Cont. from front page

A venerable nacimiento on an epic scale 

Isaac Cohen Aguado, owner of Carmela Beauty Parlor, maintains the tradition established by his grandmother, Antonia Aguado, who used to set up an extensive nacimiento in four of the rooms in her home at Canal 9. The former residence now houses several businesses, including the beauty parlor itself, Hotel Posada San Miguelito, and the real estate business Casas San Miguelito.

“When I was a child,” said Cohen, “I was completely amazed to see my grandmother setting up the nacimiento. Putting each figure in its correct place was for me an essential part of the undertaking. Something I learned from my grandmother is that each figure has a reason for being there: the shepherds who are tending their flocks, the women who are making tortillas, or the man who is slaughtering a pig.”

Doña Antonia’s original figures are made of wood, wax, clay or cloth. “The devil is made of cloth. The three figures that make up the Misterio (The Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and the Baby Jesus) are made of wood and date from the 19th century, as do the three kings,” said Cohen. “I have another clay baby Jesus that was made in Spain.”

The nacimiento includes representations of biblical stories such as Adam and Eve, the annunciation, the archangel’s announcement to the shepherds, and the hermit in his cave being tempted by the devil. “The figures representing biblical passages are made of wax, and some of them are also from the 19th century. The clay figures are from the 1940s and 1950s. The nacimiento includes some uniquely Mexican scenes, such as a Mexican wedding and a ‘bad women house,’ as my grandmother used to call the brothel.”

Cohen said that the last time he saw his grandmother setting up her nacimiento was 25 years ago, before she died. “Then my aunt set it up for a few years; since 2003, I have been lucky enough to have the figures and now I set it up in my house at Eco 12, La Lejona. Anyone who wishes to see it is welcome.”

The original nacimiento included around 500 figures, but currently Cohen sets up between 80 and 300. For scenery he uses pine boughs, “which provide the scene with color and a natural touch and with a wonderful pine smell.” Cohen sets up his nacimiento around December 20 and it remains up until February 2, Candelaria, when it is traditional to remove the infant Jesus and dress Him in clothing made and sold especially for that purpose.

“For me, the essence of Christmas is setting up the nacimiento, which is a Christian and very Mexican tradition, and it is important to preserve it. There is no Christmas without a nacimiento,” said Cohen.

Other traditional nacimientos

Rubén Villasana displays an extensive nacimiento in one room of his home at Codo 6. “The Misterio is more than 150 years old,” said Villasana. “It belonged to my great-grandmother. There are about 30 figures, most of them made of clay. The essence of my nacimiento is that I try to keep proportion among the figures. Some people put up a large Joseph and Mary, and an even bigger baby Jesus, and the rest of the figures are small. All my figures are in realistic proportion. Another important element is that I use for background a painting of San Miguel that is interspersed with images of Bethlehem. I consider them very similar to one other and I twinned them in this way.” Villasana also invites the public to see his nacimiento.

Another large nacimiento that has disappeared from public view is the one set up at Funerales López at Mesones 45. The room with a window to the street in which it had been set up is now a business display window and the nativity is inside the house.

Don Jesús Téllez Muñoz, owner of El Colibrí bookstore at Sollano 30, said that his grandfather, Fidel Muñoz, used to set up a large nacimiento with about 300 figures in the room in which the bookstore is currently located. When don Fidel died, the nacimiento was moved to the next room, also with a view to the street. However, beginning last year the family decided to lease the space for business and the nacimiento is not set up anymore.

The figures in the large nacimiento set up in the Jardín were made 40 years ago by don Genaro Almanza, who has also sculpted several of the religious figures in the churches of San Miguel. The figures include the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, the baby Jesus and four angels, and it is complemented with live animals such as lambs and a donkey. It is set up on December 24 and remains on display until January 7. The live animals, however, are only there from December 24 to 26.

20 years of selling nacimientos

Doña Pilar Ramírez Cruz has sold nativity figures for 20 years in the San Juan de Dios market. She says that the figures have changed a lot over the years. “Now, people want modern figures made of polymer and with different decorations, but I still sell the traditional clay ones. I have shepherds, the woman that carries water, the well, and of course the Misterio. I must also sell the modern ones. I have, for example, some golden polymer nacimientos.” Doña Pilar brings her figures from Puebla, Michoacán, and Tonalá, Jalisco. He prices range from 3 pesos to 250 pesos for the larger nacimientos.

	The Biblioteca Pública has also set up a nacimiento for about 20 years. “The current Nacimiento includes only new ceramic figures, since the old ones have been broken with the years,” said Juan Manuel Fajardo, the Biblioteca’s librarian. “Eduardo Sánchez, in charge of the children’s room painted them to make them look like the traditional ones.” He also created a rock-life backdrop from wire, newspaper and glue.

Actividades Navidad

Friday, December 21
6pm: Christmas Concert, Corniza 20, Jardín Principal
8pm: Christmas Concert, Baritone Carlos Sánchez, with chorus from Querétaro, Jardín Principal
8pm: Sixth Posada, leaving from San Juan de Dios Church, San Antonio Abad, Canal, Guanajuato bridge, Avenida Guadalupe, Insurgentes, ending in Oratorio Church


Saturday, December 22
6pm: Performance, Alegría, Fiesta y Tradición (Joy, Fest and Tradition), Ballet Caxitlán from Colima
8pm: Seventh Posada, leaving from the Oratorio, Pepe Llanos, Juárez, San Francisco, Relox, Calzada de la Luz, Calzada de la Aurora, ending in la Herradura in Colonia Aurora


Sunday, December 23
6pm: Villancicos (Christmas songs), guitars of Professor Gonzalo of Casa de la Cultura
8pm: Eighth and last Posada: Calzada La Aurora, Heróico Colegio Militar, Francisco González Bocanegra, Volanteros, Quebrada, Umarán, Zapateros, Ending in Las Monjas


Friday, Decemeber 28
6pm: Performance, Querétaro Ballet, Jardín

Museum of Archeology, Ethnography, Art and Culture to be housed in the former presidencia
By Jesús Ibarra

On December 14, city councilor Gerardo Arteaga announced the decision of the assistant council (architect Hernán Ferro de la Sota, Maruja González and Francisco Vidargas) and the City Commission on Urban Development and Public Works (city councilors Juan Rosario Licea, Gustavo Carrilo and Arteaga himself, as well as Assistant Mayor Rodolfo Jurado) concerning the two projects suggested for use of the former presidencia building on Plaza Principal.

According to Arteaga, the selection criteria included sustainability, cultural relevance and architectural conservation.

After having reviewed the two final proposals, “City Museum: Archeology, Ethnography, Art, and Culture” by archeologists Gabriela Zepeda, Luis Felipe Nieto, Carmen Acosta and Andrés Cuellar, and “San Miguel Museum of History and Traditions” by TV and radio producer Lucy Zavala, the councilors determined that the former proposal is more appropriate and feasible.

However, they suggested that because Zavala’s project was complementary and could enrich the other project, she should be consulted as the museum moves forward. The assistant council also suggested that the INAH (National History and Anthropology Institute) and the University of Guanajuato should be invited to participate in the development of the final project.

A few hours after Arteaga’s announcement, the City Council, headed by Mayor Jesús Correa, officially accepted the assistant council’s proposal with the conditions that the building always be under the local government’s administration, that INAH and the University of Guanajuato participate in the project and that the archeological site of Cañada de la Virgen be opened to the public November 2008, since “it would not be relevant to have a museum about Cañada de la Virgen with the site closed to the public.”

Use caution with your ATM cards

Over recent months, an increasing number of reports have come to Atención of debit card fraud. Cards are cloned at local ATM’s, and withdrawals are made, almost immediately, from other banks in Mexico.

Accounts are emptied over the course of several withdrawals, frequently before detection by the cardholder.

Please use caution when using any ATM machine in Mexico. Look closely at the magnetic swiper on the machine, to observe if it has been tampered with or replaced by a cloning device. If you are concerned, alert a bank official immediately.

If your debit card has been cloned, contact your bank immediately for further instructions. 

According to the District Attorneys’ office, the city has been targeted by a professional network.

Two men assaulted and beaten at their home

On the night of December 12, two men were assaulted and severely beaten at their home on Sollano Street. According to the police report, it was their housekeeper who reported the assault to the police on December 13 at 3:30pm. The housekeeper said that when she arrived to work, she noticed some blood on the hall floor as well as in the victim’s room. Alarmed, she looked for her employers throughout the house and found them in the basement, where they were locked up, beaten across different parts of their bodies and semi-naked.

At the moment the report was made, the two men were already at Hospital de la Fe. The criminals stole four television sets, four cell phones, a toolbox, a DVD reproducer, and a safety deposit box. As Atención went to press, one of the victims was home recovering while the other was still in the hospital under observation.

Mexico Round-up
Compiled by Gabriela Blanco

To keep our San Miguel readers informed of recent developments across Mexico, we’ve compiled an overview of lead stories from national newspapers.

China—the Achilles heel of Mexico’s shoe industry

León businessmen and employees of Mexico’s “shoe capital” took to the streets December 12 to protest the invasion of cheap Chinese imports. The ever-increasing flood of footwear “Made in China” threatens industry and employment in the Guanajuato city.

La Jornada: “In an unprecedented demonstration some 40,000 people took to the streets in defense of their jobs, and to demand that the federal government maintain import quotas on Chinese leather products, textiles and footwear for five more years.” 

El Universal: “Rich and poor…employers, businessmen, local authorities, workers and mothers put aside class differences…without any formalities they marched together against the avalanche of Chinese footwear.”

“Defend the jobs of León and all Mexicans,” shouted the crowd 



The environmental law pendulum 

La Jornada: Ernesto Enkerlin announced that mangrove vegetation is an asset to the hotel business, as it mitigates the ravages of hydro-meteorological phenomena, which will grow over time due to climate change. The future viability of tourism should consider this vegetation, warned Enkerlin, Chairman of the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp). 

He noted that in following years “insurance dues for buildings near the coasts are going to be a very important distinction between those with mangroves and without, because damage to infrastructure in areas not usually covered with mangroves is going to be much higher.” 

Enkerlin said the protected natural area of Mangrove Nichupté “is very important and is at the heart of the hotel zone of Cancun. It should be recalled that a few weeks ago the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) cancelled the authorization of mega-project Bay View Grand, due to violations of environmental laws.




Relocations begin in Tabasco 

Reforma: Around 19,000 people will be temporarily moved from communities and colonias near the flood plain of Grijalva River in Tabasco, so the High Grijalva obstruction, formed by a mudslide from a hill in Chiapas, may be safely broken open December 18.



Shell & PEMEX

Exclusive to La Jornada: Investigative report reveals confidential information regarding bids by Shell to explore the Chicontepec oil field. The Anglo-Dutch multinational signed an agreement in 2004 with PEMEX called the Daisy Project. Information provided by PEMEX engineers, who have had access to confidential documents, indicates: “Shell International Exploration and Production (SIEP) is trying to get back in Mexico. PEMEX, the national oil company, are hoping that the Mexican Constitution is changed in the near future to allow foreign participation in the oil businesses of Mexico.”

Calderon chosen Leader of the Year
by Latin Business Chronicle

The Latin America business weekly applauded the tax and pension reforms and the fight against organized crime by President Calderón in his first year in the Mexican government.

He “has helped significantly to increase confidence in Mexico by foreign firms and investors,” commented writer Joachim Bamrud. The weekly noted that foreign direct investment in Mexico rose 21.7 percent to US$23 billion this year.