Día de la Candelaria or dressing Niño Jesus as I call it, is celebrated on February 2nd of each year. I took pictures of a market in Mexico City’s Centro Historico District.
click picture of photo below for a slide show
Here is some information I got from the Internet, About.com – Mexico Travel:
Candlemas in Mexico:
Día de la Candelaria, or Candlemas, is celebrated on February 2nd, throughout Mexico. It is mainly a religious and family celebration, but in some places, such as Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, it is a major fiesta with bullfights and parades. Día de la Candelaria, like many other Mexican celebrations, represents a fusion of pre-Hispanic traditions and Catholic beliefs.
February 2nd marks the mid-way point between the winter solstice and spring equinox and has long been thought to be a marker or predictor of the weather to come, which is why it is also celebrated as Groundhog Day. In many places it is traditionally a time to prepare the earth for spring planting.
February 2nd also falls forty days after Christmas, and is celebrated by Catholics as the “Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin” or as the “Presentation of the Lord.” According to Jewish law a woman was considered unclean for 40 days after giving birth so it was customary to bring a baby to the temple after that period of time had passed. So Jesus would have been taken to the temple on February second.
In Mexico this holiday is celebrated as Día de la Candelaria, known as Candlemas in English, because candles were brought to the church to be blessed.
In Mexico Día de la Candelaria is a follow-up to the festivities of Kings Day on January 6th, when children receive gifts and families and friends break bread together, specifically Rosca de Reyes, a special sweet bread with figurines hidden inside. The person (or people) who received the figurines on Kings Day are supposed to host the party on Candlemas Day. Tamales are the food of choice.
Another important custom in Mexico, particularly in areas where traditions run strong, is for families to own an image of the Christ child, a niño Dios. At times a godparent is chosen for the niño Dios, who is then responsible for hosting various celebrations between Christmas and Candlemas. First, on Christmas eve the niño Dios is placed in the Nativity scene, on January 6th, King’s Day, the child is brought presents from the Magi, and on February 2nd, the child is dressed in fine clothes and presented in the church. Click here for a slide show of pictures of Niño Dios that I took.
There are various places around México City to shop for antiques and secondhand item. On Saturday’s it’s going to the Plaza del Angel located, in México City’s La Zona Rosa. Though I find this market a little more expensive than others I often go because I can find some real unusual and elegant items.
Last Saturday at the Plaza de Angel I found a book on the late artist Dr. Atl. The book, titled Dr. Atl is a big picture book filled with numerous examples of Dr. Atl’s work, a letter from the President of México at the time, Luis Echeverria praising Dr. Atl and then the prologue written by Carlos Pellicer, one of México’s most poetic and literary gentleman. My first inclination was that the book was going to be expensive – but it wasn’t. I think this is because I found the book not in an antique bookstall but in a furniture store resting under a hat.
Being that I live on the street Dr. Atl in Col. Santa Maria la Ribera, I couldn’t wait to get home and show the book to my neighbor landlady, Mely. But when I got to Mely’s apartment I noted she had company and said I could come back. She said, no I want to introduce you to my friend Luis Aguirre an artist and someone I have not seen in a long time.
As I was showing Luis and Mely my book Luis shouts Hey, I recognize that book. He opens the book to the inside cover and points to a handwritten dedication in the book, something I had missed.
Luis says, see, I wrote that dedication and he had, dated in 1981 – 29 years ago!
pictured below is Luis Aguirre,
the man that dedicated my book 29 years ago
with my lovely Mely.
When I first moved to Col. Santa Maria la Ribera in December 15, 2009, I not only loved the neighborhood but meeting an 81-year old artist, Humberto Martinez.
Mr. Martinez sketched everyday Monday through Saturday at the Café Alameda on Salvador Diaz Miron and on Sunday, he was at the Café Santa Maria on Dr. Atl. He sketched with a passion, well that was how he made his living – selling his sketches for $50 & $100 pesos, depending on the size of the sketch you selected.
I found Martinez’s prices to be a bargain for they were original and very detailed; Sketches he drew with a fine point Bic pen. I always bought Martinez’s sketches, especially when he mentioned that he had not sold anything in a couple of days and he needed money for medication. Though I never found out if this were true, I always bought work from Martinez – I mean he did need to eat. Or really to buy and drink his strong espressos that he drank the whole time he was at the café – while smoking his filter less cigarettes.
When I was able to get a short story of Martinez published in the Dallas Morning News and the Los Angeles Times he was thrilled. Martinez displayed the copies of his stories on the table to display to customers. After the articles were publish, Martinez was most happy to see that people were coming to pay him a visit and to purchase his art. I always took guests from Dallas to meet Martinez.
But all this attention was short lived. I had not seen Martinez in a couple of weeks. The first week I thought maybe Martinez had maybe gone out of town. But the week turned to two and three. I went looking for Mr. Martinez at the Café Alameda. I asked, where was Mr. Martinez and the young lady at the cafe frowned and said, he died.
I was shocked but not surprised. I guess one cannot live forever on espressos and filter less cigarettes. I miss seeing Martinez sketch and bringing him new customers that always wanted to meet THE artist of Col. Santa Maria la Ribera.
Click photo above of Martinez’s work for a short slideshow.
my tribute to a man that had made the world
& Col. Santa Maria a better place.
The new year has been a slow go here because it has been too cold and rainy; not like the USA but cold to México City standards. We are in the dry season here in Mexico when it doesn’t rain from November – May of each year, but for the last three days it has been cloudy and raining. Local people, the elders, say they have not seen it this cold, 45 degrees, or raining for as long as they can remember – these are people that are like in their late 60’s to early 70’s that I personally know. The weather is a changing!
My New Years start was great; I started the new year with a BIG PARTY: el Dia de los Reyes – a Day of the Kings party that was well attended. Had so many people at my place in Col. Santa Maria la Ribera that we ran almost ran out of the 16 bottles of wine that I had and the wine people had brought too. I had Rosca de Reyes (King Cake) and hot chocolate too which is a tradition here in Mexico. Gosh we even had dancing on the rooftop!
A great way to start the year, with a party and with old and new friends: New Year new posts, so be watching out for that. AND the Dia de los Reyes would not have been possible without the help of Juliet Lambert, owner of Spice Catering. Thank you JULIET - ☺
pictured is Juliet Lambert and Jesus Chairez
click photo for more pictures of party in FaceBook
WOW: Well I have not posted since November 28, 2009! Well that is because I have been busy running around, I mean this is the holiday season so it is hard for me to sit still and blog. My holiday season started the first week in December too :-)
In short: I went to San Luis de la Paz, Xichu, Mineral de Pozos and a Chichimeca Indian reservation. Went to the lighting of world’s largest Christmas tree, something we have here in Mexico City sitting on Paseo de la Reforma. Hey Placido Domingo gave a free Christmas concert at the Angel of Independence too and I was there. Went to Christmas parties, have spent time with guests that came in from out of town. Just walking around looking at Christmas decorations in Mexico City has been fun too. And then of course I have been shopping. Living in México City is just grand.
Anyway, I promise to do regular postings on my blog at the beginning of the year and I also plan on getting published more by writing more columns and articles about my life in México City. Too I will limit my alcohol intake and will eat better and start going to the gym, etc. etc. All those things I have been trying to do for the last 40 years LOL.
Take a look of my recent pictures and videos by clicking the links above. Don’t forget to keep up with my daily life, find me on FaceBook at facebook.com/jesuschairez and Twitter at http://twitter.com/JesusChairez as well.
Happy New Year and see you on a regular basis in come January 2010.
