Just some photos from San Miguel (and one from the San Diego Zoo)that lent themselves to messages for the new year. Thank you for reading Muses and Magic! Keep the magic alive in 2022.
Monthly Archives: December 2021
Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays to one and all — join our Christmas Eve stroll
Here’s a short stroll through Centro in San Miguel de Allende on Wednesday night and Christmas Eve. It is always magical this time of year.
We’re taking our traditional stroll tonight, Christmas Eve, to witness the final Posada procession and take in the lights, the sounds, the people gathering about the community tree.
Continue readingBallpark Posada celebration is a home run for San Miguel kids, parents & ex-pats alike
One minute a bunch of San Miguel youngsters are rounding the bases and heading for home in a lively baseball game against their parents. Moments later, they are rounding the same bases in single file, carrying a creche on a platform and singing the traditional songs of the Posada.
And shortly after that, the kids were back swinging a bat — only this time at a candy-filled pinata.
In between the Posada and the pinata?
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Road trip: Botanical garden of unearthly delights
A quick trip to San Diego last week included a nighttime visit to the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas which has decked out what seems to be all of its 37 acres with twinkling fairy lights, whirling kaleidoscopes of rainbow colors, washing waves of luminescent greens and reds, and light sculptures — all set against a canvas of bamboo groves, desert agave and palm plants, tropical rainforests, California palm trees, sturdy and ancient trees, Mediterranean bushes, and sub-tropical fruit trees.
There was even a snow-making machine if the light show weren’t enough for you. There was also wine by the glass for Mom & Dad. Pro tip: A night like this calls for a nice strong red with a side snack of kettle corn.
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Crèche course
Sometime between Thursday night when I left San Miguel de Allende and Saturday night when I returned, the life-size crèche popped up in the Jardin Principal, just across from Parroquia San Miguel Arc Angel.
Just in time, too. The plaza will be the final stop on the nine-night journey of Joseph and Mary in search of a place to rest and give birth to the baby Jesus, Dec. 16-24. Eight other communities in San Miguel have each, in turn, held a Posada which ends with pageantry, music, gifts, food, pinatas, celebration, and veneration.
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At Bellas Artes, listen to Frida, Che, and Emiliano: Wash up, wear a mask, vaccinate
Ok, you won’t listen to me or your brother or your doctor. Then try listening to a few icons of Mexican culture, like Che Guevara, Frida Kahlo, and Emiliano Zapata. During 2021, the artist Enrique DÃaz has harnessed iconography and linoleum engraving art to deliver the ultimate survival message.
His works — this is only a sampling — is on display in Belles Artes, the recently reopened Centro Cultural Ignacio RamÃrez El Nigromante at Calle del Dr Ignacio Hernandez Macias #75 in Centro.
Extra: Masked art — like these 10 murals — has been with us since the pandemic began
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Christmas in the times of Pastorela and Posadas
Updated with a list of public Posadas in San Miguel de Allende, courtesy of San Miguel FAQ
Monday afternoon, the children are in full-dress on the plaza of Parroquia San Antonio de Padua, in Colonia San Antonio for the traditional Pastorela. They have been rehearsing on the same patio most afternoons. They would sit in a circle and run through their parts with several ladies who show great gentleness, humor, and patience.
The Pastorela pageant recounts the adventures of the shepherds as they head to Bethlehem to worship the newly born baby Jesus on Christmas Day. They face numerous temptations — as you can see, an exuberant band of devils — and in some tellings, it is St. Michael who comes to their rescue. Go, San Miguel!
The Pastorela as a theatrical piece and oral story tradition has been embellished, modernized, changed in tone, and grown as any living, breathing thing — but the essential tale of trials, temptation, salvation, and redemption remains the same.
Another wonderful tradition, Las Posadas, will be celebrated in Mexico on Dec. 16-24 and follows the journey of Jesus and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. On each of the nine nights, the procession heads out to a specific home seeking comfortable lodging for Mary to give birth. Families, children, musicians, singers, and others follow Mary and Joseph each night.
Of course, they are turned away (but rarely without treats and beverages.) When they end up back at the church, the children are given the chance to crack open star-shaped pinatas and scramble for the treats that spill to the ground.
Las Posadas tradition has existed for 440 years in Spain and Mexico.
Here is a list of public Posadas in San Miguel de Allende, courtesy of San Miguel FAQ:
- December 16 : Corn Valley . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm
- December 17: Colonia San Luis Rey . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm
- December 18: Colonia San Rafael . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm
- December 19: Colonias Infonavit Allende . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm
- December 20: Colonia La Aurora . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm
- December 21: Colonia Allende . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm
- December 22: Colonia Guadalupe . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm (there will be Pastorela)
- December 23: Colonia San Felipe Neri . Atrium of the temple. 6:30 pm (there will be Pastorela)
- December 24: Historic Center . Nativity in the Main Garden. 6:30 pm
San Miguel’s tree lighting ceremony and holiday lights show kick off with a bang
Tonight was the official tree-lighting ceremony in San Miguel de Allende. As always with any ceremony here, that includes a bodacious fireworks display. The fireworks seemed to go on forever. What a sight!
All the white fairy lights in the park and those covering the seven streets entering into the public square were lit as well. As the Atencion newspaper put it this week: they “seem like a path of stars.”
Rose and I walked into the square (Jardine Principal) just as the countdown began.
What a show!
Scroll through the pictures and be sure to check out the videos at the end. Turn the volume up to 10!
Merry Christmas!
Continue readingEarly on a Friday morning in San Miguel de Allende, the Parroquia is for balletic pigeons
On a crisp Friday morning, bells peel, pigeons swoop and dive and disappear and return to encircle the spires of the Parroquia de Arc Angel Michael with a feathery halo, in San Miguel de Allende.
Poinsettias in the parque principal of Parroquia plaza, San Miguel de Allende
The main square in Centro, Jardin Allende, flows red with poinsettias — while in the trees above, white fairy lights twinkle after the sun sets. San Miguel de Allende awaits Christmas with color, beauty, eagerness, and joy.
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