this weekend were the fiestas patronales in las delicias - the once-a-year saint's day festival. bigger than christmas. bigger than easter. eclipses valentine's day, or at least collaborates with it. i must break this event into two blog posts because of the overwhelming amount of stimulating text and photos.
the med students who are here this month were all invited to be madrinas de cinta, or godmothers, for the festival's horse games. i too was a madrina. most of the madrinas are little girls dressed up in poufy glittery lacy gowns. all madrinas wear sashes with their names on them. the madrinas also bring little gifts for the winners of the horse games.
the horse riders hold a small pin and gallop towards a high wire where they try to thread the pin through a tiny ring. whoever threads the needle is a winner and receives a sash and a gift from a madrina. this one guy won excessively and had a great many sashes from little girls, and i don't want to read too much into that symbolism. the madrinas sometimes sit on the horse and have their picture taken with the winner (and the delighted horse). i obviously did this.
the games started about an hour and a half late because the guy who was supposed to announce didn't show up for a while. they lasted about two or three hours because there were a ton of madrinas. at the end they were doing two madrinas per winner. the women running the event were all wearing fishnet stockings, which apparently was the only element they all agreed on as far as a uniform. i was thinking that those must be hard to put on because they are basically made of holes.
kenia was also a madrina. i stayed at her house the night before and in the morning her aunt straightened her hair and then decided that she must do mine as well to be a proper madrina. she made a zigzag part in it. during this process, they asked me again about whether i went to church. i said no. but they said, of course you believe in god, right? and i said no. they reacted as though i had just confessed to murdering a child. i could lie and say yes but then that would not be true. well, how do you think the world started, they asked. do you believe that science stuff? yes, i said. shocked silence. conversation over. anyway, i wore my hair down for nearly an hour, but then i had to eat some pupusas and that was the end of that.
ok, pictures time.
the med students who are here this month were all invited to be madrinas de cinta, or godmothers, for the festival's horse games. i too was a madrina. most of the madrinas are little girls dressed up in poufy glittery lacy gowns. all madrinas wear sashes with their names on them. the madrinas also bring little gifts for the winners of the horse games.
the horse riders hold a small pin and gallop towards a high wire where they try to thread the pin through a tiny ring. whoever threads the needle is a winner and receives a sash and a gift from a madrina. this one guy won excessively and had a great many sashes from little girls, and i don't want to read too much into that symbolism. the madrinas sometimes sit on the horse and have their picture taken with the winner (and the delighted horse). i obviously did this.
the games started about an hour and a half late because the guy who was supposed to announce didn't show up for a while. they lasted about two or three hours because there were a ton of madrinas. at the end they were doing two madrinas per winner. the women running the event were all wearing fishnet stockings, which apparently was the only element they all agreed on as far as a uniform. i was thinking that those must be hard to put on because they are basically made of holes.
kenia was also a madrina. i stayed at her house the night before and in the morning her aunt straightened her hair and then decided that she must do mine as well to be a proper madrina. she made a zigzag part in it. during this process, they asked me again about whether i went to church. i said no. but they said, of course you believe in god, right? and i said no. they reacted as though i had just confessed to murdering a child. i could lie and say yes but then that would not be true. well, how do you think the world started, they asked. do you believe that science stuff? yes, i said. shocked silence. conversation over. anyway, i wore my hair down for nearly an hour, but then i had to eat some pupusas and that was the end of that.
ok, pictures time.
a little madrina
please note that my name is written on my sash in glitter glue
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