March 06, 2009, A dance of conquest and faith, By Jesús Ibarra, Citizens speak out about political aspirations, By Krishna Villena, The Lady of the Tales, By Jesús Ibarra

More than one hundred dancers dressed in pre-Hispanic costumes fill the Jardin today, March 6, to honor one of the city’s most venerated religious figures—El Señor de la Conquista (Our Lord of the Conquest). The life-size figure represents the acceptance of Christ by Mexico’s Indians, and throughout the day tribute is made with dances, ceremonies and a Mass.

During these celebrations the 16th-century rendition of Christ of the Conquest moves from its usual place in a side chapel in the Parroquia to the place of honor on the central altar. Parishioners file past to recite the Apostles’ creed before the statue in memory of the 33 years that Christ lived on Earth. Although another figure of the Lord of the Conquest exists in San Felipe Torresmochas (one hour from SMA), no special celebration takes place in this town to honor the Christ.

A history with two versions

In the late 1500s, according to one version, two human-sized figures honoring the Lord of the Conquest were made out of corn cane paste by Tarascan Indians in Pátzcuaro. In 1585 two Franciscan friars, taking the statues to San Miguel and San Felipe, were attacked and killed by a group of Chichimecas at the bridge, a few miles outside of San Miguel, now known as the Puente de Calderón (Calderón Bridge). The two figures were thought lost, but were found later by another group of Chichimeca Indians, already Catholic converts, who then took the statues to San Miguel and San Felipe.

However, another version exists according to Chichimeca descendant Jesús Enrique González Morales. He claims that the original figure was found by one of his ancestors, who hid it in a cave. According to González Morales the statues at the San Miguel Parroquia and San Felipe are replicas. “The two human sized figures, although light, were too large to have been carried by the friars from Pátzcuaro,” he said.

“The original must be the small 45-centimeter figure that has been with my family all this time.” The Morales family’s antique figure is made of a very light wood, and Christ’s ribs can be seen on his sides. However, no official chronicle or historian supports González Morales’s version.

The dances

González Morales, who considers himself heir to the tradition, has organized the festivity and dances for 27 years. He claims the tradition is based on agricultural rites. “The Indians beseeched the Lord of the Conquest for good crops. Then, on the day of Saint Michael Archangel, September 29, the people would return with a small part of their crops as an offering of thanks.”

The Lord of the Conquest festivity is always celebrated on the first Friday of March in remembrance of the day when Christ died. Celebrations begin Thursday night at 10pm, when dancers from several parts of the country meet at El Sindicato, Recreo 4, to pray before a statue of the Lord of the Conquest (the figure belonging to the Morales’ family). At 7am, Mass is held for the dancers at the Parroquia, and then the dancers return to El Sindicato where they continue praying until 10am when they go out to dance in the streets surrounding the Jardín. “The dances will continue until 1pm and then from 5pm to 8pm. Dancers wear seed pod rattles on their wrists and ankles; on their feet, traditional leather sandals called huaraches, and are bedecked in fine and brightly colored headdresses, made of rooster, peacock or pheasant feathers.

Señor de la Conquista

Thursday, March 5, 10pm until dawn
Velación y ofrendas (ceremony and offerings)
El Sindicato, Recreo 4

Friday, March 6, 7am
Mass for the dancers
Parroquia
10am thru 5pm
ceremonial dances
Esplanade of Jardín.

Citizens speak out about political aspirations
By Krishna Villena

The law allows any elected government official to leave his or her position to seek another political post. Three years ago, former mayor Luis Alberto Villarreal left office to run for the Senate. Last month, Jesús Correa, now the former major of San Miguel, left his post to seek a seat in the Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies) in the next local election, to be held July 5. Former city secretary Cristóbal Finkelstein Franyutti also left his position to contend for a spot on the mayoral ballot.

Atención asked some citizens their opinion about politicians who resign their posts before their terms are completed.

Angélica Adamare Ruiz Camacho, bank employee

They should practice what they preach: love for their country and love for their job, but unfortunately they just love money and themselves. Most of the politicians steal the money we earn working. I hope one day they realize they must use their brains to do good.

Antonio Martínez López, manager

I think it’s unethical because they were chosen by the people and they have not finished their work yet. It’s like leaving your bachelor’s degree unfinished, but with a higher level of responsibility. When you don’t conclude your studies, it affects you directly as an individual, but when someone leaves a public post it’s like abandoning those who trusted you. I think they should show the results of their work and let time tell whether they did it well or not. Nevertheless, before this judgment can be made, they already have a higher political post and they are leaving a lot of jobs unfinished. They leave as if they have succeeded.

Martín Olmedo Ruíz, contractor

In theory they should complete their terms, but the facts show they only want the money and the power. The only way to stop this is to have a proactive community, independent justice, tougher sanctions against corruption and an independent press.

Francisco Muñoz Cortés, student

These people cannot say “mission accomplished”… they must finish what they started. What they are doing is turning their backs on the people. It’s not right.

Martha Patricia Parra Ledezma, storekeeper

Behind each ruler who tries to be a good leader there are a large number of bureaucrats who don’t let those leaders do a good job, and they align everything with their personal interests. Bureaucrats use the laws to benefit only a few; that is the main reason for this absurd situation.

Enrique Ramírez Palacios, public relations

A long time ago in Mexico the phrase “buscar el hueso” was coined, referring to politicians desperately seeking money and power; this phrase now refers to anyone who seeks to obtain something immediately. I believe this has created an unhealthy mentality in public employees and candidates, too: using power in order to become rich.

María Eréndira Zamarripa Cruz, businesswoman

We should ask why the leaders are there. The answer is very simple: because we choose them, supposedly to represent us and to take care of us, among other things. The liberties elected officials take in leaving office prove that human beings are the only animals that make the same mistake a thousand times. Next time, we must remember and take a look around us. The solution is to choose people who really know how to work.

Eric Villasana Ramírez, student

Our politicians just want personal achievements and they don’t think about the needs of those who voted for them. They only care about their own needs and their ambition.

Luis Daniel Rubio González, employee

What they do is mediocre. They leave things unfinished—that is mediocre. Right now the local government looks more like a circus than a team working toward the good of their community.

Karina Camargo Valdéz, federal employee

Before expressing my opinion I’d like to know more about the laws that allow these licenses. It would also be interesting to publish the candidates’ opinions and reasons for leaving their posts. That may lead us to a balance. Regarding leaving things unfinished, personally it doesn’t sit well with me. I always think twice before becoming involved in something or with somebody.

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The Lady of the Tales
By Jesús Ibarra

María Luisa Moreno, a great promoter of culture and of the tradition of oral narration, passed away on February 23, 2009. Known as La Señora de los Cuentos, she did voluntary work for the Biblioteca since the nineties, helping in the Day of the Dead and Christmas activities.

She also helped Eduardo Sánchez, children’s room coordinator, in reading tales to kids. But her specialty was the narration of pre-Hispanic legends and tales. Each year at Day of the Dead, we could see her dressed in a typical huipil, telling pre-Hispanic legends to the audience. For about eight years, she worked at the Biblioteca promoting all the events by spreading them in the media. Every Friday, on Radio San Miguel, she had a 10-minute program to announce the Biblioteca’s activities. She was also an actress, a writer and a poet.

María Luisa was born in the late thirties in Mexico City. Her complete name was María Luisa Cordero Moreno, but she only used her second last name Moreno as an artistic name. She studied acting in the IMSS (National Institute of Social Security) workshop.

Then, she became a permanent actress of the IMSS theater company, performing in plays like The Case of the Crushed Petunias by Tennessee Williams, and some Mexican plays.

Later, María Luisa joined the theater group of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, as both a teacher and an actress. She performed in the plays Puños en alto (Raised Fists), written by herself, and Los albañiles, by renowned Mexican playwright Vicente Leñero. She won a university acting award in 1984 when she participated in the play La Orgía (The Orgy) by Enrique Buenaventura, with the theater group of UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). She also studied and practiced the acting technique of Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio in New York, while acting in the play The Time of Your Life by William Saroyan.

She gave corporal expression and acting techniques courses to singers and took singing courses, participating in several concerts.

María Luisa began her studies as an oral narrator in Coyoacán with the Cuban teacher Francisco Garzón and began narrating stories in open spaces, libraries, bookstores, theaters, book fairs and even in jails and orphanages.

In San Miguel, she joined the cultural life by forming theater groups and presented literary programs in different bookstores and galleries, not only in San Miguel, but in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Ojuelos, San Luis de la Paz, San José Iturbide and Santa Catarina, invited by the Instituto de Cultura de Guanajauto and Querétaro.

She founded the Casa de la Cultura of Dolores Hidalgo and she presented several plays of popular theater and social conscience in different cities of the state.

In San Miguel, she was one of the founders of the Literary Workshop in Bellas Artes and of Casa de la Cultura in El Chorro, where she gave acting and oral narrative classes, and presented plays like El Árbol (The Tree) by Elena Garro and Crótalo by Federico García Lorca, participating in different areas, such as direction, acting, makeup and script.

San Miguel children will remember her as the Lady of the Tales.

A Cow
By María Luisa Moreno

A cow is serene, she never shouts,
She walks slowly, she doesn’t get excited,
The weather doesn’t affect her at all,
She lies in the shade chewing her cud
And if it rains, the water rolls off her hard skin
Just like other things do.
The gossip of the fly doesn’t bother her
Neither do the taps of the shepherd’s switches.
Being fat or skinny doesn’t worry her.
She doesn’t demand love
From the bull that mounts her
And if she has a calf,
She doesn’t love it more than she should
And does not cause her distress
Because she does not educated.
She prefers not to have an opinion or to be creative
So that others will not want to eat her alive.
A cow is like this…
If she doesn’t live happily, she leaves peacefully.
She doesn’t cry for her sorrow
Nor sigh about her loves,
She is neither a feminist nor a chauvinist
And as I have already said, she doesn’t train her calf.
She know that the bull is an asshole,
Because he uses her…
But nothing bothers the cow.
She says moo to everything to avoid problems,
And she is the same as a thousand other cows,
So no one can point her out.
She looks at the world with her huge eyes
Without asking herself who made it at all.
She likes to meditate because she is a Buddhist
And her philosophy is “Positivist”.
She never thinks of hunger or of war,
To blaspheme, doesn’t cross her mind.
She doesn’t demand from God
The meaning of life and death.
The cow doesn’t work,
She doesn’t get tired,
She has no desire to fornicate,
She doesn’t make mistakes,
She doesn’t question anything,
There is nothing that drives her crazy.
Impassive cow, imperturbable cow,
I bow down before your maturity.
We wish to be like you, admirable cow,
To live tranquilly in this hell.