Antorcha Song

To honor La Virgen de Guadalupe--Queen of the Heavens and the Americas--people from all over Mexico run to the churches dedicated to her.

The Templo de Guadalupe is a few blocks from our house, so for the last week (leading up to her feast day, December 12) we'd seen groups of torch-carrying pilgrims running, running, running. And singing, sometimes, too!

They run in relays--some for just a few kilometers, but some for hundreds of miles. Some antorcha pilgrims keep it up day and night, sleeping in support trucks...I saw one group actually heading out of town, bound for Mexico City's Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe.

Some of the pilgrims choose to run the Antorcha Guadalupana barefoot. Most arrive at the Templo covered with soot from the kerosene torches, dirt from the roads. Everyone approaches the final hill up to the church with renewed energy and stronger voices; they're singing or doing call-and-response praises for La Virgen.

¡Viva Maria! ¡Viva!

It's an amazing sight and a very humbling expression of reverence.

Twice earlier in the week, we tried to go inside the Templo de Guadalupe, but it was always too crowded. On the evening December 12, we could only barely squeeze in the door after half an hour of waiting in the crowd. 

We came back outside and Wilhelmina took this last picture of the river of light leading up to the church.

¡Niño Takeover!

Last week some local indigenous people took over a government building and detained some workers. The military came swooping in (the first and only time I've seen helicopters above our city), shut some roads down, and started negotiations. The kids were at school when this all started, and the teachers responded by locking the gates and keeping the kids inside. That afternoon, one of the parents advised us to keep the kids home from school the next day, Friday. So we did and really enjoyed our day, as two godmothers, Lynne and Shen, had come to visit. 

Off and on throughout the weekend, we got various information about the safety situation--it was bien; it was muy tenso; the indigenous were targeting foreigners. (Proof: an Argentinian restaurant burned over the weekend! But others said that was a simple accident.) So as usual we failed to really grasp the situation. 

In any case, yesterday (Monday) it became clear that it was the NIñOS who had taken over our fair city! Dressed up as Juan Diego (the boys) or in indigenous clothing from around Mexico (the girls), they were coming in droves to our neighborhood to climb (or be carried) up to the Templo de Guadalupe to honor La Virgen and receive a blessing. 

See the zeal burning in his eyes.
Clearly nothing short of  total niño
world domination will satisfy him.

A flicker of trepidation in the faces of
these two Juanitos. Can they carry out
their mission? Sí, se puede. 

This little girl is steadfast. Ready.

Nothing can stop the niños now. 

Tomorrow is the feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe. So we can expect all of the parades, pilgrimages, firecrackers, carnival rides, feasting, singing, praying, and drinking to reach its pinnacle within the next 24 hours. We can hardly move around in our neighborhood now (we live a couple of blocks from the Templo), but on the other hand, where else would we want to go? We're wonderfully in the middle of all of it.

Our neighbor just put up this sign. (Too
bad Shen wasn't here to buy some new
threads for her baby Jesuses.)