A young man from San Felipe del Agua becomes a priest, and the town celebrates

It was two days setting up, blocking off the street in front of the church and the school, while huge tarps were strung overhead, and a great many chairs and tables brought in and arranged.

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The view from my living room window as things are being set up. As I post this, the tarp in the lower right has a live band playing and many are dancing.


There was much ceremony, and a lot of incense!



a program passed out led to much audience participation

As fireworks explode and a brass band bursting into music marks the moment of the young man becoming a priest, the local basket dancers break into dance. Hundred line up to personally congratulate the new priest, who can be seen in the background accepting congratulations, gifts, and many hugs.


The basket dancers my favorite part


Hundreds lined up to offer personal congratulations



The brass band

Congratulations continued while others went to the tables to wait for food

 The amazing dancing with baskets on heads went on and on

I think our young new priest stood for an hour receiving congratulations and gifts

 The gifts piled up!

The view from the ancient village well

 Many people wanted their photos taken with the new priest

 Meanwhile, many were busy getting ready to serve food to the multitudes

Where there is a celebrations, there are kids

After the food tables are cleared away, a long afternoon and night of dancing begins

GIANTS join in the dancing!

The annual Blessing of the Animals, San Felipe del Agua, May 15th.

Right about this date rains are likely to come after a long dry spell, and, when enough rain does fall, the planting of the corn begins. Among lots of other animals, the bulls are blessed, before the work of plowing the fields gets underway.  Again, click on any photo to see full sized, and access slide show.

But this photo is jumping ahead. For me it began when I heard an unusual amount of cow mooing in the street in front of my 2nd story apartment. Looking out the window, it didn't take long to realize it was the annual Blessing of the Animals day. Leaning out from my small balcony, and extending my arm, I got this shot of the animals gathering in front of the local church. 

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 These two tethered together bulls didn't much like the idea of water tossed on them, and backed away as the priest approached. They got their blessing from a considerable distance. 

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BUMPER cars, Mexican Style

As a kid, I loved bumper cars above all other carnival rides. I remember once at a carnival, I was given a bunch of tickets to ride on whatever I wanted to, and I spent all of them on the bumper cars. I didn't much like the rules though, which were: 1: all cars should go in the same circular direction around the bumper car platform, and 2: the more riders bump, the shorter the turn will be.  So it was fun to watch bumper cars here, and see that no instructions are given at all, and there was nothing at all like a circular path to be followed.

Again, this is from May 1st, second to last day of San Felipe del Agua's annual festival of Corn and Tortillas, lasting from April 15th to May 2nd. It's been great fun to be up close and personal with it!

Videos of May 1st at night, as the Faria del Maiz y Tortillas winds up.

Perhaps the most spectacular, the Dancing with Fireworks! Held overhead are tortitas, "little bulls," and as in some of the other dances, bullfights are an obvious influence here. I captured two quick performances. Again, if clicking the "full screen" icon doesn't work, click the little YouTube icon see see in full quality.

Soon after the dancing with fireworks, came the lighting of the fireworks tower, an amazingly complex and huge structure created for one 15 minute fireworks show.

This was quickly followed by fireworks cascading down the front of the church.

During all of this, two bands were trading sets, playing from a stage set up right in front of my apartment. I had a great view right from overhead and backstage. Between the two bands, they played on until almost 4 am.

One thing is unquestionable: The people of San Felipe del Agua know how to celebrate and have a good time!

Faria del Maiz y Tortillas, May 1, San Felipe del Agua, Oaxaca

The celebrations continue, this time right in front of the village church, which dates back to the 1500's. The first is a short clip, including the end of a performance. The second video is a complete performance, recorded in mid-afternoon, shortly before the second clip was recorded. These dancers were incredible, besides from the dances, also from an athletic point of view, dancing in the heat of the day, with those huge headdresses on!

Be sure to click on "full screen" or the little YouTube symbols to watch in full quality.