This morning, I awoke to the familiar, if startling, sounds of cohetes (rockets). Oh right, it’s Día de la Santa Cruz (Day of the Holy Cross). Alas, no pilgrimage hike up Cerro Picacho for us this year; we are still in recovery from our island adventure AND, more importantly, even at 7:30 AM, it is too darn hot! Have I mentioned Oaxaca has been experiencing 90º – 96º F temperatures for the past month? That’s 10º F above average. Exhausting it is and sweltering we are.
However, before the sun was directly overhead, I returned to Benito Juárez mercado hoping my coffee guy would be there. He wasn’t, but many of the stalls had beautifully decorated alters, fragrant with the sweet scent of flor de mayo (plumeria) blossoms.
In Mexico, it is also Día del Albañil, the feast day of the stonemason/bricklayer/builder because, according to this article (en español):
Before the Conquest, the indigenous Mesoamerican related to the cross with the cardinal directions of the Indian cosmography north, south, east, west and central graphically formed the cross.
With the arrival of the Spaniards, this evocation was eradicated and replaced by religious symbolism of the Holy Cross.
Since then the celebration of this feast with the construction of houses, churches, monasteries, and other buildings with Indian labor was established.
However, Sebastián and Leonardo continued working on my new counter. And, yes, there will be tile!
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View From Casita Colibrí 