Parade a Day in Oaxaca

Living in Oaxaca, I'm never surprised to hear a band in the street and see the dancers and puppets and assorted people, celebrating just about anything.  Seems there is a parade a day here.

There are three words for "parade":  desfile, calenda y comparsa de muertos.  A defile is an everyday type of parade.  A calenda is a Christmas parade, and a comparsa de muertos is a November/Day of the Dead parade.  There are probably more words!            

  Barbara and Brent came from NC for a visit last week.  One gorgeous afternoon, we walked up Macedonia Alcala, and found a rooftop bar for an afternoon adult beverage.  San Felipe was visible, after a few days of being clouded over.

As is normal, we heard a band gearing up, and went down to see what was going on.  As our friend Phil pointed out: this is the public street.  No permits are required!  In our NC city, even on the "public street", a parade like these would never be allowed.

I caught this puppet, waiting for it's human. These papier-mache puppets are typical parade participants. No wedding would be complete without the dancing couple...this dude was smoking a cigarette, very unusual!  The heads are papier-mache, the clothes are draped over a bamboo frame; the arms are soft and stuffed, for swinging wide over the dancer's heads.













It was fun to watch the dancers, always men, gear up.  They waited until the other parade participants arrived before putting on the puppets.  The band always features tubas, trumpets and trombones, and the music is fast and lively.

















This woman spoke a little english, and was proud of it!  She was gracious enough to pose for my camera.  More than 30 women, dressed in similar brightly colored skirts and scarves arrived to parade with the band.  There was a little wind, I wondered how they'd keep their head decorations upright, but they are experienced!



















The man with the papier-mache bull had apparently been in the mezcal before he arrived.  He allowed me to take his picture, and then handed the bull to me!  I don't know who took the pictures of me, with my camera, but I'm glad they did!  I needed proof of holding the bull.






















It was not too heavy.  The women all laughed, and after I handed the bull back to the Bull Man, they gave me hugs.










So, as always, I wondered what the parade was about...the 90th anniversary of the Cultural Missions of the country.  Indigenous groups, I guess. 


















The participants were handing out gifts:  I have one of the hats you see here in my collection now, along with a small basket, the biggest lemon I've ever seen, and a small, woven fan.   The Bull Man dragged me over to the a small group of men, and insisted that I have a shot of the village mezcal.  People will dance even more after a shot of mezcal!

   

The other puppet dancer....





















Parades are part of life here.  This day, we saw three parades in the afternoon.  So much joy, so much to celebrate.  These folks danced their way down to the zocalo, danced and drank a little mezcal, and danced their way back up to the Sto. Domingo.  The Parade Route!