been developed as a 'beer holiday' (as opposed to a 'Hallmark holiday') in the USA and other countries.

The celebration this weekend in Ajijic is for the 3rd of May, the Feast of the Holy Cross and the traditional day of the albanil. The main concentration of celebration in Ajijic is at Six Corners, where altars are built with much tradition. The fireworks are courtesy of the albaniles (construction workers) whose day it is.

It's wise to understand what the significance of the day is before jumping to conclusions and complaining.

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spiderwoman

May 4, 2003, 7:59 AM

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Re: [esperanza] NOT Cinco de Mayo

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Yes, I will be the first to admit that I am no authority on Mexican holidays or traditions. Understanding that it is NOT Cinco de Mayo, but something entirely different, does not lessen the noise level at 3:00 a.m. My original posting was not complaining,, I merely asked if there were any festivities going on in the village to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. I am new here, and as you have pointed out, am not familiar with what is celebrated here and how. No one bothered to reply to my original post (with an answer to my question),, it seems only when something gets controversial on here that the thread begins to generate posts.

Rolly

May 4, 2003, 10:02 AM

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Re: [esperanza] NOT Cinco de Mayo

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"Cinco de Mayo is barely celebrated in Mexico outside Puebla."

Here in Lerdo it's a school holiday. Last year there was a modest parade. I'll let you know what happens this year.

Rolly Pirate

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arnie

May 4, 2003, 11:02 AM

Post #7 of 9 (403 views)

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Re: [spiderwoman] NOT Cinco de Mayo

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Regardless of what is being celebrated, the ubiquitous cohetes (rockets) have been a source of irritation and exasperation for a lot of foreigners throughout Mexico, especially for the more recent arrivals. They just about always accompany the celebration of a day or pueblo's patron saint.

The tradition has been around since the Spanish showed up with gunpowder. The indigenous felt the loud noise of the rockets would attract the attention of the protective saints. They are attention getters for sure!

Esperanza, no ñ on the keyboard?

esperanza

May 4, 2003, 12:55 PM

Post #8 of 9 (390 views)

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Re: [arnie] NOT Cinco de Mayo

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LOL...sharp eye, Spiderwoman. I'm in the States at the moment and I forgot to pack my tilde. I'll be home in Ajijic on the 9th.

The biggest cohete-firing festivities in Ajijic are the night of May 2, the day of May 3, and the 24 hours that the albaniles sponsor during the Fiestas Patronales in November. In November 2002 the construction workers fired off 3000 (yes, THREE THOUSAND) of 'em in one single day. So all of you who are bothered by the ones in May better either get earplugs or hang onto your hats.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

jennifer rose

May 4, 2003, 9:01 PM

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The sounds of freedom, celebration and heritage

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The price of living in a 450-year old village is learning to accept those 450-year old customs. Those traditions were in place long before the current wave of foreigners arrived, and they’ll continue long past your lifetime. If you can’t escape those traditions, then learn to live with them….and eventually you may even learn to embrace them.

The longer you’re around those noises, the more you’ll learn to accept them as simply part of the environment, just like crickets chirping. Even the dogs will learn to ignore those sounds. And you’ll appreciate even more those times of silence.

Losing a night’s sleep isn’t going to kill anyone. It’s not as though you likely have to report to work at 8 a.m., is it? You can take a nap, can’t you? Why not make your own party and buy a few fireworks so you, too, can join in the merriment? Turn up your stereo. Pack in some ear plugs. There is nothing so quiet as the day after a fiesta. Bask in it.

Or move to a very quiet, less-than-quaint area where every aspect of life is regulated and sanitized.

Just wait until one of those holidays when everyone who can shoots his gun off into the night sky. Ah, the scent of cordite.

Those are the sounds of freedom, celebration and heritage.