Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Hundreds of proud schoolchildren on the march were the focus of the morning parade celebrating El Dia de la Independencia in Guanajuato.
Many units were led by Father Hidalgos, all sporting the same skull caps with shocks of white hair framing the bald pate associated with the man famed for uttering the cry for independence, El Grito, in 1810.
Following the path of an ancient aqueduct through the city led us to Museo de Arte Olga Costa-Jose Chavez Morado. Tree-shaded grounds surround the former home of the artists, married in Mexico City in 1935.
Olga Kostakowsky Falvisant (1913-1993) was born in Germany to Russians who had fled there to avoid persecution prior to World War I. Her family of Jewish origin sought safety in Mexico by 1925. Olga attended an arts school for three months in 1933 before withdrawing to help support the family. But the exposure to instruction from Carlos Merida and meaningful encounters with a fellow student, Jose Chavez Morado (1909-2002), altered the course of her life.
Morado, on the younger end of the generation of great Mexican muralists, taught art and among his murals are those found in Alhondiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato. Both painting, the couple was swept up in the movement of the Mexican Communist party and were regarded as important contributors to and patrons of the arts throughout their lives.
Dancers pranced to beats of drums and high-pitched flutes all day yesterday in a street below the house where we are staying. We’re not sure it is an official holy day, but the neighborhood participants treat it as such.
Flowers adorned the altar in the Capilla Santa Casa de Loreto, dedicated to the Annunciation in the home the Virgin inhabited when the angel Gabriel revealed her impending delivery of El Nino. While Candelaria in January is regarded as the holy day when the faithful bring their small Nino statues dressed in new finery to churches for blessing, in Guanajuato the ceremony is replicated in front of the altar during this festive event marking the anniversary of the consecration of the chapel in 1854. Although some let me peek inside their baskets, we didn’t feel comfortable asking anyone for permission to photograph the lacily attired Ninos they cradled so proudly.
And, of course, music, food and firecrackers warmed up the crowd in advance of the major pyrotechnical displays at 9 o’clock. The experts toiled to assemble a monumental castillo of fireworks throughout the afternoon.
We were viewing the altar when the shrill sounds of the whirling wheels of light first began. Along with many of those heeding the call to exit the church, we watched from the steps. The Mister began filming with the camera.
First lesson learned: Do not hold the camera vertically when shooting because we do not have the software downloaded to rotate it 90 degrees. For this reason, the images of the fireworks were snatched from frames of the video and turned for viewing.
Second lesson: When a lone bombero appears beside you in fireproof clothing, lowers his visor and nervously glances upward, MOVE. Even if relocating means you must stop filming just as the swirling halo of the announcing angel perched atop the castillo rockets upward into the dark night sky.
Cascades of sparkling fireworks showered down upon us from the rooftop of Capilla Santa de Loreto. This display was followed by the finale of explosions of light set off above. The video captures some of the first sparkling showers.
Postcards from Barton Springs 