In Mexico, Febuary 2nd is a festive holiday. It is a mixture of past pre-Hispanic and present Catholic beliefs. One of twelve festive holidays, it falls forty days after Christmas. The action for this celebration starts on January 6th, King’s Day. A sweet bread, Rosca de Reyes is filled with small figurines of baby Jesus. If you bite into one of these figurines, you must share in the preparation of tamales and atole for Dia da la Candelaria. In Pre-Hispanic tradition, villagers brought corn to the church to receive the blessing for the corn seed planted and the hope of a plentiful harvest. Here in this village, Guayabitos, we attend mass and picnic on the beach. Others are more attentive putting a figurine of baby Jesus in a special niche after taking him to mass. If you chose to keep the baby Jesus at your house be prepared for visitors and to share your food. This commitment is for a year.
Pagans celebrate this day as a midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. We celebrate it as Groundhog day. This morning the groundhog cast his shadows: three out of five times seeing its shadow. So we will have 6 more weeks of winter in Canada. Anything new there?
Back to sketching in my Venezia by Fabrino.
Passage via Jacqueline Hotel
Water fountain, town square
Waiting for a sale
Well done. It must be quiet with the holiday is over.
Party is not over..always fun to be had here.