Saturday we drove up to Tequisquiapan to check out the Christmas shopping in this local tourist town. It was December 12 which is the most important holiday to the majority of Mexicans. The 12th is considered the birth date of the virgin Mary and here in Mexico she is revered as the “Virgin of Guadalupe” who appeared in dark Mexican skin to a poor peasant man hundreds of years ago.
We couldn’t help but note the odd collection of “Christmas themes” throughout the main plaza. In front of the church was a native Mexican dance troupe, a huge Christmas tree, a Mexican music band (inside a small courtyard attached to the church…they looked oddly like a prison band inside the bars), and also there was a podium and a display for the Virgin. People from all over town were walking to the church with their living room paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe so the local priest would bless it at a ceremony which we did not stay long enough to see.
Mexico may seem to have an odd assortment of religious and cultural ideas but then again, if you’re in the U.S. this Christmas season, I suspect you’ll find that we Americans also have an odd assortment of religious and cultural ideas found in our public displays around Christmas. Most of the public displays in the USA are more secular and mythological than biblical, especially in these recent years as Christianity has been labeled radical (and it is!) and also anti-pluralistic, which while exclusive in the claims of Christ, it is not hostile toward unbelievers. This tolerance for false religions is quite unlike the hostility shown toward Christianity by those who oppose it.
BTW, I tried a new video editor for this clip and used a “film grain” effect just to try it out. I don’t know whether I like it or not but to change it to a normal effect would take too much time. I hope you enjoy viewing it nonetheless.
Knowing Your ABCDs 