Mexico Fiesta: Corpus Christi

11 June 2009: Last night we went to the Fiesta of "Corpus" in Tzintzuntzan, a nearby pueblo that with Pátzcuaro and Ihuatzio formed the three major centers of the pre-conquest Purépecha empire. We went with a new artist friend who lives in Zirahuen and met a young friend from Minneapolis, who has just graduated from the U. of Minnesota in Multicultural Studies (más o menos -- maybe Cross Cultural Studies; in any event she spent five months in Bangladesh and is as hooked on Mexican culture as we are). Here's my account of the Fiesta.

Feast of Corpus Cristi (Body of Christ): Established in the thirteenth century by Pope Urban IV, Corpus Cristi honors the presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. In Pátzcuaro and surrounding pueblos, this 100-year old local celebration of Corpus rests on an older indigenous festival of thanksgiving for the bounties of the past year while seeking blessing on the new plantings about to begin.

Corpus is a joyous festival aptly described as a “Happening” (“Rejuego”). The eyes of our young friend Rubén sparkled when we told him we were going to Corpus: "Oh, Corpus is my favorite fiesta because it is so happy."

In Tzintzuntzan the Fiesta is held in the Atrio of its two colonial churches. The Atrio -- possibly unique in Mexico -- is a walled, maybe 2-3 acre, park with 400-year old olive trees planted by the first Spanish bishop. The altars are set up along a broad stone path that flows around the perimeter of the Atrio.

Today, Corpus has been expanded to include blessing the work, including folkart, produced by the various pueblos. Each pueblo or each association builds an altar with flowers, candles and some representation of their work. One altar was for the taxistas; another for tortillas; another for pottery, for fishing, etc. There were probably a dozen altars in all.

The fiesta has two parts: religious and indigenous.

Religious: After celebrating Mass in one of the two churches, the priest carries a cross containing the Host (glassed-in wafer placed in the space where horizontal and vertical meet) and leads a Procession of the Faithful along the perimeter path, stopping to give a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing at each altar. A different band (brass, clarinets and drums) announces the priest's arrival at and departure from the altars -- oh, and did I mention the cohetes (rocket firecrackers)? You know you're in Mexico when really big firecrackers are set off -- more or less randomly.

Savor the scene: Imagine a 400-year old park set against colonial churches (one topped by a Moorish dome), women and children dressed in colorful "trajes tradicionales" (indigenous dress),

the priest leading the procession, various bands playing more or less at the same time (giving an entire new meaning to the notion of cacaphony), firecrackers going off randomly -- oh, and I guess I forgot the dancing horses, one cow and various and sundry stray dogs! Folks, we ain't never seen nothin' like this in the good ole U.S. of A. -- not now, not ever! Anyway, moving on....

Indigenous Celebration of Thanksgiving: To give thanks for blessings received in the past year, vendors, many wearing traditional Purépecha dress, toss their wares to bystanders (their customers, la gente). The excitement of giving and receiving leads to quite a bit of good-natured running and jostling -- especially by but not restricted to the preteens. Reed described the scene as "barely controlled chaos." I watched it all from the middle of the Atrio with my back against a huge tree!

Also, we'd noticed huge pots cooking over wood fires, stirred constantly by young men using very long wooden spoons. It turns out they were cooking Atole, a thick drink made from young corn and seasoned with fruit. It was delicious -- and it was served free to everyone!

This reminded me again that Mexican fiestas are communal undertakings -- created by the people of the pueblo, for all the people -- even foreigners. Vendors were selling their wares, including food, outside the walls of the Atrio, but inside everything was free -- part of the celebration of thanksgiving and request for blessing for the work of the coming year.

But that's not all! The final event centered on a greased, 25' tree - it looked like a telephone pole with some branches on top - decorated with more "wares" -- including a metal washtub, fruit and various plastic bowls, pitchers, etc. Adolescent and young men were challenged to climb this pole in order to get the goods anchored above. Much high hilarity.

After an absolutely spectacular sunset that had bathed the entire scene in a golden rose light, Mother Nature called in Thunder and Lightening to signal Day's End for these expats. We left tired and deeply satisfied by sharing this community celebration.