The church bells have been tolling most of the night, interrupted only intermittently by the blast of rockets soaring into the night sky. One resounding boom echoes throughout the city at midnight. This is when thousands of pilgrims will join the Processión del Señor de la Columna (Procession of Our Lord of the Column — so named for […]
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It is late afternoon in Mexico, two days before Palm Sunday, and it is the day that honours Nuestra Señora de los Dolores — Our Lady of Sorrows. All over town, San Miguel de Allende’s families and business owners have constructed altars dedicated to sadness: the sorrow of the Virgin Mary for the loss of her […]
Continue ReadingShamanism is a form of religious or magical ecstasy found in various parts of the world at different stages of development. While rituals and paraphernalia may differ somewhat from one place to another, shamanism is one of the earliest forms of religious experience. Predominant in the religious systems of Siberia and the Ural-Altaic peoples, it […]
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It’s easy to enjoy a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Many of the festivities in the U.S. have grown so that now they are generally larger than those in Mexico. Half a million people show up for the annual event in Los Angeles alone. In Mexico, there are parades and parties in places like Puebla and Mexico […]
Continue ReadingThere’s a tale that has floated through my family for many years. It seems that my great-aunt Tillie was having some vision problems. We didn’t know about macular degeneration in Aunt Tillie’s day, but that’s what it was. Back then they just said, “Aunt Tillie’s blind as a bat.” “Why, she can’t even see the […]
Continue ReadingIt is incredible what one can do with Google! I’m barely computer literate, but take the word cempasuchitl (sometimes written zempasuchitl), for instance. It is growing all over the countryside now. Its yellow orange flowers and pungent aroma are familiar to us, but I never knew it was associated with the Virgin Mary, nor did I know that, […]
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Wedding traditions vary all over the world and Mexico is no exception. Canada and the United States are such international melting pots that we may see Asian, African or English customs demonstrated in the same ceremony. The same is true in Mexico. April and June have been designated as Bride’s Months in many countries. Add […]
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Autumn is a very special time in the mountains of Jalisco. The summer rains have washed clean the faces of every leaf and blade of grass in the countryside. Imagine yourself taking a walk along a country road, portable easel, paints and brushes in hand. You might have a water bottle slung over one shoulder […]
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Many of you know August is the month when Talpa de Allende’s image of the Virgin begins walking the back roads, visiting and blessing the ranches, cattle, crops, ponds and creeks along the way. She is accompanied by her devotees for six weeks on this summer trek. Her approach to the ranches is announced by […]
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Victoria Cibrian Leon, born March 23, 1916, was the oldest girl in a family of eight children. She only had two brothers; Eziquiel and Primitivo. Toyita, as she was fondly called, never got beyond the first grade of school. When she was six years old, while playing rough and tumbling with neighborhood kids, she fell […]
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