La Noche que Nadie Duerme and Fería de Cecina

This was another busy weekend filled with festivals and fairs. Friday night was “La Noche que Nadie Duerme” (the night that no one sleeps). I went last year, but this year several more vols decided to go as well, so I had a full house this weekend. We got to Huamantla at about 9pm as the streets were just beginning to be filled with colorful sawdust and sand designs. The idea of this night is that all the streets in the historic center of the town are filled with tapetes, or basically carpets, of colored sawdust. Eventually, around 3am, the virgin and her procession of followers, leaves the church and walks through the streets of the town, on the carpets. We didn’t stay to see the whole procession, but did visit the virgin in her church.

Partial group shot (from Jen)

On Saturday, we made a quick side trip to Cholula. I’ve already put up pictures from there a couple times, but here are some from the inside of the church that sits on top of the world’s largest pyramid.

On Sunday, after most of the group headed home, Kurt and I went to Atlixco to the Feria de Cecina. Cecina is a type of think sliced beef that is grilled and often served with lime, tortillas and salsa, and in this fair, accompanied by a plate of cheese, cactus salad, grilled chilies, and avocado.

Next weekend they are going to make the world's largest chilie enogada in Atlixco, but I will be in the US for my sister's wedding and then off to Belize and the Yucatan.

Huamantla, Tlax: Running of the Bulls....Mexican Style

Saturday the 23rd was the Huamantlada, or the running of the bulls in Huamantla, Tlaxcala (same place with the night that no one sleeps, but a little different theme). We arrived early to find the streets packed with people and barricades. The general format for the day was to find a seat on one of the ply wood bleachers (you pay whoever owns that property to sit there) that had been constructed around the city (see photo below) and then wait for the bulls.

There were actually 3 separate closed circuits in the downtown of Huamantla, each with 8 bulls. While people were still finding places to sit or stand, the bulls were delivered in cages by a forklift to their different locations. So instead of a running of the bulls, like Pamplona, Spain, this was more like letting a bunch of bulls loose at different points and see what they do.

So after sounding a couple warning fireworks, the course was cleared and the bulls were released from their boxes. After that, there was a lot of waiting when the bulls were in different parts of the course and then excitement as the bulls faced those brave enough (or drunk enough) to be down on the actual course.

The big excitement of the day, other than the bulls ramming themselves directly into our plywood barrier, was the bull that got loose. We were sitting right in front of the red cross area where they can remove the injured. This is good for the injured (in total there were 19, but luckily no one died this year….2 did last year), but bad for one of the bulls. One headed directly for the corner and after 3 head butts, broke through the wood barrier and was loose in the city center of Huamantla. The guy sitting next to me was giving us live coverage of the bull’s path since his son was watching the event live on tv. Eventually the police shot and killed the bull (5 years ago one got out and killed a woman before it was shot). While the bull was loose we were all kinda stuck in our seats since the other bulls were still loose, but everyone was chasing the loose bull. Things eventually returned to “normal” and the event ended with each bull being lassoed and returned to its box.

La Noche que Nadie Duerme

The night of august 14th is called la Noche que Nadie Duerme (the night that nobody sleeps) in Huamantla, Tlaxcala. As part of their fair to honor the patron virgin of the town, beginning at 8ish they cover the streets of the center with elaborate decorations made from colored sawdust and sand. Each block has its own theme or design. As the night goes on the carpets, as they are called, are eventually completed just before the procession with the virgin begins. There are also elaborate decorations of flowers and sand art at the church. Festivities literally continue the entire night and when we left at 3AM for the hour trip back to Puebla, there were still plenty fireworks and people working to complete their carpets, making rounds through the streets to view the various displays, or feasting on the abundance of food, as well as the on-going procession of the virgin.

All of the image is made from colored sand.