True confession: I’m not in Oaxaca! I arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area a week ago for a 3-week visit. While I love seeing family, friends, “my” mountain (Mt. Tamalpais), and the Pacific Ocean, it also means bone-chilling summer fog, driving instead of walking most everywhere, and the absence of my regular blog fodder — no calendas, ferias, festivals, saints days, bandas, and urban art. (Though, I will probably head to San Francisco for the latter!)
However, this break-in-the-action gives me time to look back through thousands of photos and create posts that had been put on the back-burner when something bigger, better, or more timely cropped up.
So, here we go, back to Friday, April 24, 2014 — the last of five days of Carnaval in Teotitlán del Valle.
While there are masks, costumes, men dressed as women, and merriment, this is not your Christian pre-Lenten Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras Carnival.
This is a pre-Hispanic celebration that happens the Monday through Friday after Easter, not before Lent.
Via El Baile de Los Viejitos (the Dance of the Old Men), it brings the community and elected leadership together to remind each of their social contract — in an extremely humorous way.
A procession, gathering participants along the way, leads to the Municipal Plaza, where it seems as if the entire village assembles.
And, of course, the dance and ritual continue late into the night…
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View From Casita Colibrí 