Music of the Night

I promised a more full report about our Candelaria evening, so I should probably write one before too long.  We had heard from various sources that there would be processions from the various churches with their baby Jesus dolls all dressed up to commemorate the event. So Saturday evening we strapped E into a backpack carrier and went to the zocalo in search of music.  We weren't sure what to expect, but we got a whole range of exciting activities.

First up, as we passed the Santo Domingo church, we passed a group which was clearly a small version of one of the processions we expected. There were maybe two dozen people, a half dozen Nino dolls dressed in their finest clothes, and a couple of acoustic guitars with singing as they walked by us.

Next up, as we passed the museum of contemporary art we heard music coming from inside that E was intrigued by, so we decided to go in and take advantage of a chance to look at some free art while listening to the live music.  Now, the music was billed as a combination of acid jazz and a Hip Hop DJ, and those of you who know me know that these might be two of my least favorite genres of music to begin with and so it wasnt a very promising combination.  But it was fun to listen to and a lively crowd, and we did indeed get to see some good art (including some very cool outdoor luminescent murals by George Mead Moore) and a good time was had as a diversion.

We continued on to the zocalo but before we got there we found a breakdancing group and again E wanted to stop to watch.  The dancers were pretty exciting, even if the choice of music on their MP3 player (House of Pain! A Hip Hop remix of 'Horse With No Name'!  Some 80's goodies!) left something to be desired.

Then we went on to the zocalo itself, where we ate our free tamales and wandered among some artisans and said hi to some friends.  After awhile we decided we werent going to get to see more processions after all, so we called it a night and headed up to our favorite bakery to get some bread and pan dulces for the coming days.  

But as we left the bakery we stumbled across a large and lively procession through the streets.  It was hard to tell how many of the people were with the original procession, how many were just hangers on, and how many were tourists like us who just thought it was all pretty cool.  It was similar in some ways to the procession we marched with during Esquipulas -- there was a band playing lots of brass instruments and drums, there was a pickup truck with an image of a saint, there were women dancing and the giant puppets and globos that Oaxacan celebrations always seem to have -- but it was both smaller and more festive.  It was clearly a religous calenda, but it was less formal and there was a lot more mescal being passed around.  We ended up dancing with them for many many blocks, and in fact decided to get a taxi home even before they reached their destination.  In the end, we think it had nothing to do with Candelaria and was probably one of the Saints celebrations of a cathedral in a neighborhood across town.

So yeah, modern music and art, teenagers performing in the street, and religious celebrations both quiet and loud...sounds like a typical night in this exciting and fun city!