Donning masks and sequined capes, locals celebrated Mexican Independence Day in Fair Haven.
Starting with an 11 a.m. mass at St. Rose of Lima Church, the celebration moved out onto Blatchley Avenue, where dancers performed for hours in front of over a hundred local residents. The party included traditional food, a live band, several types of traditional dance, and an inflatable bouncy castle.
Click the arrows below to see scenes from the fiesta.
“This is our way of preserving our traditions here in our new home,” announced Angel Fernandez-Chavero, who emceed the event. He encouraged the young people watching the dances to get involved, to learn the traditions.
The celebration included music and dance not only from Mexico, but also folk dances from Ecuador.
The highlight of the afternoon was the carnival dancing, a type of dance from Tlaxcala, Mexico. This dance is traditionally performed in February or March, just before Ash Wednesday. But since the weather often prohibits a full outdoor performance during those months, the dance was incorporated this year into the Mexican Independence day celebrations.
The carnival dancing was organized by an organization called San Franciso De Tetlanohcan, named after the town of the same name in the province of Tlaxcala, Mexico, whence many Fair Haven residents have emigrated.
The carnival dancers, called charros, wore color-coordinated vest and ties, cowboy boots, sequined capes, and elaborate feathery head-dresses. They also wore wooden masks depicting smiling caucasian faces.
Taking a break from the dancing, Ramon Mandieta explained that the dance originated as form of mockery directed towards the European colonizers of Mexico, hence the caucasian masks. Mandieta also said that each part of the costume is symbolic of various elements of the natural environment. The shiny sequins symbolize rain; the feathery head-dress, clouds; the roses on the capes, fertility; the ribbons, rainbows; the mirror on the back of the head-dress, the moon. In this way, the carnival dance is a combination of satire directed towards European colonizers and preservation of indigenous Mexican spirituality and beliefs.
The charros also carried long, thick whips of braided cord, color-coordinated with their outfits. Mandieta explained that the whip was a tool of oppression in the hands of colonizers. At one point, the dancers formed two lines and took turns whipping at each other, filling the air with fierce cracking.
After hours of dancing in the hot sun, the celebration came to an end at 5:30, just before the 6 p.m. mass.