The Virgin of Guadalupe parade at Concepción de Buenos Aires: Part 2 of 2

A lone devotee prays at the chapel of the Virgen de Guadalupe. The flower-bedecked chapel is located in the Parroquia (parish church) on the Plaza, which was the end point of the parade. The Virgen de Guadalupe is not only a powerful religious symbol in Mexico but has great political and historical significance. In 1810, a banner with her image was chosen by Miguel Hidalgo, the Father of Mexican Independence, as his battle standard. 

In Part 2 of this series, I will show you the parade held in her honor on December 12 at Concepción de Buenos Aires. I'll wind up this posting with a great little spot for lunch, should you choose to visit this pueblo in the future. To locate the town, check out the map and directions I provide in Part 1.

The Virgen de Guadalupe Parade

A tractor from a local farm towed the lead float. Everything about the parade was obviously put together by the local people with great care and devotion. Nothing about it pandered to foreigners like us. All that made the experience even more interesting and downright charming.

View of the lead float from its rear. Almost hidden by the mounds of flowers, a lone charro stands watch over the statue in the front of the float. The Virgen de Guadalupe is nearly always portrayed in exactly the same posture and clothing. She first appeared to a Christianized Aztec man near Mexico City in 1531. Everything about her image and the legends that surround her carries both Catholic and pre-hispanic pagan meanings. 

A second float carried a live tableau. A woman kneels reverently before a young girl who is dressed as the Virgin. Mexicans are very attracted to religious pageantry and living tableaux. Sometimes, living actors even portray inanimate statues.

Children are often incorporated into the tableaux. Rural communities like Concepción de Buenos Aires are deeply religious. While parades like this are entertaining for everyone, there is always an underlying seriousness to these kinds of religious events.

In the back of the second float, another tableau. A pretty young mom and her daughter ride quietly by a spectator watching the parade. The mom gave me a Mona Lisa smile but her little girl looked a bit concerned by my photographic efforts.

And here come the charros. These were the last three in the line of horsemen, but certainly not the least. The streamers they ride under are in the colors of the Mexican flag. Along with the music, it was this set of streamers that originally attracted our attention to the point far down the street from the Plaza where the parade had originally gathered.

The local band brought up the rear. The group was made up of two drummers, a pair of saxophonists, one trumpeter and a tuba player sporting a large blue instrument. They banged and tootled along merrily, if somewhat off key at times. 

A cohetero prepares to fire. A cohete is a small rocket, about the size of a cigar, attached to a long stick. They are lit off by men known as coheteros, who are ubiquitous at fiestas of all kinds. Their rockets don't set off a visual display, other than the small cloud of smoke that appears when they explode high in the sky. The main effect is the deafening blast. Individually, this is startling but tolerable. However, when shot off in a barrage, the effect is akin to the Battle of Stalingrad. 

Small groups of spectators gathered  to watch. Multiple generations crowded together in doorways and storefronts. I particularly liked the little girl who wears a huge heart on her chest.

A castillo lies on its side in front of the Parroquia at the Plaza. A castillo (castle) is a pyrotechnic structure that vaguely resembles a Christmas tree. To erect it, a street will sometimes be dug up and the center post set in the ground. In this case, the castillo has a cross- piece to rest upon when it is upright. It will become the focus of the fiesta this evening.

The structure is festooned with small rockets that are interconnected by fuses. When the castillo is lit off, the many small circular devices connected to it will spin wildly, propelled by the rockets attached to them. The whole affair will be quite a spectacle as it showers sparks in every direction. However, we will be long gone by then.

Lunch at El Tio Lucas Bar and Restaurant

Jerry approaches Tio Lucas Bar and Restaurant. In Spanish, Tio Lucas means "Uncle Luke". The one-story brick structure occupies the corner of the Plaza at Calles Aquiles Serdán and Álvaro Obregón. I found it a little odd that the structure is entirely brick since wood is so heavily used in this town. The style suggests a 19th century creation.

A bearded barman, presumably Tio Lucas, sat ready to take any orders. The restaurant-bar was very cozy and homey. While our waiter didn't speak English, we knew enough Spanish to read the menu and order without difficulty. Photos of local people covered the walls. Some were of charros, while others were of local school sports teams and families celebrating various rural events.

Jerry opens a dish of hot tortillas as we get ready to dive into lunch. The tasty menu mainly listed traditional Mexican dishes. These included the usual standards of enchiladas and tacos, along with salads and frijoles, but there were also some local specialties. Tio Lucas is definitely a good spot for a meal during a visit here.

The masks Lori and Carole are wearing were due to the heightened level of covid-19 in the area during December. Quite a number of our friends and acquaintances came down with it at the time. I wear one too, when in crowds or confined spaces like this. Better safe than sorry.

This friendly pair agreed to a photo as I passed through the Plaza. The guy is probably the abuelo (grandpa) of the young girl. He looks like a prosperous local farmer, in town for the big event. I get some of my best "people" shots when I encounter folks sitting in plazas like this. They almost never say "no" to a photo.

This concludes Part 2 of my series on Concepción de Buenos Aires and completes the series itself. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, you will leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. Please remember that if you leave a question, you need to include your email address so that I can respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim