It's Carnaval season and I just saw wonderful photos from a fellow blogger of the parade yesterday in Oaxaca City, a far bigger and more elaborate event than the antics we stumbled on in a neighbouring village nine years ago.
It was 2013 and we heard there was some kind of Mardi Gras celebration going on in San Martín Tilcajete, so we found ourselves a colectivo for the 30 minute ride and off Dave and I went. What a sight we found!
Mardi Gras rituals like I've never heard of, but then I've never been to New Orleans or Rio de Janeiro.
Guys covered in motor oil with menacing masks and clanking cowbells tied around their waists were lurking around the dusty streets. (What does that do to their skin was my first thought.)
Scary men in demonic masks confronting or maybe confusing the evil spirits on Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Carnaval. Some kind of blending of Catholicism and village tradition.
A security guy with a walkie-talkie was keeping order, for real or pretend we couldn't tell. It was a bit unnerving and certainly strange, we hadn't heard anything about this event beforehand. The characters acted a bit aggressively to townspeople, brandishing their ropes and sticks and wiggling their rear-end cowbells, and were they trying to kiss girls? But it turns out it was all in fun.
All the same, I was glad it was a sunny afternoon and not midnight.
To add to the mix there were other young men down the street posing in drag.
The town was full of monsters and cross-dressers! So weird!
It's Mexico so a procession and a noisy brass band appeared out of nowhere. It was all so entertaining and crazy but the locals seemed to take it calmly, just another annual tradition in that part of the country.
We saw a wedding with a large crowd listening quietly to the proceedings. I squeezed my way to the front for a better view of the bride and groom. Yes, the local woman standing beside me confirmed it, the bride was a boy in the mock ceremony. All part of the annual pre-Lent ritual. They were the King and a cute Queen of the day.
It was an unexpected and fun experience in San Martín Tilcajete that day in February, 2013. Another time when saying yes to a new adventure pays off with a glimpse of the creative ways people add excitement to their lives.
There weren't a lot of foreigners that day but the fiesta has become well-known and now attracts many more tourists which can certainly change things for locals. I just read that groups of drunken young foreigners, beers in hand, have been seen joining the parade in this town in recent years.
I hope the authentic traditions can continue and the party stays mainly for locals to enjoy and doesn't evolve into a spectator event with more tourists than village residents. Tourism is so complicated.
The photos I saw online of yesterday's parade in the city were wonderful. Many villages sent their wildest creative representatives, including the stilt-dancers below. I'm sure there were hundreds, likely thousands, of visitors in the crowd. I would love to have been one of them.
