This morning, I drove in the worst traffic I have ever driven in. I left my house at 7:50 am to go speak at Mexico City Christian Academy. I was scheduled to speak at 8:30, but I didn’t arrive until 9. It usually takes me only a half an hour to get there. But today, it was over an hour.
Most of the time, I was behind a Mustang GT, and I began to think about the waste of potential there was in that car. I would never own a Mustang GT in Mexico City because there is no reason to have that much power under the hood with very little opportunity to use it. I am always amazed that there is a Ferrari dealer here in this city.
My thoughts then wandered to Samson. He was a man of so much potential. He had lots of power. Judges says multiple times that the Spirit of God came on him. Imagine what he could have been. He was constantly stuck in traffic due to his own personal problems. I pray that my life can live up to its potential and that I can get out of the traffic jam that I sometimes get myself into.
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Today is one of the most important religious holidays in Mexico City. As of right now, more than 5 million “pilgrims” have arrived to the Basilica de Guadalupe, the second most visited catholic site in the world.
They have arrived to celebrate the day when Guadalupe allegedly appeared to Juan Diego in 1531. They say that to be Mexican is to be a follower of Guadalupe, and it really shows on December 12. Banks are closed, and tons of people have arrived to the already overcrowded metropolitan area.
This morning, as I was driving to the airport around 5, we saw huge processionals of people who were finishing their pilgrimage to the Basilica. They come on foot, on bike, and even on their knees. They were carrying gigantic images of the Virgin, and we even saw some trucks decorated.
Days like today cause me to reflect a lot about faith, religion, culture, what I believe, and what others believe. It’s a difficult day for me. I’ll write more, but right now, I need to reflect.
Related: Wikipedia: Our Lady of Guadalupe; Pilgrimages; Basilica of Guadalupe and Chapultepec Castle (video); Syncretism; The Beauty of the Gospel; Guadalupe Conference; The Virgin of Guadalupe; My Flickr photos tagged Guadalupe
More than 358,000 pilgrims have already arrived to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City for the annual celebration of the day in which the legend says that the virgin appeared to Juan Diego. More are expected in the next day in order to celebrate on the 12th of December.
Many people make their pilgrimage from far away, arriving crawling on their knees and suffering from fatigue, dehydration, low blood pressure, and many other things. They have shut down metro stops and increased security around the basilica in order to accommodate the thousands of pilgrims they expect to arrive in the next day or two.
(via: Vivir Mexico – Spanish)
The Mexico City government has gotten into the Christmas spirit this year by installing a gigantic ice skating rink in downtown Mexico City.
They have invested lots of money in the rink, causing quite a controversy, but providing citizens with a fun activity. As you can see by the picture, the rink can accommodate a lot of people. I read somewhere that there are 1600 pairs of skates available for use at the rink.
I can’t wait to see this in person. It’s a great idea, in my opinion. We’ll probably go on a weekday when there’s less of a chance of there being a big crowd.
Mexico no doubt has some of the coolest hand made art. We went downtown today to a place called Ciudadela, which is a gigantic art market that has every type of handicraft you can imagine.
They have silver, talavera (pottery), more pottery, blankets, toys, dolls, paintings, t-shirts, handmade guitars and other musical instruments, and many other things. We were there to shop for Christmas, and we picked up some great things. We also got Nathan a t-shirt that says “Hecho en Mexico” (Made in Mexico). He also got a cool kids guitar (picture).
If you are ever visiting Mexico City and are looking for a great place to shop in Mexico, you should check out Ciudadela.
Like I told you already, I went downtown on Friday to see the annual Day of the Dead celebration in the Zocalo. The day(s) of the dead are celebrated on October 31 until November 2. Here’s a translation of what the program they were handing out said:
The sacred ancient Mexican space of Mictlan refers to the mythical place where all individuals, when they die from natural causes, had to pass through dangerous places that, for four years, tested their intelligence and values that they learned in their lifetime.
For those from Mesoamerica, arriving at Mictlan was a mandatory path, a place of purification, in order to transition to other states of being. And one of the main doors to enter Mictlan was found close to Templo Mayor, with the present day Zocalo as its heart.
My thoughts on the celebration are many. A few things that I noted were the many people talking about how much the Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday, and that it should be celebrated, and Halloween should not be celebrated, which echoes what I read about the Catholic church of Mexico’s comments earlier in the week. There were also many politically charged “ofrendas,” or traditional altars.
There is always some sort of protest going on downtown, and Friday was no exception, as we watched hundreds of people protesting naked in one corner of the main plaza.
As for the celebration, it has almost gotten to a point of art. The “ofrendas” were elaborate, and the displays, artistically speaking, were incredible. I could tell that hours of work had gone into creating them. The celebration was attended by thousands of people. It was the largest cultural event I had been to since coming to Mexico.
I have more thoughts on the Day of the Dead, but I feel it warrants another post, so I’ll finish this post with some pictures from the festival downtown.
Click a thumbnail to see larger version
If you want to see the whole set on Flickr, click here.
I posted a video from the event here.
