And Morelia is a great place in which to celebrate. After all, this is the home town (when it was called Valladolid) of both José Morelos and Agustín de Iturbide -- two of the heroes of the war. Even the highly-overrated Miguel Hidalgo was educated here.
As a result of the hand grenade incident in 2008, security in Morelia is tight on celebration days. To avoid delays at security points, I left my camera behind. Relying, instead on the camera in my telephone. With, as you can see, some mixed results.
We arrived in the historical center in mid-afternoon. My plan was to stay for the governor's grito -- an updated version of Miguel Hidalgo's 1810 call to arms. With plenty of time on our hands, we first stopped at Morelia's casa de las artesanias.
It is tempting to call the place a Pottery Barn on steroids. But it is far more than that. All of the pieces are created by craftsmen -- with a wide range of quality and prices.
I have always enjoyed these painted tables.
Even something as practical as a fish platter can be a piece of art. This one is probably better suited to display on a wall than under a grilled dorado.
And if a visitor did not want to buy furniture or pottery, there were plenty of vendors selling future memories of this Independence Day. Including this fellow who was selling mustaches, wigs, and patriotic eyelashes.
We lunched at Restaurante Lu -- taking our time to enjoy the increasing activity.
Young troubadours gathered across the street. Children in ambiguous independence/revolutionary costumes strolled by. Two pairs of nuns headed off in different directions. And plenty of security forces from all of the multifarious Mexican police branches made their presence known.
Including this group of police dogs that looked more like sniffer dogs than crowd controllers. Even though I would not have wanted to tussle with a couple of the rottweilers.
The dogs and the police were there to make us feel a bit more secure. But we were not to forget the people who died and were wounded in 2008. A new plaque on the plaza was recently dedicated to them where they were cut down.
This night was planned as a two-fer. The grito was supposed to occur at 11. And the governor's balcony was ablaze for the event.
Saturday is also the night the cathedral lighting takes place. I was looking forward to that.
If you think that last sentence should be followed by a contrasting "but," you would be correct. Just as the clock was ticking near show time, the weather decided to take a turn for the worse.
Thunder. Lightning. Rain. Lots of rain. That sent the crowd scurrying for cover.
After a bit of consultation (taking into account my lingering head cold), we decided to call it a night.
As I write this, I can hear the fireworks (and what sounds disturbingly like automatic rifle fire) kicking off this 202nd celebration of Mexican independence.
Or is it? Later this month, we will discuss whether mid-September is the proper date to celebrate.
But that is for another day.
Today, it is a good day to simply say: Happy Birthday, Mexico.
Thanks for reminding me of the Casa de las Artesanías. I haven't been in there in a couple of years. Great place. The prices are little higher than normal, but no matter.
ReplyDeleteThe plate is some nice work.
ReplyDeleteI have gone there on each of my visits to Morelia. They always have some nice stuff -- none of which I need.
ReplyDeleteIt really is. The detail is stunning.
ReplyDeleteOh, Steve, one does not "need" art.
ReplyDeleteThe time required to make up that plate by a pro would run to hours, three to five firings in the kiln would be my guess for the glaze and body construct.
ReplyDeleteI've often thought how many similarities there are between Morelia and Mérida (weather is NOT one of them) but the celebration of fiestas patrias certainly is... Although this was not my first time at the plaza on September 15th, I was struck anew by the joyous ways the Mexican people commemorate their past... They also live so fully in the present... And are eternal optomists about the future. What an example to follow!
ReplyDeleteWhy in the world would you say Miguel Hidalgo is "highly overrated". Your sarcasm and cynicism lately is not like you. WHAT is going on?
ReplyDeleteYou got me there. I have long had this romantic notion that art seeks the viewer. In my new non-acquisition mode, though, I no longer consummate the relationship.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds about right to me. I did not look at the price -- for fear that I would buy it.
ReplyDeleteNot many things unify a country a diverse as Mexico, but Independence Day certainly does. Even though most of the tales are myths, they contain national truths that unite all Mexicans at a certain level.
ReplyDeleteI simply fall in line with most historians who now realize that Hidalgo loved the notion of Lockean liberal democracy, but he started the independence drive with inadequate preparation out of panic and then inflamed the local population with his "death to the Spaniards" grito. His audience took him literally, and he was appalled at the subsequent massacres. Not knowing what to do next, he called off his march on Mexico City just as victory was in his grasp. Had Allende not arrested him, the whole movement would have collapsed right then.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, by that time, the military equation had turned in favor of the Spanish. Hidalgo bears a good deal of the responsibility for both his and Allende's heads being displayed in public after their execution -- and for leaving the independence movement to drag on for over a decade until the turncoat Iturbide could strike a deal with the Spanish..
He should be remembered for being a brilliant thinker. But as a hero of the military side of independence, he was a disaster. Had he followed Allende's lead, independence might have been a possibility a decade earlier -- and with far fewer deaths.
Nice last picture--tranquility...
ReplyDeleteI don't know what books you've been reading but that certainly is not what I've read. Some day we'll have a conversation in private about the subject and I'll tell you what I've read..........
ReplyDeleteThank you. I Iike that shot.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to it.
ReplyDeleteAgustin de Iturbide -- now, he's the real hero of Independencia! And no one gives him any due.
ReplyDeleteLater this month, I will do a post on him.
ReplyDeleteI have been told that, in Mexico, the firing of automatic weapons is an acceptable substitute for firecrackers when the latter is not at hand.
ReplyDeleteSorry your celebrations were washed out. Morelia is such a wonderful place to be for those kinds of festivities.
ReplyDeleteLife will offer other celebrations. I doubt I would have stuck around, though, as a result of my head cold.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of the wonderful time I had celebrating the Independence and Bicentenario in DF in 2010, with F, his sister, Gary Dennis of Mexile fame, and the lovely Mrs. P.
ReplyDelete¡Viva México Cabrones!
Kim G
Boston, MA
Where we kind of regret not being in DF for this year's celebration.
That would have been a fun crowd. When will you back in country? I need to get to Mexico City before too long.
ReplyDelete