September 12, 2008, Fiestas Patrias schedule, Independencia Pop Quiz, Don Tomás: The story of a birdman, By Tania Noriz©, Atención archives, IREE school for the deaf gets a reprieve, By Holly Yasui, Maya Prophecy of 2012 conference, By Georgeann Johnson, Benjamin Long ordained at St. Paul’s Church

You’ll need stamina for this long weekend in San Miguel, with Friday, Saturday and Sunday events mere warm-ups for El Grito and castillos of fireworks in the Jardín late Monday night, when people will be packed so tightly you could barely slip a tortilla between them. The fiesta runs all night, with Tuesday a national holiday and pause for recovery.

To ensure that Atención readers can explain why they’re dancing on the Jardín esplanade at 3am, should anyone be sober enough to ask, we’ve prepared a quiz to help you focus on why the celebration is still going after nearly 200 years.

September 12

5pm, Lecture for children
"Being Child Heroes"
Biblioteca Municipal, Pepe Llanos

7pm, Art exhibit
Simone Pontecorvo
Bellas Artes, Hernández Macías 75

8pm, Movie
The Atomic Firefighter, with Cantinflas
Jardín

8pm, Theater
Life of Allende, by Aficionados del Teatro
Teatro Ángela Peralta, Mesones & Hernández Macías

September 13

10am, Commemoration of the defense of Chapultepec Castle by the Niños Héroes
Jardín

5pm, Traditional athletic competitions
commemorating the conspirators & beginning of Mexican independence
departs from Museo Casa de Allende

6pm, Salute to the flag
Jardín

8pm, Coronation of the Queen of the Fiestas Patrias
with tropical music group Sonora Santanera
Jardín

8pm, Theater
Life of Allende, by Aficionados del Teatro
Teatro Ángela Peralta, Mesones & Hernández Macías

September 14

11am, Firefighters parade
Main downtown streets

1pm, Mass
Fire department’s anniversary
La Parroquia

5pm, Cavalcade
Conspirators cavalcade arrives from Querétaro
Jardín

September 15

6am, Salute to the flag
Jardín

10am, Fraternal message from different municipalities
Museo Casa de Allende

3:15pm, Athletic competition & symbolic torch
Symbolic torch arrives from Querétaro for the Grito ceremony

5pm, Fraternal message
representatives from Querétaro

6pm, Salute to the flag
Jardín

8pm, Traditional dances
Ballet Mazatl, Casa de la Cultura
Jardín

10:45pm, Salute to the flag
Mayor Correa moves the flag from the former presidencia
to Museo Casa de Allende

10:55pm, Liberty torch
arrival of the torch & athletes along San Francisco, Plaza Principal Oriente, Portal Allende & Cuna de Allende

11pm, El Grito ceremony
Mayor Jesús Correa
Museo Casa de Allende

11:10pm, Fireworks
Jardín
Midnight, Party
Jardín

September 16

6am, Salute to the flag
Jardín

9am, Commemoration of the 198th anniversary of independence
Museo Casa de Allende

11am, Military parade
Ancha de San Antonio, to Canal, Hernández Macías, Mesones & Jardín

6pm, Salute to the flag
Jardín

6:15pm, Parade
entrance of the Insurgentes
Av. Independencia, Insurgentes, Hernández Macías, Canal, Jardín

8pm, Cavalcade
Flag procession
Jardín

8:15pm, Dance
Ballet Folklórico de San Miguel
Jardín

9:15pm, Fireworks
Jardín

September 17

10am, Commemoration of the first independent city council
Jardín

5pm, Lecture
"Un grito por la libertad" (A cry for freedom)
Biblioteca Municipal, Pepe Llanos

6pm, Lecture for children
"Miguel Hidalgo" by Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez
Biblioteca Municipal, Pepe Llanos

September 18

6pm, Lecture
"Benito Díaz de Gamarra & Colegio San Francisco de Sales & the influence of Cartesian philosophy on the ideology of criollos at the beginning of the 19th century"
Museo Casa de Allende, cnr Cuna de Allende & Umarán

8pm, Official annual report of activities by Mayor Jesús Correa
state governor Juan Manuel Oliva in attendance
Jardín

September 19

9am, Salute to the flag
Jardín

6pm, San Miguel fair parade
Ancha de San Antonio, to Canal, Hernández Macías, Insurgentes to San Francisco & Jardín

8pm, San Miguel fair opens
circus, games, ice rink, rodeo, palenque (cockfights), live music
fairgrounds, Salida a Querétaro behind the presidencia

To ensure that Atención readers can explain why they’re dancing on the Jardín esplanade at 3am, should anyone be sober enough to ask, we’ve prepared a quiz to help you focus on why the celebration is still going after nearly 200 years.

1. Mexican Independence Day celebrates the struggle to break away from

a) Spain

b) France

c) Texas

2. Fighting began in

a) 1910

b) 1810

c) May 5, 1862

3. Battles for independence pitted

a) indigenous Indians against mixed mestizo groups

b) the Aztecs against the Spanish

c) nearly everybody against the privileged classes of Spanish descent

4. The Gachupines were

a) native Spaniards

b) armed militia

c) a sweet made of cajeta

5. Criollos were

a) strong drinks to wash down huitlacoche

b) businessmen from New Orleans

c) Mexican-born Spaniards

6. The heroic miner El Pípila lived for 53 more years after his single-handed Alhóndiga attack. Which city claims him as a native son?

a) Guanajuato

b) San Miguel

c) Dolores Hidalgo

7. Guanajuato and San Miguel honor El Pípila with prominent statues located at

a) the top of the university stairs and Plaza Cívica

b) the top of the funicular and the glorieta near Mega

c) in front of Teatro Juárez and at the northwest corner of the Parroquia

8. Priest Miguel Hidalgo rang the church bell

a) about 11pm on September 15, 1810

b) about 5am on September 16, 1810

c) when Mexico formally gained independence on September 15, 1821

9. What was the text of Hidalgo’s grito?

a) ¡Mexicanos, viva México!

b) ¡Mexicanos, viva Nueva España!

c) no one really knows

10. What was Alhóndiga de Granaditas?

a) a granary in Dolores Hidalgo

b) an exclusive residential area for rich Spanish owners of silver mines

c) final meeting place of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and Jiménez

11. Where did Hidalgo acquire La Virgen de Guadalupe banner?

a) Atotonilco

b) Celaya

c) San Miguel

12. How often is the President of Mexico expected to give El Grito in Dolores Hidalgo?

a) A Cabinet member goes to Dolores; the President stays in Mexico City

b) Once during his six-year term

c) The mayor performs the ceremony in Dolores, just like he does in San Miguel

13. Which former president’s birthday is on September 15?

a) Porfirio Díaz

b) Carlos Salinas

c) Benito Juárez

14. Each country of Central America celebrates independence on September 15 except

a) Guatemala and Costa Rica

b) El Salvador and Nicaragua

c) Belize and Panama

Answers: 1.a 2.b 3.c 4.a 5.c 6.b 7.b 8.b 9.c 10.c 11.a 12.b 13.a 14.c

Every day at 8am, Don Tomás Bautista leaves his small apartment in colonia Allende laden with handicrafts and Veracruz-style clothing, heading for the streets to sell his wares. People recognize him easily, clothed in the garb of his native Papantla, selling shirts and vanilla.

Don Tomás Bautista is also is a brave man—a birdman. For 41 years he has been a performer in one of the most recognized pre-Hispanic traditions in Mexico, the ceremony of the Voladores de Papantla (the flyers of Papantla). For 10 years, the Voladores have captivated tourists and locals during one of San Miguel’s main celebrations, the Alborada (dawn), which honors the patron saint of the city, Saint Michael the Archangel. The aerial spectacle, thousands of years old, originally honored the sun god and is for Don Tomás as much an ancestral rite as a thrilling display of daredevilry.

No fear of flying

“To be a volador requires something more than a desire. You need to be brave,” says Don Tomás, who learned the tradition from his uncle at the age of 13.

Don Tomás was raised by a single mother, abandoned by her husband, who worked in the field to provide shelter and food for her five children.

As a child, Tomás had to leave school after second grade to work in the field cleaning bananas and oranges; when he was older, he worked digging wells for only 10 pesos a day.

“My uncle taught me to fly,” he recalled. “One day I told him that I wanted to earn some centavitos. He asked my mother’s permission, and that is how I began. You just have to lose your fear of heights and have enough nerve.” Don Tomás began practicing with a short wooden pole 12 meters high but soon graduated to the 37-meter metal pole.

Financial hardship forced Don Tomás to leave his town to travel with other voladores throughout Mexico. He journeyed to Tamaulipas, Colima, Sinaloa, Jalisco and Baja California. “We went on an adventure around the country. After flying, we asked for money from the public and that is how we started to earn an income.”

But there have been many difficult days full of hunger and worry. Don Tomás, like his companions, had to pay for lodging and food. They were also hindered by the barrier of illiteracy, because none knew how to read or write. “A trip that I especially remember was the one that I took to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, because some people told me the pay would be good.

However, I didn’t earn any money the whole week of that trip. I couldn’t eat for a week and my worried family called me. They told me one of my daughters had had an accident. I had to beg money to buy the bus ticket. My partners went with me to the bus station, but couldn’t purchase the tickets because they didn’t know how to read or write. I proudly told them I would buy them because I learned to read and write by myself.”

Don Tomás says that when he arrived in his hometown, his daughter, uninjured, opened the door. His family tricked him into returning sooner to Papantla.

After that trip, Don Tomás traveled to Querétaro to sell craftworks. There, an American customer asked for some little drums and rattles to sell in San Miguel, and that is how Don Tomás arrived here 25 years ago. “For me it was a blessing, because this is the way I have been able to come out ahead.”

Dedicating almost all his time to his main source of living, the sale of Papantla shirts made by his wife and daughters, Don Tomás is a happy man. “I have my family and my work and we are well. What else can I ask?”

But Don Tomás has to face separation from his home and family, whom he visits every three weeks when he travels to Papantla to replenish his merchandise. “This is my life. Some days are sweet and some days are sour. My work is risky, and I make constant trips to Papantla and perform in the flight dance ceremony for the Saint Michael celebration, but I am not scared. I am a brave man.”

Roots of an ancestral tradition

The Papantla region of Veracruz is located near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It is famous for being the world’s largest producer of vanilla. It is also well known for the Tajín, an archeological site of the Totonaca culture and one of the most important religious centers of Mesoamerica.

The town has also gained fame because of the Voladores de Papantla, a group of four aerialists who spin and descend by ropes from a wooden pole more than 30 meters high.

The dance of Papantla originated with the Totonaca and Huastecan cultures of the mountainous zone of Veracruz, where the tradition is still alive. The dance is linked to fertility gods such as Quetzalcóatl and Tláloc, the god of water.

The Voladores fly from the top of the pole tied to a rotating platform called a manzana (apple) and their rotating descent symbolizes the movement of the stars, and especially the sun.

The ritual combines music, dance and offerings. Five participants take part; four dancers and a leader, called a cacique, who dances at the top of the pole playing a flute and is in charge of directing the ceremony. The four dancers fly down with opened arms wearing suits with bird motifs. In the past, the wooden pole used to be cut by the Voladores in a special ceremony. Nowadays, many poles are metal and the pole-cutting ritual takes place in only a few communities of Papantla.

Don Tomás explains: “We request permission from God before cutting the wood and after cutting it with an axe we carry it to the place where we are going to install it. Later, we looked for a padrino (godfather) who will buy the offerings, as well as aguardiente (a distilled alcohol beverage), four eggs and four cigarettes. These offerings are given to the cacique, who performs the inaugural ritual.”

Before climbing the pole, the cacique offers the aguardiente to the four cardinal points; he then ascends to the top and begins to play the son del perdón (the forgiveness tune) on his flute. The four dancers climb up and sit on the manzana structure. “The cacique dances and greets the four cardinal points and salutes the sun,” explains Don Tomás. “As we dancers tie the cords around our waists and legs we ask God to forgive our faults and entrust Him with our lives. Then we all begin to descend at the same time, because at this point nobody can turn back.”

The cacique plays the flute and dances while the dancers spiral downward, making 13 turns around the pole. When the dancers have alighted, the cacique descends and plays the son de la despedida (the good-bye tune).

“It is a very beautiful tradition. To be there makes me feel free and without fear,” says Don Tomás, for whom life has been difficult, though he is still grateful.

“Everything that God gives me I receive with pleasure. Thanks to Him my family, my children and I are well and have work.”

This religious ceremony of respect and balance, this magical ritual that hypnotizes spectators, is a living tradition. “My son is a cacique,” proudly says Don Tomás, “He works in Puerto Vallarta and he is doing well. It makes me happy since he works, entertains people and at the same time preserves this important custom, as I do.”

Blanca Vázquez (left), mother of student Jesús Antonio (next to her), will be helping in the fundraising effort, thanks to the Bernard Weisman Foundation grant.

Imagine a world with no music, no sounds of birds or wind or cars, where no one ever talks to you and you can’t talk to anyone. Many of us who have come to live in this lovely Mexican town do not speak the language here, but there are others with whom we can communicate. Imagine how it would be if you couldn’t engage in conversation or exchange ideas and experiences with anyone at all.

The Instituto de Rehabilitación y Enseñanza Especial (IREE) provides the means by which low-income deaf children can break out of the isolation imposed upon them by the silence that is their world. At IREE they receive speech therapy, sign-language instruction and basic education. This summer, the school received an emergency US$12,500 grant from the Bernard Weisman Foundation that will pay teachers' salaries through the end of this year. The foundation gives grants and small loans for educational projects and technical assistance for low-income Mexicans In the meantime, longer-term grants and donations are being sought for the continuation of the school in 2009.

IREE is the only school of its kind in the Bajío. Students come to San Miguel from the municipalities of Allende, Dolores Hidalgo and Comonfort and from the cities of Celaya and Querétaro. Many cannot attend school every day because of the cost of transportation, or their working mothers cannot take time off to bring them to San Miguel daily. Though the cost to educate a child at IREE is about 1,000 pesos a month, the tuition charged is very low, 80 pesos a month, and the school does not turn away any students even if they are unable to pay that amount.

In addition to teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, IREE also provides a gathering place for deaf children and youth where they can communicate with others and develop social skills.

Former IREE student Leticia Elias working with los chiquitos, the youngest children at the school.

Thanks to the education they received at IREE, former students have been able to successfully integrate themselves into society. The shining example is Leticia Elias, a teaching assistant at the school, who helps deaf children as she was helped when she was a student. Other alumni include Marta Rangel and Alejandro Cruz, who work at the Biblioteca Municipal; policeman Edgar Resendiz; Ricardo Domínguez, who works in an artisan shop; Elena Espinoza and Carla Reyes, who make handicrafts; Sonia Téllez, who works at a shoe store; and Victor Velázquez, who works in a carpentry shop.

Edgar Resendiz and Juan Carlos Torres, two successful alumnae of IREE. Edgar is now a policeman and Juan Carlos does agricultural work.

In addition to Leticia, the IREE staff consists of three teachers, a speech/language therapist and the director, Cecilia Escobar, who is also the founder of the school. IREE is supported by donations, since the families of the students often cannot afford even the minimal tuition. Contributions come from individuals and foundations and in the past have barely covered salaries (US$3,000 a month), rent ($600 a month) and utilities ($125 a month).

If IREE closes at the end of this year for lack of funds, the students it serves will lose the only opportunity available to them to learn what they need in order to function in society, and instead they will be shut away into a profound soundless solitude.

If you are interested in helping by sponsoring a student or becoming a donor or fundraiser for the school, please contact director Cecilia Escobar at 152-0913 (9am–1pm, Monday–Friday), email iree@unisono.net.mx, or fundraising coordinator Holly Yasui at 152-8166, email hollyyasui@yahoo.com.

Maya Prophecy of 2012 conference
By Georgeann Johnson

On August 23, Antigua, Guatemala, welcomed 1,112 guests and speakers to “The Maya Prophecy of 2012: The Dawn of a New Age.” The conference, hosted by Jades, S.A. of Antigua, drew the press, ambassadors and consulates, 200 tour operators and guides, 52 indigenous shamans and representatives from a dozen Guatemalan museums and universities.

The event brought together the leading-edge theories of independent researchers whose aim is to illuminate Maya cosmology with the knowledge of Mayan spiritual guides and indigenous leaders. The shared message was that on this fragile planet we have an inherent responsibility to honor the knowledge of the indigenous Maya.
Mary Lou Ridinger of Jades, S.A., opened the talks by underscoring the most important new revelation in the study of Maya prophecy: our deepened understanding of the link between the Maya ballgame, the creation myth written in the Maya Popol Vuh, the images found on carvings at the site of Izapa and the galactic alignment on December 21, 2012, which is the end of the 5,125-year Maya Long Count calendar.

Headlining the program was John Major Jenkins, author of books and articles reflecting a 20-year study of the Quiche Maya, the Long Count calendar and its end-date in 2012, and the subsequent transformation of consciousness predicted by the ancient people of Mesoamerica.

Jenkins outlined his striking theory about the significance of Izapa, a ceremonial site located in southwestern Chiapas, Mexico, as the birthplace of the Maya Long Count calendar. According to his research, astronomers at Izapa accurately predicted what modern scientists now acknowledge as a rare galactic alignment in 2012, between the December solstice sun and the Milky Way.

His slides of Izapa stelae depicted different elements of Maya creation mythology found in the Popol Vuh. These stone carvings serve as eloquent illustrative metaphors for the astronomical events of 2012. His talk emphasized that though it may take radical thinking on the part of contemporary men and women to internalize the concept of multiple creations, of many rebirths of the world, to do so is the beginning of the shift toward a new form of consciousness, the consciousness of unity.

Maya spiritual guide Aq’ab’al (Aurelio Sajvin) shared with participants his knowledge of the Maya concept of time. Aq’ab’al gracefully reminded his listeners that the essence of understanding Maya time is a spiritual wellness on an individual level. In today’s world, we frequently find ourselves “bumping into each other, looking for a flat road to where we are going” and that in order to truly understand Maya time, we must first become “energetically well.”

Jim Reed of the Institute of Maya Studies presented his film Understanding 2012, in English with subtitles in Spanish. Reed developed the film to help audiences better understand the ancient Maya perception of the galaxy.

My presentation focused on the alignment symbolism found in the Maya ballgame. The story of the Maya ballgame is a story of being on a team. It’s a story of collaboration and working in a group. The ballgame employs the ancient astrological dictum, “as above, so below,” by introducing the crowd to the elements of the game as symbols for the galactic alignment. If we are to recognize Maya myth as a lesson for our time, then the era of collaboration and team play for the common good is dawning.

This call for unity was emphasized by Grandfather Cirilo (Don Alejandro), Guatemala’s Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples, who spoke against what he perceives as a growing trend in Western media of using Mayan spiritual traditions in its books and films, while failing to include contemporary indigenous Maya people themselves.

Inauguration of the new Maya Cosmology Museum located inside the Archaeology Museum at Jades, S.A., followed the conference. Reed’s Understanding 2012 or a conference video are available from Jades, S.A., at baldop70@gmail.com.

Two Father Longs, father and son, at St. Paul’s after Benjamin’s ordination

On August 30, the Most Rev. Carlos Touché Porter, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of Mexico, ordained Benjamin Long to the Sacred Order of Deacons in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church at St. Paul’s. Long is the son of the Venerable Michael Long, rector of St. Paul’s, and his wife, Cheri Long, San Miguel residents for 11 years.

Long lived in San Miguel to pursue his craft as an artist and musician: building, playing and teaching the Australian didgeridoo. He graduated in May from Episcopal Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas, after four years’ combined study in English and Spanish. He is the first candidate for the priesthood presented for ordination by St. Paul’s. After serving the church as a deacon for six months, he will be ordained a priest in Texas. In 2006, he married Amy Wright, daughter of (the late) Dick and Sonja George, at St. Paul’s.

Nine clergy from the parish and the Diocese of Mexico City and 150 participants attended the completely bilingual rite. The Liturgical Arts Committee, directed by designer Adrian Ross, completed a new set of altar hangings in red brocade for the occasion. St. Paul’s choir provided music, led by Xavier Hernández, who played classical flute selections. A Mexican fiesta with homemade covered dishes and mariachi music was held on the church lawn. Vocalists Hernández and María Teresa Frazee enlivened the party.

The following day, Long preached his first sermon as a deacon and read the Gospel. Church warden Bonnie Ericksmoen presented Ben with handmade stoles: “These stoles represent your new ministry. On behalf of the parish, we are proud of you.” Long has preached three sermons at St. Paul’s and said he hopes to return as a visiting preacher in the future.