i love a parade

And that is good -- because Mexico is a champion at putting them on.

People with purpose walking through our streets is quite common. The most notable, of course, are the religious processions celebrating the feast days of a long line of saints. We just finished celebrating the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- the patron saint of Mexico.

But we also have plenty of secular celebrations. The parades celebrating Independence Day and Revolution Day include school kids dressed as Pancho Villa, Miguel Hidalgo, and Venustiano Carranza -- sometimes bleeding over into each other's day.

If measured by participation as marchers and spectators, the Independence and Revolution parades are the star attractions of our little community. Yesterday, the town put on a much smaller parade for Christmas. But, like all small town productions the world over, it had its own quirky feel of fun.

No one has been able to tell me the genesis of this parade. Who started it and why. Christmas parades are simply not traditional in Mexico. There are plenty of Mexican traditions surrounding Christmas. Parades are not one of them. Of course, Our Lady of Guadalupe was also an import.

The reason I love parades is that it is a target-rich environment for photographers. There is always a vibrancy at the staging area when the marchers are burning adrenaline faster than my brother can eat pie.

The problem is catching people unaware. Most of these marchers are veterans, and they love the camera. Candid shots are next to impossible.

I really do not recall how large the parade was in previous years. But this year's event had just a handful of entrants.

What parade would be complete without women on bikes leading it?

Or an automated Santa float complete with sleigh and reindeer? Followed by a mob of his rambunctious elves.

Those elves have been the center piece of each Christmas parade I have watched. Dancing. Smiling. Showing off. They provided about 90% of the energy of the whole parade.

But they were not alone. What Mexican parade would be complete without a group that looked as if it was consciously trolling for one of those cease and desist letters from Disney? The group was fun. And that says a lot about Disney's legal department.

And there were northerners. Because the vast majority of northern tourists, expatriates, and immigrants here are Canadian, this portion of the parade had a distinctive maple leaf feel to it.

Starting with the Barrachas y Barrachos -- a group that raises money each year for a number of causes. And, yes, that is really their name.

Followed by my acquaintances Larry and Carri in their jeep.

This candy distribute was a perfect example of the parade's spirit.

And what parade would be complete without commercial entrants? Such as, Cruz, where I take my oft-dented Escape for repair.

Someone is going to accuse me of staging this photograph. I wish I had thought of it as I was shooting. But, I didn't. The float is from Primera Plus/Coordinados -- a long-distance bus company. Shot right in front of their premises.

I heard someone disparagingly refer to Barra de Navidad the other day as a one-horse town. Well, the parade was a one-horse parade. Bikes and horses.

And who came to see this home-town production? The mix was about 50-50 Mexican and northerners. My church-buddies Dennis and Darlene were representative of the people who watched the fun roll by.

I was talking with a northern tourist just before the parade. I apologized for cutting our conversation short, telling her I needed to go get some shots. She started a lecture about northerners ruining Mexican traditions. I know that drill, and I am a bit sympathetic to the argument.

But Mexico's culture is like every culture the world over. People pick up things they like from, other cultures and make it their own. Americans adopted Christmas trees and trick-or-treating from other cultures. Mexico has done the same thing with other things. Cultures are sponges.

What I do know is that Mexicans enjoy the fun that comes with life. And that is the lesson we can all take away from yesterday's parade. We can be curmudgeons and Scrooge our fellow men -- or we can enjoy the moments as they come.

I am with the elves. As they marched off into the dark last night, I thanked them for sharing their spirit with me. Especially, knowing they will be back next year.

Feliz Navidad.