I don’t like Christmas Day. The tree always looks particularly dry and all the little decorations—the Nativity scene above the fireplace, the Danish nutcracker in the kitchen, the folksy blue Santa—all look ridiculous. Decorating the tree is always a major event. It’s the first evening you listen to Christmas music as you carefully hang one heirloom ornament after another, taking a break every few minutes to admire your work and take a sip of spiked eggnog.
But once Christmas is over, it’s over and you hurry to get the tree down, practically pulling the lights off the brittle limbs, so you can drag the tree out the back door, dropping needles in a path behind you, and deposit it next to the trash bag of wrapping paper. Then sweep up and move the furniture back to where it was. And there you have it. After weeks and weeks of preparation and anticipation, Christmas is over in a heartbeat.
That’s the way it was in San Miguel Monday afternoon. The ofrendas were gone. The colored flags hanging over Aldama had mostly disappeared. The ones that remained looked tired and faded. Street crews were sweeping up the remains of the flower art in front of La Parroquia. The sound system had been taken down as had the barriers in front of the church. The place, so filled with people the day before, was now practically deserted.
Mummers in San Miguel de Allende. Photo by David Lansing.
All that remained were a few costumed skeletons running around the Jardín. The mummers. Young men, mostly, wearing masks or full skeleton costumes, shouting and yelling at the sky. Chasing away the most stubborn of souls, those that find it the most difficult to return to Mictlan, the place of silence where the souls of all of Mexico’s dead repose after death. Until they’re called home again. Next year.
Tags: Mexico, San Miguel de Allende
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I fully understand what you are saying. Right now the stores are full of christmas decor. This was all before Halloween. Halloween got shoved to the side like a left over green bean, a child didnt want to eat. Christmas everywhere…I remember being young…and decorations were Halloween, then all about Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Now its all about capitalizing on Christmas starting in August. No remembering the holidays of very old…like Halloween(starting from the celtic heritage)…Then Thanksgiving ~ giving thanks for what we had, what we could make of ourselves and freedom as the pilgrims, native americans, and other immigrants did for being together and surviving a new journey for freedom.
Nope it has become all about the mighty dollar…and what greedy ppl want for presents. We only make presents in my family. Just to show that there is more to it then..”But I wanted”.
Im curious David..How long will you stay in San Miguel de Allende?
Smiles
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My avatar looks like a lil old man…hmmmmm
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How long in San Miguel? Hmmmm….good question. Maybe two or three more weeks? Maybe you should tell me. I’m thinking of setting up a feature where I let the readers decide where I’m going to go next. Or how long I should stay somewhere. Maybe set it up so that I gave readers three choices–like, David wants to spend Thanksgiving someplace where they don’t even have turkeys. Should he go to a) Vita Levu b) Taveuni c) Vanuatu? And people could vote on the web site or send a text message and which ever place got the most votes, that’s where I’d go.
What would you think of that?
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Oh I think that is amazing David….How much fun would that be. I think you should rest a wee bit. Visit places near by where you are now. I love how you write about ppl and give glimpses into their soul. I think your idea is very creative, and gives a chance for your readers to visit new places as you would. I would want to look them up and then say yes that is something new and creative. Is there anywhere you have not been? And what is your favorite place in the whole world?
Smiles David
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Don’t think I’d have the courage to ask my public where I should go. Might be entertaining, but everlastingly hot.
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Fred, you are so funny. I can’t imagine anyone being rude to you.
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