Mexico Revolution Day!

Yesterday was the day Mexico celebrates the start of the Mexican Revolution.  A struggle  that lasted over 10 years in all, to overthrow the dictator and gain political independence.  While officially the day is November 20, the 3rd Monday in November is the day the schools and government offices close as well as many businesses.  But the holiday is celebrated all weekend...  at least here in this area.  You can feel the holiday spirit on Friday...  the parties have begun.  On Sunday, here in Lo de Marcos, there is a huge parade.  The parade starts at the school, goes down several blocks towards the highway, crosses over a side street, then goes back up the main street towards the plaza.  At the plaza there are food vendors, music, games for kids, dancing, music, lots of photos taken...  more music...   and did I mention there's lots of alcohol involved?

So, this post is mostly photos...  lots and lots of photos.  You can stop now...  or you can scroll quickly through...  or you can even stop and read some of the captions.  It was a very festive day...  so much going on.... the parade and then the dancing horse competition....  it was wonderful!

 The Parade Begins!        

All the schools participated in the parade...   some in their school colors...

Some dressed as they would have during the Revolution...

Lots of signs depicting the principal people involved...  as well as important dates to remember.

Lots of portrayals of those who fought the fight...

These are obviously very important men who were involved...

More kids in character...  note the bandoliers...   

I saw several "Pancho Villas"....  

Same little kids...  but I just loved this little girls expression!

Some dancing to celebrate the end of the revolution...

Even the soldiers need a drink of water....

There were a lot of Moms and Dads seeing that their kids walked all those city blocks without mishap.  And lots of teachers directing the action!

Look at all the mustaches and beards!

The parade started with the little kids and moved up in age as it progressed...

These kids are high school age...  looks like they did well in their Mexican History class!

This group of girls show us that it wasn't just the men who fought for their independence...

In fact, they did a Re-enactment of battles between the different sides...

This is probably the "new" president, elected after the dictatorship fell.

This group of horses and riders were also "soldiers"....

A more "up-to-date" group of girls, I think a gymnastic group...

These boys stopped several times along the parade route and performed gymnastic feats!

All festivals need a Queen...  and this little lady was a very regal princess!

More sports...  these boys had boxing matches along the route.  They had a good time feinting and ducking..  and laughing!

Now...  along came the adults.  This band played traditional music and were joined by friends and family.

I really don't know if this is the Queen float...  these ladies were not teenagers.  But they definitely were regal!

And following them was this group of guys.  Maybe local ranchers?  Maybe a social group?  I don't know, but they shuffled along to the very end.

The Mariachi Band!

Great music!  And, an important role later as they played the music for the Dancing Horses.

These are those horses and their riders!  After the parade and many photos are taken, they'll perform - and compete - showing off their fancy footwork.

This photo shows how big and massive these horses are...  (later, when I was looking down from a balcony taking photos, the perspective makes them look smaller than they really are)

This little guy didn't participate in the dancing horse competition, but isn't he cute!

I've shown mostly the parade folks...  but the sidewalks were lined with people and many of them dressed in traditional Mexican attire...  and so colorful!

The parade ended at the Plaza....   you can see some of the horses at the far left lined up getting their photo taken.  Those golf carts were in the parade, carrying little princesses and other folks along the route.

On the plaza there were activities for kids...  like this plaster and paint project.

And...  all kinds of food!

We even saw this vendor...  selling Tuba, a drink made from the palm tree.  - I still don't know what part.

This guy is selling oysters on the half shell...

Looked pretty good, but I was up on a balcony and he was too far below.

This is our friend Molly and one of her neighborhood kids.  She is our Spanish teacher for our Wednesday lessons...  but she also teaches the kids (and now teaches adults) English.  

Molly and her husband Sasha, teach yoga, languages, meditation and have other projects going...  and just opened their coffee shop...  which is where the balcony is where I am taking the horse photos.

And here's Memo with Christian standing behind him.  

We caught up with them during the parade and a bunch of us all headed to the coffee shop to watch the festivities from above.

The Dancing Horses!

What was really interesting here is that while the man in the grey suit was performing, the horse in the foreground (who doesn't even have a mount) heard the music and danced the whole time it played.  He competed later, but he certainly put on a show all by himself!

I can't even begin to capture the movements this horse did...  

Again...  I tried....  it was just amazing.  I have no idea how these horses are trained, but to be honest, they seemed to enjoy performing.

You can see the band in the background playing while this lady rode.

A collage of hooves!

I can almost hear them on those cobblestones!

Yep...  you're seeing this man give his horse a beer.  Guess even horses get thirsty doing all that work!

The beer and tequilla flowed freely!

In fact, this guy dropped his tequilla bottle...  quickly picked it up and saw the bottom had broken.  He poured what was left into a paper cup...  there had to be glass slivers in it....  and just kept on drinking.

Some of the folks who were watching the dancing horses.

The parade started at 9 am....  we watched it at it's beginning area, then after it passed, we walked to the other side of the block and watched it all over again.  We thought the festivities were over, but found they were just beginning!  We spent the next couple of hours wandering around the plaza, watching the horses and just watching the people.

Yes, they sure know how to celebrate their Revolution!

That's All For Today!