Xico is in the midst of celebrating its Fiesta de Santa Maria Magdalena which runs from July 18 to July 26 It is a big, extravagant, noisy affair with everything from deeply religious ceremonies and processions and rituals to a bull run, bull fights, endless food and drink, dancing, firecrackers, carny rides, and a sawdust carpet running the entire length of the main street thrown in. It is Xico's "honey season,"* the time when the order and control and work of every day are cast aside for eight days at least, and to some extent for the whole month of July.
This year, we took some friends from the US to see the carpet, the alfombra, on July 19, the day it was being made. This day tends towards the more sedate as Xiqueños work on complicated designs and people watch. The finished alfombra is deliberately destroyed by the procession bearing Maria Magdalena up to the church.
Designs on each section of the rug make reference to Xiqueño themes. Some are church-y or at least reflect a formal Spanish-influence which can be seen in the main church of Xico, devoted to Maria Magdalena:
Maria Magdalena appears in some -- this is the version of her which this year adorns many doorways, framed by designs made by the inhabitants of the houses.
In this one, Maria Magdalena is seen in procession up to the church on the carpet. You can also see a rendering of the Texolo waterfall just outside Xico.
The bulls get their picture in in the form of a bull tossing a human participant in the running of the bulls. See NOTE below for update.
The processions always include many groups of people dancing along with a fake bull in a cage which one or more of the dancers carry on his shoulders. The cages are armed with cohetes, rockets, which go off very noisily during processions and all kinds of other random-seeming times. You can see one in the carpet, too. The dancers wear cowbells and often wave branches.
Clowns show up in a number of places, including in la alfombra:
Clown and clown masks:
In these designs above, it might seem that the colonial heritage dominates, but it is not really so. Xico's past is long indeed. Below are a couple of representations from it.
I don't know the exact origin of these particular drawings, but I do know that they definitely relate to Xico's prehispanic past, which was quite extensive.
The area in which the present Xico and the original Xico, now Xico Viejo are found was first inhabited something like 800 years before the common era (BC). From then till about 100 common era (AD), the inhabitants developed pottery, black with white borders, black and dark red of the era called late preclassical and early classical. Between the years 600 and 1250 CE, the area reached its height of development before it was invaded. The people who lived there were Totonaca, and their traditions were those of the Totonaca who lived in the flatlands and mountains of the southern Gulf Coast Their pottery got to be pretty fancy.
By 1300, various groups were invading the area, especially Toltecs and Mexica, or people popularly called Aztecs. Perhaps in response to these invasions, the original people built a significant structure on the top of one of the surrounding hills It was a platform enclosed by retaining walls, with access ramps and maybe living quarters on the terraces. They managed to repel the Aztecs so by the time the Spanish arrived, they were independent of domination by the Triple Alliance. The Spanish reported finding a well-defended area in which some five or six thousand farmers could be converted into warriors.
The Spanish were led to Xico by the Totonaca of Cempoala near the coast. They were following a series of stops on a route from the coast to the Valley of Mexico which included Xico and which were held by allies who opposed the Aztecs. This route led the Spanish through a mountainous area riddled with canyons and then south of Cofre de Perote and through the broad dry valley between it and Pico de Orizaba. This seems a somewhat unintuitive way to go, but it is likely due to the fact that their guides wanted to avoid areas where the Aztecs held sway. It's also possible they chose the route south of Cofre because it was easier in the rainy season. Or maybe for both reasons.
In any event, long before there existed the Fiesta of Maria Magdalena, the area was populated and engaged in trade and wars with neighbors and folks pretty far afield There is archaeological and historical work going on in the area today, mostly, I think by scholars at Universidad Veracruzana.
There's also an interesting archaeological project involving primary school children in Xico Viejo (Xico Viejo is the original site of Xico and is about 7 kilometers from the current Xico. More about that in the next history lesson.) There were thousands of people in the original Xico before the Spanish came and moved it. Today there are only a few hundred. The children go to primary school in the village but have to walk an hour to get to secondary school. A Mexican educational organizaton called SEPiensa has written about its involvement in a project in which the elementary school children are involved collecting, asking their families about, drawing and writing about archaeological artifacts which they and other people in the community find on a regular basis. They would like to establish a small archaeological museum to show and explain these things. This is a delightful article, and another worthy cause for anyone interested in donating money. It is in Spanish, but you can just about figure it out without knowing very much. Here is the
link.More articles on the Xico Fiesta, Maria Magdalena, Xico history and other stuff to follow.
*"honey season" was a term I learned many years ago in graduate school. The anthropologist writing about a group livingin the rainforests of western Uganda described a time of year when for a brief few days or weeks, enough food had been gathered for survival, and the group cut loose with fermented honey, throwing caution and normal restraints to the wind. I remember that we learned that many societies, especially those that have to depend on strict discipline and careful use of their resources most of the year,have periods like this. Until the recent crisis, it seemed that for some in the US the honey season was never ending.
NOTE: A friend got some excellent shots of the bull-running and has written some good commentary on it and his experiences here. Scroll through the most recent three blogs. He mentions that some people were injured. They were taken by helicopter to Xalapa. The helicopters flew over our house. We were glad to hear they were ambulance 'copters.