Events

The Day of the Dead is November 2nd. But there are many events before that date, including the Thriller Dance, parades, music, races and games. But the 2nd is the biggest event. I celebrated it at the Ajijic Plaza. It lasted for many hours. Here are just a few photos from it. Face painting Different booths were set up to paint faces of the crowd. I arrived around three in the afternoon and there...

The final day of the festivities was on Independence Day, Monday, September the 16th at ten in the morning. That means exactly ten in the morning. One year I arrived a few minutes late and it was already two blocks down the road. This parade always starts on time. I wonder if it has anything to do with all the teachers involved. Mother and child The parade is mostly made up of children marching with...

The final event of the week long Independence Day celebrations was the Combate de Flores (flower war). It was held in the Ajijic plaza at six in the evening on September the 16th, Independence Day. Princess visiting War of the flowers couldn't have been further from it's name. It was a peaceful, low key gathering, especially appreciated after the previous sometimes overwhelming events. Maybe because...

The Independence Day (Fiestas Patrias) celebrations went on for over a week. Starting September 7th with the coronation of the queen and ending September 16th, Independence Day, with the parade. I only made it to a few of them. I missed the flag raising ceremony at six in the morning, the coronation of the queen, the ballet folkloric, the reading of El Grito proclamation at eleven thirty at night, the...

The 2018 Thriller the World, TTW, Dance was held this year on Saturday, October 27th. It is always the Saturday before Halloween. There were a hundred participants. The age range was from 85 years old down to 4 years old. I am not sure yet, but they may have broken a world record for the group of oldest Thriller dancers in the world. Practice They had been practicing for many weeks for the dance,...

The Rebozo Fashion Show was held in the Ajijic Plaza the evening of September 9th, 2018.  I always enjoy seeing the women in their beautiful rebozos. In English, rebozo means shawl. So this event is to celebrate the shawls. And the women. It was supposed to start at six in the evening but they were on Mexican time, meaning an hour and a half later. In the meantime, I walked around the plaza taking photos....

Once again as every year and by far the most popular event, this Saturday, September 8, 2018, was the Globos traditional regatta. It launched off paper mache balloons and the beginning of the ten day Mexican Independence celebrations. The crowds that attends this wonderful tradition grows year by year, as do the size of the balloons. This year's Access Lake Chapala balloon was over 13 meters long. The...

Palm Sunday was on March 25th this year. I went to the same celebration last year and wrote about it then. But every year it is a bit different. It is also called Verbena Sunday. Verbena means a dance/celebration, or agricultural event. It is actually a fund raising event to pay for the Passion Play. Sign This event had small and large stands set up all around the Ajijic Plaza with signs above Palm...

After a few months of the rainy season, the Globos Festival kicks off many holidays and hopefully, less rain. Bring on the sunshine! I am ready. And this was one of the prettiest days of the Globos I have ever experienced. There were no signs of rain. Just fluffy white clouds. It was perfect for sending up the fantastic paper mache creations. The first two photos are of the ones belonging to...

Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday in French. The first recorded Mardi Gras was in 1699. The first one in the United States was in Mobile, Alabama, started by a Frenchman named Nicolas Langlois, in 1703. The date changes every year in accordance with Easter and the beginning of Lent. This year it was on March 28th. The next day, Wednesday, is called Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent. Lent lasts until...