In this monthly series, we republish a few of the headlines from our November editions 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
1972
Thanksgiving—Huichol style
Thirty-five minutes in a tiny plane over jagged peaks and bottomless barrancas. Two hours more by mule over spectacular mountain trails.
Half an hour on foot through fields of golden flowers. And there it was—the Fiesta del Elote, the Thanksgiving prayer meeting of the Huichol Indians. It was October 17, in a place called Poptita in the municipality of Mezquitic, Jalisco.
The celebrants were in a circle, sitting on the ground in front of the round stone temple with its high grass roof. There was the maraakame, the Huichol shaman, slouched down in his priest’s chair with his hat over his eyes, chanting poetic prayers of thanks to the ancient Huichol gods. In his hand were two muwieris, the feathered wands that bless, heal, baptize and summon souls from the dead. Beside him were the assistants who repeated each of his verses as he composed the next one. The Huichol drum, made of a hollow log with a deerskin stretched on top, was wreathed with marigolds. A fourth priest beat it with his open hands in a ceaseless, throbbing rhythm.
Opposite the priests were the offerings, a mound of color. There were ears of corn with marigolds thrust in their silk ends. There were orange squashes, tamales on little plates, colored gourds filled with tejuino, the Huichol corn beer. On a squared-off arch of wood there were praying arrows that pointed east toward the sun in the morning, west toward the sun after noon. And there were the batons wrapped in red cloth that accompany every Huichol ceremony. In two semi-circles from the priests to the offerings sat the children with gourd rattles they solemnly shook in time to the drum. In front of each of them stood a tiny god’s eye and two muwieris. In back of them sat their parents, holding the wrists of the tiniest children to help them shake their rattles.
The men were in their finest embroidered clothes, many with red bordered shoulder-capes, some with peyote pilgrims’ hats, bristling with feathers. The women were in every vivid color known to Mexico, all with the loose bright headscarves that make them look Biblical. They had painted their lips and sometimes across their noses, with the reddest of lipstick.
And with all the color, there was constant movement. The priests moving in with their muwieris to bless the offerings. The principal shaman standing tall and impressive, pointing his muwieris to the sky of the north, the south, the east, the west. One of the priests with flowers on his hat blessing the children and their parents with water shaken from a giant marigold. The children of seven, escorted by their parents, rounding the circle and shaking hands with all the younger children. They were saying goodbye, for they are now too old to take part in another fiesta.
The fiesta lasted until the next morning. The children keep shaking their rattles all though the day. The grownups dance all through the night. Nobody eats or drinks very much. A deer or bull-calf is sacrificed late in the afternoon. All the offerings are taken into the temple, to be cooked in the morning for a glorious feast of venison, or beef, tamales, pozole, roasted squash, corn and enough tejuino to handle everyone. And up to the time of eating, all day and all night, never stopping, without rest, the principal shaman keeps up improvising prayers of thanks in lofty, elegant Huichol.
It is possibly the longest blessing a Thanksgiving dinner ever has.
—Catherine Finerty
1982
14 new fountains
With the completion of Plaza Tapatia in downtown Guadalajara, the city now has an additional 14 fountains to add to 123 already gracing the glorietas, parks and plazas throughout the City of Roses. According to Ricardo Oceguerra, head of the office of fountains and monuments, it takes four teams of maintenance personnel working around the clock to maintain the fountains. One of the biggest problems which confront these crews is repairing damage done by vandals and cleaning up the trash which careless residents through into the man-made springs. The water in each of the fountains must be changed every 30 days and each fountain must be regularly cleaned.
1992
US citizen deported
Larry Greccov, a longtime Ajijic resident and well-known figure in the foreign community, was deported from Mexico in mid-November. Greccov was anonymously reported to Immigration authorities for allegedly running a beauty salon in his Ajijic home.
After being taken to a Mexico City holding center, Greccov was placed on a bus to Laredo, Texas. According to an immigration office source, he was told he must petition the Secretariat of the Interior though the nearest Mexican Consulate, for permission to return to Mexico. The source said that if he did try to return before permission is granted he could face a ten-year jail sentence.
Greccov is known for his numerous appearances in Lakeside Little Theatre productions and for being a tireless worker for local charities.
Several reports suggest another ten people who are known to be working illegally in the Chapala area are on an Immigration “hit list.”
Greccov had been repeatedly warned that he was running the risk of being deported.
2002
Babies get warm gift
Polly Carroll, the force behind the now-famous Tlachichilco quilt project, is has celebrated her birthday for the last six years by taking 50 layettes to Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil, which caters to economically challenged Mexican citizens without health insurance. Each packet has one crib-sized warm blanket, two receiving blankets, two cloth diapers and clothing, usually sacques or gowns.
“Can you believe that many of those babies go home wrapped only in newspaper?” she asked. “I’m sure I was warm when my mother carried me out of the hospital where I was born.”
Fifty may sound like a lot of layettes, but Carroll says this number covers only two wards out of seven for one day.
Carroll is by no means the only contributor of layettes to the hospital. The Junior League of Guadalajara has operated a similar program for many years.
The Gateway Baptist Church in Houston, Texas sent Carroll 100 receiving blankets, hand carried across the border by Betina Torbron on her way home from a visit. Carroll says that Mexican customs now allows clothing to be brought in from Canada and the U.S. “As long as you tell them it’s for the Hospital Civil, they’ll let you bring it in.”
2012
Wolf bites kid at zoo
A two-year-old child suffered a broken arm after being bitten by a wolf in the Guadalajara Zoo November 19. Luis Angel Dominguez Garcia was bitten after putting his arm inside the enclosure of the endangered Mexican wolf. The boys mother, Alondra Rubi Garcia, 17, and her boyfriend German Alonso, 25, managed to pull his arm from the wolf’s jaw, before rushing him to be treated by Green Cross paramedics. Zoo officials blamed the incident on the neglect of the child’s mother and her boyfriend, noting that each enclosure has regulations that visitors must follow for safety reasons.