Mailkoff celebrates a century of life, Valle del Maíz festivities continue, By Atención Staff

Tirzah Mailkoff is a long-time resident of San Miguel who has enriched our community in innumerable ways. An internationally recognized music teacher, she taught students for decades and was instrumental in founding the Junior Bach Festival in Berkeley, California, in the early 1950s, which is still going strong.

In San Miguel, where she and her partner, Nancy Harvie, have made their home for many years, Mailkoff founded the music room at the Biblioteca Pública. It is named in her honor. She has also been active in the San Miguel Garden Club for more than 20 years, and together the two have tended the flowers at the library.
In addition to her lifelong love of music, Mailkoff also expresses her great creativity in the creation of needlework pieces, which she has exhibited publicly.

Mailkoff's many friends and well-wishers are invited to attend the celebration of her 100th birthday, appropriately held in the library where she has made an immeasurable impact on the musical richness of our cultured community.

Birthday Reception for Tirzah Mailkoff
Wednesday, May 31, 4pm
Quetzal Room, Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25

Valle del Maíz festivities continue
By Atención Staff

Although San Miguel offers plenty of entertainment for night owls, the best place to burn the midnight oil this week- end is not one of the bars in the city center. Walk a scarce 10 minutes from the Jardín along Salida a Querétaro and you will find yourself in the throes of a seven-day fiesta, at El Valle del Maíz, one of the city's oldest barrios (neighborhoods). The neighbors of El Valle del Maíz continue the century-old tradition in honor of the Santa Cruz (the Holy Cross) with one of the most colorful and noisy festivals in San Miguel.

More than just a photographer's delight for the processions and colorfully costumed "locos" and "apaches," the fiesta of the Santa Cruz is testimony to the deeply religious foundations of not just the Valle del Maiz neighbors but of the entire community. In a unique blend of secular and religious ceremony, the fiesta includes tributes to the pre-Hispanic gods in the form of dances to give thanks for the rains and to bless the corn crop and harvest. Processions and other rituals are based on regional Catholic traditions. Crosses are blessed and the faithful pray and receive limpias (cleansings) by the community shaman. At the end of the religious ceremonies, the crowds dance with mojigangas (giant puppets) to the music of several local groups, such as Los Leones de Xichú.

The fiesta continues until Sunday, May 28, in the small plaza in front of the simple neighborhood church. Despite the high spirits of the participants in the fiesta, it is nevertheless a religious celebration. The organizers welcome visitors and photographers but request that they dress and behave appropriately.

Friday, May 26

6pm, music
7pm, pre-Hispanic dances
11:30pm, arrival of la Santa Cruz to the temple
11:55pm, music to honor the Santa Cruz
Midnight ceremony of the blessing of powder (fireworks)
Saturday, May 27
4am, collection of offerings, flowers and powder (fireworks)
7am, atole offering
8am, music at the temple
11am, pre-Hispanic dances
3pm, offerings for the Santa Cruz
5pm, traditional war dance between Chichimeca Indians and Spanish soldiers, held next to the gas station on Salida a Querétaro
7pm, greasy pole climbing in front the church; traditional dancers
9pm, adoration of Santa Cruz with candles
10pm, fireworks

Sunday, May 28

4am, collection of offerings; flowers and powder
7am, atole offering
8:30am, pre-Hispanic dances and band music
Noon, parade of dancers and mojigangas (giant puppets) from Valle de Maíz to San Miguel's main streets
1pm, pre-Hispanic dances
2pm, burning of papier mâché dolls
3pm, greasy pole climbing
7pm, greasy pole climbing
9:30pm, fireworks, end of festival

(All events are at the placita in front of the Valle del Maiz church unless otherwise indicated)