Fiesta Patronal (by Todd)
We've been nutso here with the Fiesta Patronal (celebration of the patron saint of Talanga, who is San Diego). There have been processions, called "gremios" all week. For each procession, people march in from one or a few of the aldeas. They meet up with the Talangeños and then process from the outskirts of town to the church in the center. The processions follow a decorated pickup truck, bearing a statue of San Diego.
Today is the actual feast day of San Diego. The processions have been leading up to it all week. Yesterday was the "tope" - the really big procession the day before. They went all out. There was a pickup decorated with palm branches leaves and little girls dressed as angels passing out candy. Then there was an ox-driven cart loaded up with little kids dressed as campesinos. Then there was a big flat-bed truck with models of all of Talanga's traditional productions - they had a fake bread oven, a fake "fogon" (basically stove-top) for tortilla making, a machine for grinding sugar cane, and a fake oven to make "cal" - a traditional Honduran construction material made from stone. The models were all "manned" by little kids dressed up as Honduran campesinos. And the statue of San Diego was borne on a litter, carried by, of all people, four old ladies.
For the tope, the aldea that came was "La Ermita" the biggest of the aldeas that pertain to Talanga. They brought in a big tractor dragging a truck bed. The truck bed was super decorated with plants and arches of leaves, and little kids in beautiful dresses and suits, plus an image of Our Lady of Lourdes (who is La Ermita's patron; our Lady is the Virgin Mary, but Mary has about a million different incarnations especially in Latin America. Lourdes is one of them). From the arches dangled letters spelling out, "San Diego, Lourdes te saluda" (San Diego, Lourdes says hi).
The whole procession looked AMAZING and so beautiful. One of the things that I really liked is that in addition to being a celebration for a Catholic Saint, it was also a celebration of Honduran culture. All the decorations were themed around typical/traditional Honduran products and people. And these decorations were incredibly elegant - an enormous amount of work must have gone into them.
The Hondurans love setting off these explosives that make loud noises. They've been doing it all week at every procession and during every mass. Basically, they are just rolls of gunpowder that explode and make a big bang. There are two major types. "Carreras de Bombas" (runs of bombs) go on the ground and have about a dozen charges. You light a fuse and the bombs explode one by one = huge racket. The other type are called "cuetes." They launch into the air, and then have two explosions. The two explosions go off sequentially, anywhere from a split second to five seconds apart. And I don't know if I've made this clear - the sound is ENORMOUS from these things. If you're not expecting it, it makes you want to cover your head and hide.
The cuetes are used much more, because they explode in the air, so you don't need a big clear space to shoot them off. For the processions, they set them off about every five minutes. You always here a whistling, then the first explosion, and then you wait until you hear the second explosion that you know if coming.
This was a scary thing that happened: I was at the back of the procession before we started, complimenting the leader of the crowd from La Ermita on how beautiful their whole setup was. I heard a cuete go off, and I watched it shoot up. But instead of shooting off 50 or 100 feet into the air like it's supposed to, this one seemed to fizzle. The first explosion was only about 20 feet from the ground. I had a moment of utter horror, because I knew their was a second explosion coming, and that cuete wasn't going anywhere but down. I can't really describe the scaryness of it - the moment seemed to drag on for a long, long time, and all the while I was thinking, "where is it going to land?" There were people all around.
After what seemed like minutes, but was really only about five seconds, suddenly there was the explosion. It was on the Ermita flatbed, right next to this little five-year-old girl in a pink dress. There was a moment of silence, and then the little girl screamed and started crying and everybody rushed to her. I could see that the lower part of her dress was in tatters. Her mom grabbed her and started crying. A man picked her up and put her in a nearby car - as he carried her, I could see some flecks of blood on her arm, but I couldn't tell how badly she was hurt. They drove her off to the red cross."
I'll save you the suspense I had and tell you that she was just fine. The procession passed her about 30 minutes later, and I stopped by to see her. She just had some minor burns on her arms and legs, and a few dots where gunpowder had spattered onto her cheek. But no serious damage or scarring. She was just shaken up. I guess that for all that noise, the cuetes aren't that powerful, because the explosion couldn't have been more than two feet from her.
But it certainly cast a pall on the rear end of the procession. I was quite shaken up. All along, I'd been thinking how dangerous all these explosives seemed, and then, right in front of me, there was this worst nightmare scenario of what could happen. Geez. And I will never forget how those seconds just dragged on and on while I wondered where that explosion would land.
On a funnier note, the man who was in charge of the La Ermita cuetes (who did not send off the one that hurt the girl - that was someone else) seemed petrified of shooting them off for the rest of the procession. Poor guy.
It seems odd to now go back to describing the fiesta. But after finding out the little girl was fine, I was able to relax and enjoy the procession. There's actually not a whole lot more to describe.
When the procession got the church, there was a big mass. The altar was decorated BEAUTIFULLY with palm fronds and branches and an arch of leaves flowers. The church was packed - standing room only and people crowded out the doors. And of course, bombs and cuetes going off the whole time. During one part of mass (the offering of the gifts), they brought up a bunch of typical Honduran products (cane, bread, tortillas) to offer up to San Diego. Again, I thought it was a really nice celebration of Honduran culture as well as a religious service.
That night, there was a two hour sing-along/concert leading up to midnight. At midnight, they sang Happy Birthday to San Diego. At 4am this morning, there was a prayer service. Or so I'm told, because I did not actually attend :)
Then, lastly, there was another huge mass this morning at 10am. A bunch of priests from nearby towns came in to celebrate as well. And again, they offered up a bunch of typical Honduran products during mass. The church was even more packed, if you can believe it.
But I think with that, the religious part of the fiesta is over. There is still a carnival set up in lower Talanga for the rest of the week, complete with Ferris Wheel. And there's a stunt car show tomorrow. But it's been a fun (and busy) week.
Today is the actual feast day of San Diego. The processions have been leading up to it all week. Yesterday was the "tope" - the really big procession the day before. They went all out. There was a pickup decorated with palm branches leaves and little girls dressed as angels passing out candy. Then there was an ox-driven cart loaded up with little kids dressed as campesinos. Then there was a big flat-bed truck with models of all of Talanga's traditional productions - they had a fake bread oven, a fake "fogon" (basically stove-top) for tortilla making, a machine for grinding sugar cane, and a fake oven to make "cal" - a traditional Honduran construction material made from stone. The models were all "manned" by little kids dressed up as Honduran campesinos. And the statue of San Diego was borne on a litter, carried by, of all people, four old ladies.
For the tope, the aldea that came was "La Ermita" the biggest of the aldeas that pertain to Talanga. They brought in a big tractor dragging a truck bed. The truck bed was super decorated with plants and arches of leaves, and little kids in beautiful dresses and suits, plus an image of Our Lady of Lourdes (who is La Ermita's patron; our Lady is the Virgin Mary, but Mary has about a million different incarnations especially in Latin America. Lourdes is one of them). From the arches dangled letters spelling out, "San Diego, Lourdes te saluda" (San Diego, Lourdes says hi).
The whole procession looked AMAZING and so beautiful. One of the things that I really liked is that in addition to being a celebration for a Catholic Saint, it was also a celebration of Honduran culture. All the decorations were themed around typical/traditional Honduran products and people. And these decorations were incredibly elegant - an enormous amount of work must have gone into them.
The Hondurans love setting off these explosives that make loud noises. They've been doing it all week at every procession and during every mass. Basically, they are just rolls of gunpowder that explode and make a big bang. There are two major types. "Carreras de Bombas" (runs of bombs) go on the ground and have about a dozen charges. You light a fuse and the bombs explode one by one = huge racket. The other type are called "cuetes." They launch into the air, and then have two explosions. The two explosions go off sequentially, anywhere from a split second to five seconds apart. And I don't know if I've made this clear - the sound is ENORMOUS from these things. If you're not expecting it, it makes you want to cover your head and hide.
The cuetes are used much more, because they explode in the air, so you don't need a big clear space to shoot them off. For the processions, they set them off about every five minutes. You always here a whistling, then the first explosion, and then you wait until you hear the second explosion that you know if coming.
This was a scary thing that happened: I was at the back of the procession before we started, complimenting the leader of the crowd from La Ermita on how beautiful their whole setup was. I heard a cuete go off, and I watched it shoot up. But instead of shooting off 50 or 100 feet into the air like it's supposed to, this one seemed to fizzle. The first explosion was only about 20 feet from the ground. I had a moment of utter horror, because I knew their was a second explosion coming, and that cuete wasn't going anywhere but down. I can't really describe the scaryness of it - the moment seemed to drag on for a long, long time, and all the while I was thinking, "where is it going to land?" There were people all around.
After what seemed like minutes, but was really only about five seconds, suddenly there was the explosion. It was on the Ermita flatbed, right next to this little five-year-old girl in a pink dress. There was a moment of silence, and then the little girl screamed and started crying and everybody rushed to her. I could see that the lower part of her dress was in tatters. Her mom grabbed her and started crying. A man picked her up and put her in a nearby car - as he carried her, I could see some flecks of blood on her arm, but I couldn't tell how badly she was hurt. They drove her off to the red cross."
I'll save you the suspense I had and tell you that she was just fine. The procession passed her about 30 minutes later, and I stopped by to see her. She just had some minor burns on her arms and legs, and a few dots where gunpowder had spattered onto her cheek. But no serious damage or scarring. She was just shaken up. I guess that for all that noise, the cuetes aren't that powerful, because the explosion couldn't have been more than two feet from her.
But it certainly cast a pall on the rear end of the procession. I was quite shaken up. All along, I'd been thinking how dangerous all these explosives seemed, and then, right in front of me, there was this worst nightmare scenario of what could happen. Geez. And I will never forget how those seconds just dragged on and on while I wondered where that explosion would land.
On a funnier note, the man who was in charge of the La Ermita cuetes (who did not send off the one that hurt the girl - that was someone else) seemed petrified of shooting them off for the rest of the procession. Poor guy.
It seems odd to now go back to describing the fiesta. But after finding out the little girl was fine, I was able to relax and enjoy the procession. There's actually not a whole lot more to describe.
When the procession got the church, there was a big mass. The altar was decorated BEAUTIFULLY with palm fronds and branches and an arch of leaves flowers. The church was packed - standing room only and people crowded out the doors. And of course, bombs and cuetes going off the whole time. During one part of mass (the offering of the gifts), they brought up a bunch of typical Honduran products (cane, bread, tortillas) to offer up to San Diego. Again, I thought it was a really nice celebration of Honduran culture as well as a religious service.
That night, there was a two hour sing-along/concert leading up to midnight. At midnight, they sang Happy Birthday to San Diego. At 4am this morning, there was a prayer service. Or so I'm told, because I did not actually attend :)
Then, lastly, there was another huge mass this morning at 10am. A bunch of priests from nearby towns came in to celebrate as well. And again, they offered up a bunch of typical Honduran products during mass. The church was even more packed, if you can believe it.
But I think with that, the religious part of the fiesta is over. There is still a carnival set up in lower Talanga for the rest of the week, complete with Ferris Wheel. And there's a stunt car show tomorrow. But it's been a fun (and busy) week.
posted by at 11/12/2005 12:15:00 PM
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