December 12th (2008) – Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta – Jim’s Blog #70

Current Location – Nuevo Vallarta – Lat: 20°41.49’ N / Long: 105°17.59’ W

Sad to say, Sheilagh’s mother, Kitty Dwan, died this morning (Friday, December 12th) and Sheilagh has gone up to Sebastopol to be there with her family. Kitty was 96 years old, and she was very upbeat when we had a birthday luncheon with her along with her brother, Kevin, and his wife, Rebecca, in October. Kitty had a very bad stroke on Wednesday, with very little hope of recovery, so Sheilagh hopped a United Airlines flight to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon. Sadly Kitty never regained consciousness, as far as anyone could tell, and died in her sleep on Friday morning, before Sheilagh was able to arrive there. The immediate family will get together this week to remember her.

Meanwhile, I’m staying with the boat in Paradise Village and having to fend for myself as if I were a bachelor. It’s amazing how much stuff Sheilagh does around here, and it’s only been one day since she left. I hope I can last a week without her. I will definitely appreciate her contribution to our pursuit-of-happiness agenda in the future.

A young girl and boy in the roles of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Indian Juan Diego

Yesterday I accompanied our friends, Ed and Cornelia, to a procession of the faithful to the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe to commemorate the December 12th celebration of “"La Reina de México" (the Queen of Mexico). As we got to the church at 9:30 AM we found Mass going on while the streets were full of worshippers stretching some twelve blocks or more. They were waiting for Mass to be finished in order to enter the church to pay their respects. At 10 AM the doors were thrown open and the procession entered the church with worshippers carrying candles and flowers to present to the image of the Virgin. At the altar a couple of priests and other helpers were blessing the people and accepting the flowers and other gifts and placing them around the altars.

Some of the Mariachis in the procession

At the beginning everyone was singing a Mexican hymn as they entered, but soon it was overtaken by a loud song accompanied by a variety of instruments. As the music grew in volume some 200+ Mariachis entered in their charro outfits in ranks by musical instrument being played, starting with small high-pitched guitars, called vihuelas, then Mexican guitars, then guitarróns (small-scaled acoustic bass), followed by violins, and finally trumpets. Since each Mariachi group has its own unique outfit, and since each group was split up by the instrument played, there was no uniformity of look to the players other than a preponderance of black outfits, form-fitting trousers with silver chains down the outer seams, and a lack of the large sombreros they usually wear while performing (because they were entering the church). The mass of players were dotted with several tan and white outfits and colorful scarves everywhere. It turns out the Mariachi form and style of music emerged from the Mexican State of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, so this was the real thing.

The Mariachis assembling on the main altar

The Mariachis installed themselves around the main altar and two side altars and continued to play for three or four additional numbers. It was a very moving experience to hear that many musicians – all male, incidentally – bringing their professional expertise to church to acknowledge their religious connection. The music resounded off the high ceiling and naves in the church while people continued to enter with flowers and other gifts in a continuing procession. I counted some 42 people passing one spot in one minute, which meant some 1200 worshippers in half an hour. Soon I heard another band outside, and suddenly the Mariachis started winding out of the church to make room for the next group.

The loud group with all the horns and drums

This group had about six large bass drums along with snare drums and brass. In this case it appeared that loudness was more important to them than the musical nature of the tune. They took up the places vacated by the Mariachis and the procession continued, while it felt as if the roof would come tumbling down with the sound. It seemed the parents with small boys in the procession had dressed them up as Juan Diego, the peasant Indian to whom the Virgin appeared (and who has been sainted by the church), including painted-on mustaches, small serapes, and equally small straw hats. The small girls were dressed up as peasant women generally, with a few girls dressed up to resemble the Virgin Mary. At the side doors to the church were several tableau pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe where parents could have their children photographed with the Virgin. One of these tableaus had one of those automated horses one finds in front of grocery stores; apparently so male children would be motivated to have their pictures taken.

The start of the multi-hour "Favoritos" procession

The crowd thinned out after about 45 minutes, and we thought the procession was finished. Stepping outside the doors of the church we found additional people lined up to start their procession at 11 AM. We learned that these were the “Favoritos,” those who had been “favored” by Our Lady of Guadalupe in the past year by having their prayers answered. This crowd was more numerous than the first group and kept coming and coming when 11 o’clock rolled around. We found a restaurant along the procession, had lunch, and finally walked to the start of the procession, and people were still progressing toward the church. At the start of the procession were flower vendors and candle merchants who supplied the faithful with the necessary items for the procession. The parents carried flowers and the kids preferred the burning candles. People were still lining up for the one-mile procession to the church as we left at about 2 PM.

One of the Aztec groups in the procession

One interesting phenomenon for me was the presence of three different sets of Aztec dancers, in one case made up of small boys and girls, and in the other two cases made up of small girls and then teenage girls. How the Aztecs figure into the worship of Our Lady of Guadalupe is beyond me. I did a little research and learned that the Aztecs were into human sacrifice in a big way, offering 20,000 men, women, and children annually to their gods. Further research revealed that Guadalupe is in Spain, not Mexico. One source suggests that the name came about because of a mistranslation from Nahuatl (the language spoken by the Virgin to Juan Diego) to Spanish. I quote: “It is believed that Our Lady used the Aztec Nahuatl word of coatlaxopeuh which is pronounced "quatlasupe" and sounds remarkably like the Spanish word Guadalupe. Coa meaning serpent, tla being the noun ending which can be interpreted as "the", while xopeuh means to crush or stamp out. So Our Lady must have called herself the one "who crushes the serpent." The serpent-god was Quetzalcoatl. Apparently the Aztec dancers symbolize the roots of the Mexican people and reference a religion that was demolished by the Virgin and her legions of Spanish missionaries.

I find it interesting that Sheilagh’s mom, Kitty, died on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Kitty was very religious her whole life, and it seems appropriate to me that she is now associated with Our Lady. If the truth be known, Sheilagh’s first name is Mary, in honor of Christ’s mother, and Sheilagh was born on December the 8th, which is the day that Catholics commemorate Mary’s Immaculate Conception.

My apologies if this blog carries too much of a religious connotation for you. Raised a Catholic myself, and having studied for the Priesthood for six years, I’m impressed with the simple faith of the people I’ve found in Mexico. There’s a trait we could all emulate. More later . . .