December 2013 - Page 3 of 5 - On Vallarta Time

Hola, everyone, and welcome to the December 18, 2013 edition of OnVallartaTime!

This post is about Puerto Vallarta’s two major celebrations in the month of December, the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Christmas. The first is an important social and religious festival, and the second is a quiet family holiday, much the same as in the US, but without all the commercial hype.

The Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe, or Día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, commemorates the miraculous appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to a poor Mexican peasant, Juan Diego, on December 12, 1531. Juan Diego was in the hills near Mexico City when the Virgin appeared to him, and she left her imprint in the form a very detailed painting on his huipil, his shirt. The huipil is displayed today at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Also on December 12, in 1851, Puerto Vallarta was founded, making the day especially meaningful to Vallartenses, residents of Puerto Vallarta. The festival here is the second largest in Mexico after the one in Mexico City. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the revered patron saint of Puerto Vallarta.

The festival is celebrated every day starting on December 1, and culminating on the 12^th. During these days, all kinds of organizations, including unions, hotels and other places of employment (even the beach vendors), neighborhoods, small towns in the area, civic groups and schools, make a pilgrimage to the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the center of town. The pilgrimages, or peregrinaciones, consist of all the members of those groups marching and converging on the church, many with candles, accompanied by bands, costumed dancers, and singing. Many of the groups prepare elaborate displays on decorated vehicles carrying offerings for the poor, to be left at the church.

The pilgrimages often show a lot of religious fervor, with group members and individuals asking special favors from the Virgin for the coming year. The town square, the Zócalo, is full of colorful food booths and other stands with interesting articles for sale. As the 12^th nears, we’ve heard there can be as many as 150,000 people filling the square and lining the pilgrimage route. On the last day, the 12^th, the celebration continues for most of the night, with a midnight mass followed by mariachi music.

On Wednesday the 11^th, Peggy and I made our way down the Malecón to the church. We managed to get within a block of the church, and politely worked our way to the front of the crowd for a good view. It was fascinating and very moving. We felt very privileged to be there, being a part of the celebration.

Here are some scenes we managed to capture while we were there.

Town square with food booths

Here comes one of the bands! They basically play and sing only one song, especially for the peregrinaciones, “Guadalupana, Guadalupana…”

Watching from above, the best seat in the house!

Offerings to carry to the church

Pilgrims entering the church

In Puerto Vallarta, the Festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe segues right into the Christmas holiday season. Traditionally, Christmas is very much a low-key family holiday, with an extended family dinner at home followed by midnight mass on Christmas Eve. There might be a Posada, a traditional Christmas party where the guests are divided, half inside and half outside. There is a musical call and response between the two groups remembering Mary and Joseph asking for room in the inn, being refused several times and culminating in throwing the doors open to begin the party. There are piñatas and small gifts for the children, but traditionally children do not get their Christmas presents until January 7th, Epiphany, when according to legend the Three Wise Men arrived at the manger and presented gifts to the Baby Jesus.

But here in Puerto Vallarta, very much a tourist town, northern European customs creep in. The stores and hotels, and many houses are decorated with Christmas trees, replacing the manger scenes, or nacimientos of old. Still, most Mexican families have collected elaborate manger scenes, used year after year, with the figures of the Three Wise Men slowly making their way across the room day by day until January 7^th.

The following are some pictures of some of the decorations around Puerto Vallarta, mostly in our neighborhood.

A Christmas decoration on our street, Olas Altas