Gangs of San Miguel de Allende
By Richard Lander

Joining the Day of the Dead Gang

Day of the Dead Gang (Facelift Gang) The origin of this Gang’s colors and theme came from a misunderstanding. Helen Patterson came to San Miguel one late October for a facelift, or máscara-cuero, which means mask to hide an old lady in Spanish

November 2 was the first day she felt well enough to venture forth after her surgery. As she walked the streets, she began to cry when she saw all the Day of the Dead pictures, carvings and objets d’arte. Self-centered, speaking not a word of Spanish and knowing nothing about Mexican customs, she thought the town had put on this festival to cheer her up and to celebrate her new look.

As more and more facelifts were done in San Miguel, Helen recruited fellow máscara-cueros into her Gang. Each November 2, they parade in the streets of San Miguel showing all women they can look like the Day of the Dead if they want.

If you are planning to join this Gang, you need first be part of the Burka Gang until the Reveal.

Burka Gang (Noviates to Day of the Dead Gang) Ever mindful of the terrorist threat, many residents have been alarmed by masked women wandering the streets of San Miguel. Their faces are covered with a scarf, and their eyes with sunglasses.

However, they are not terrorists; so get rid of the Orange Alert. You only have seen a member of the San Miguel Burka Gang. These women are noviates into the Day of the Day Dead Gang. They have come to San Miguel to visit one of the high priests of the Day of the Dead Gang—the Plastic Surgeon. His skill is to make a middle-aged woman, whose face reflects her life, look the same as every other noviate. One sign of a good Plastic Surgeon is to make it impossible in a group photo of noviates to tell one from the other.

Each noviate is to look the same—like a Catrina. If you meet a noviate, even if you know them, you must go through the names of five previous noviates before you say you recognize them.

“Debbie, how are you? Oh, I am sorry! You so look like Debbie. Okay, it’s Marsha. No? Joan? Okay, I remember you are Joyce. No? Well, you are going to have to tell me who you are young woman.”

This exchange will make the lady’s day when she realizes she looks like every other noviate. Nothing on her face betrays any life she might have lived. She now looks like Catrina, the Patron Saint of Plastic Surgery.

The Burka is basically a scarf to protect the magic of the Plastic Surgeon, and the glasses hide the circles under the eyes. Noviates must remain hidden from view for weeks until their transformation takes place. Until the day the scarf and glasses come off, they are in the San Miguel Burka Gang.

When the day of Reveal happens, they are welcomed into The Day of the Dead Gang and can be part of the Plastic Surgeon Fiesta Day on November 2.

This article is published with permission from Richard Lander’s blog, “Gangs of San Miguel de Allende.” Visit http://richland.wordpress.com/  to learn more about the numerous “Gangs” running rampant in San Miguel.

Concert
“Canción y Cocteles”
Kickoff for imagina 2009
Thu, Nov 5, 5–8pm
Casa de la Cuesta
Cuesta de San Jose 32
Tickets: 200 pesos, available at Galeria Pergola
154-4324

Coming together with consciousness
By Lena Bartula

Artists in this genteel colonial town are no strangers to social responsibility; we are a community of inspired and caring visual artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers and artisans. We regularly donate to auctions in times of need, whether for individuals in crisis, or organizations involved with women and children, healthcare, education, orphans, retired people and homeless animals. We give for any number of reasons: because we can, or because we are grateful to live extraordinary lives in this extraordinary place, or because we believe in the power of art in all its forms.

In imagina 2009, the members of JUNTOS: Artists United to End Violence Against Women, come together for another act of social consciousness: 16 days of arts awareness to imagine a world without gender violence.

Two musicians who donate their time and talent to causes are Leonardo Maldonado Ramírez and Carlos Alexander García, of the popular fusion group Sinsoles. As the kick-off event for imagina 2009, an intimate evening of “Canciónes y Cocteles” with Sinsoles is sponsored by JUNTOS members Heidi LeVasseur of Casa de la Cuesta and Marilyn Sibley of Galeria Pergola. The terrazas at Casa de la Cuesta will come alive with the native sounds of guitar, voice, flute and percussion.

Sinsoles’ repertoire includes music in the Otomí language of this region, using instruments reproduced from those used before the arrival of the Spaniards. Carlos has dedicated much of his time to searching out the best of these pre-Hispanic instruments from artisans in Mineral de Pozos and Texcoco, and features these treasures in their concerts. Leonardo’s background is in Mexican folkloric music such as huapangos, rancheros, boleros and trova, as well as other Latin favorites.

Not only a gorgeous bed and breakfast, Casa de la Cuesta is also home to La Otra Cara de México, a world-class museum of masks and other folk art. The museum’s collections will be open for this special event, and cocktails will be served alongside scrumptious appetizers from some of San Miguel’s finest restaurants.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence originated in 1991 at the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute. A panel of 25 women from around the world chose the dates November 25 as International Day to End Violence Against Women, and December 10 as International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women with human rights. This 16-day period also includes December 1, World AIDS Day. Of that first meeting in 1991, Everjoice Win of Zimbabwe says, “We knew we were creating an extraordinary collaborative international action. We might not have known that it would take off around the world the way it did, but we knew it was significant and unprecedented.”

As founder and director of JUNTOS, I appreciate that statement, and would add to it: “If we had known it was going to take off in San Miguel the way it did, we might have started working on it sooner.” With its focus on the arts, imagina 2009 invites us to stand in solidarity with our international community, from Australia to Zimbabwe, New York to New Dehli, as we imagine together a world without gender violence.

For more information, Casa de la Cuesta, 154-4324. Tickets are available at Galeria Pergola, inside the Instituto Allende.

Lena Bartula is an artist, writer and the founder of JUNTOS. She lives in San Miguel de Allende and Mineral de Pozos.