Rosca Day- Now It’s All about Cake.

Three Kings Day remains an important holiday for the people of Mexico. In addition to the gift-giving aspect of the day there is also a culinary treat that is specific to the holiday. Known as ‘Rosca de Reyes’ (King’s Cake), this holiday dessert offers much in the way of symbolism. Shaped in the round to signify a king’s crown, this sweet bread holds a special surprise. Baked inside is a small plastic figurine representing the baby Jesus. Whoever finds this token is obligated to host an upcoming party for
the occasion of ‘Dia de la Candelaria’ 
(Candlemas Day) which occurs each year on February 2nd. The effigy of the baby Jesus, hidden inside the cake, represents another aspect of the

holiday. The reason Jesus is ‘hidden’ inside the bread is to symbolize how in life, the Christ child’s birth location also needed to remain secret, in order that his life be spared.

(taken from mexonline.com/history-lostresreyes.htm)

 January 6th 2013. Some time after 2pm.

Parades At Night- No sun- MORE FUN!

These were my Facebook comments from the eve of 112th December 2012 – 

I hear a noisy procession on the street- drums and singing; cheering voices and fire works; they are celebrating The Great Lady of Mexico- La Virgen de Guadalupe.
~~
Wow.. we just ran outside into the night to see what the noise looked like. There were were natives with faces painted and feathers in their hair shaking their decorated sticks into the air.. we tried to get shots of it all but was having terrible luck with the camera!

And these were a few of the shots The Human took that night. Naturally, they are in black and white. What I didn’t mention in the posts was that there was at least one devil character in the back of a pick up truck. He was responsible for launching the cohetes in to the night sky while the ones dressed as natives drummed danced hooted and hollered; the more pious carried their saintly imagery and sang church songs. This was like Halloween with a more cohesive theme!

While were were following this riot band of natives we saw another more modest procession moving in the opposite direction to turn down a different dark street. This was amazing hell for the folks trying to get anywhere in a vehicle.

The evening of December 12th brought out more parading people! We picked up this crew of parishioners and followed their drum beats to a stage setup outside of a church. There was hot chocolate, elote.. oh, all kinds of food available in booths. And the ones dressed as natives danced into the church to bless and be blessed. There was a priest showering everyone with holy water. All the youngsters were changing costumes to continue the folk dance festivities longer into the night. I don’t think I had ever heard such a ruckus of ‘pagan’ noise in a catholic church. I loved it. ALL of my shot came out blurry- but interesting nonetheless. Here are a few of them. Enjoy!


The Story of the Buddha All In Khmer While I Slept

El Roco looking the way I still kinda feel. 

Yesterday was a little horrific for my delicate temperament. I almost burned the house down!
I figure it was high time to prove I had survived Las Posadas and Nuevo Ano with the cousins, a pig roast, el pavo cocido durante seis horas, bacalao, alpiste, epazote, posole, apple strudel and being surrounded by lengthy garlands of tripe (oh, I DO have an imagination!)–  I had survived all that and was able to get back to work! So I started in on this and that in cyberspace, feeling like I could slip back into things with gusto. More time passed than I knew and I remember that I wanted to make some tea. Then it hit me, I had some water on to boil!
I went to the kitchen to find toxic smoke and fire on the counter where there should have been just a kettle belching steam. Letting the magic of adrenaline do it’s thing, I speedily put out the flames, unplugged what was left of the kettle and opened up as many door and windows as I could. I was shaking in terror because the house I’m in is a tinderbox. Candles aren’t even burnt here very often! And I thought I was alone.. I did not understand why the dogs were not barking, even whimpering or why Dolores hadn’t smelled all the smoke filling up the house and come out to the kitchen to see what was going on. My Human had already left to cross the border earlier that morning- so not even he was there to detect that there was something wrong… He won’t be back until this evening. I did get help with the clean up, fortunately, but I felt so horrible..
My constitution was shot for the rest of the day. I was able to do few things after. All I wanted was a hug; simple reassurance that I don’t need to feel so damned guilty for completely destroying a perfectly good antique, poisoning the air with cancerous fumes and nearly incinerating the house… In my effort to distract myself/calm down, I curled up under the heating blanket and surfed to theoretical physics lectures about multiverses and articles about how light is not a particle or a wave or a wavicle.
Scientists are still learning that tangled and spooky things happen at the subatomic level, but only when you aren’t looking at them! Heh. I knew that!
Surfing went on to Padmasambhava- his Bardo teachings, a boy who was supposed to be in a state of meditation that let him neither eat nor drink for 10 months and finally drifting to sleep with the story of the Buddha in Khmer (thank you YouTube). But because of my nerves still dealing with the panic of the day, not even my sleep could hold me under for long. I was awake and all ears in the dark; uncomfortable and listening, hoping that all the  noises that I heard in the other rooms were normal house-at-night sounds. I have yet to learn them. It is still going to take me much more time to really settle here in here.
Today was a much better, quieter day. After getting some tedious things on the way to being done and chatting with friends I feel more like myself. Tomorrow will be even better! Yeah. Onward and upward.