Last Sunday we went to “Jardín Borda” (Borda Garden)
I was looking for a friend that I needed to see and there was a lot going on.
Lots of people and celebrating.
I took pictures for those of you that like México :)
This is a view from the garden to the entrance, there’s a cloister with a fountain and there were papel picado banners everywhere! This little one is a zoom into the cloister.
There was an offering at the entrance of the garden and I loved this fruit stand with handles shaped like snakes.
The offering also had candles that are decorated with flowers and leaves made with wax, I love those candles, there are some very pretty ones and I want to show you what this one looked like.
Papel picado banners over the offering
Cuexcomate
This is typical from the state of Morelos, where I live, and it’s used to store grains inside it. They pour them in from the top, and the little hole at the bottom is where the grains come back out later on as needed, they close it with a corn cob, or several cobs tied together. This is a miniature, the real life size ones are much larger.
More papel picado banners over the cuexcomate
The entrance to the actual garden,
there are several fountains everywhere and an artificial lake where you can go rowing on rented boats.
Once I saw a wild heron standing right next to the lake, it actually stood to my right, just a couple meters away from me, it was fishing..
I’ll never forget it! The heron was so tall and slender! And extremely intelligent, not afraid of us at all.
He took some food that was floating on the water that the fish were eating and flew with it a few feet away to where the boats are kept under a roof.
Then I understood that the fish wouldn’t come out because they could see his shadow on the water!
There was no sun by the boats so he simply threw the food back into the water and out came the fish,
he ate a huge one! :o
These stands were around the first fountain, traditional Mexican handmade huipiles, hand embroidered.
Have you heard the song “La llorona”? This is what she wore :)
“Hermoso huipil llevabas, llorona, que la virgen te creí”
This lady was making necklaces with seed beads
And this little girl was wearing one of them :)
This is her stand, she set it up on the fountain’s border, and there’s one necklace like the one the little girl is wearing!
At the last and biggest fountain they had set up a stage and there were concheros dancing, the smoke is from an incense called copal, frankincense in English.. I really like what it smells like.
The girl was speaking in Náhuatl and I wondered if she was aware that we, all, modern Mexicans have a Spanish accent when speaking Náhuatl.
I also wondered of other native Náhuatl speakers could make out what she was saying.
When my oldest daughter was two years old she had a nanny that was a native Náhuatl speaker, her pronunciation was incredibly soft! I hired her hoping she would teach her to speak it,
she could say “Atl” (water), and she had perfect pronunciation according to her nanny :)
My parents had some friends when I was about 13 years of age that used to be “concheros”,
I very much wanted to be one back then because I loved and admired my friends very much.
At Jardín Borda there were also Chinelos which are my personal favourites, I couldn’t manage to take a good picture of them
But I found a video on youtube so you could watch them:
And I also wanted to be a chinelo when I was little! :D
The band walks right behind them, as they dance down the streets.
This is another tradition from Morelos State, although it has extended to the State of México it originated in Tlayacapan. which is famous for its ceramic pottery and its chinelo band of course!, and also because there’s a chapel almost on every block. The chinelos originated there on the 19th century.
On the days before “Cuaresma” (Lenten season) the rich hacienda owners would party away and their workers were not invited to party with them, so they would party on their own in disguise, but always got caught and punished, until they came up with this outfit to mock both the hacendados and the church.
There was a “castillo” (castle)which is what this wooden structure covered in fireworks is called
“Vivan los jóvenes caídos, viva la paz”
Long live the fallen youths, long live peace.
Or should it say: “may peace be long lived”?
Or should it say: “may peace be long lived”?
There has been a drug war going on on this state and the son of a remarkable poet and writer got caught in the middle of this along with 3 of his friends and 3 other people;
This poet is the headman at the place where I attend choir practice.
His name is Javier Sicilia.
And a dove at the very top.
2 responses to “Lenten Season”
Claudia!!! te pasaste de cariñosa, acabo de leer tus consejos… juro que los seguiré y te cuento. Besos!
¡Hola Alice, ojalá que funcionen, los encontré en internet! :D