Syncretism, who knew?

Monday we attended the Virgen of Zapopan festival.  The procession  (Llevada de la Virgen) began at six in the morning from the Catedral Metropolitano in the Centro and ended in the Basilica of Zapopan eight miles later.  Led by the Virgen, followers included many different indigenous groups in traditional wear, cowboys on horse, masked characters carrying whips, and ordinary citizens.  It was a scene.

I knew it was going to be a syncretic event, but I was unsure exactly how that would play out in a parade.  There were a few priests giving masses over the microphone on the side of the road as various groups danced by with drums, sage burning, feathers flying, and whips cracking.  The contrast in color, energy, and spirit was fascinating.

By the end of the day (about 12 am), we were incredibly excited to leave the throngs of people.  It was an overwhelming amount of folks, many crowded on the side of the street selling tamales, buying pan (bread), sleeping on blankets, and taking in the day.  It’s worth noting that there were MANY vendors selling bunny ears.  Don’t ask, because I don’t know.

I played around with one of the Flip Cameras.  Here’s a video from the early morning when we scaled a bridge to film from above.  It’s not very long, because very quickly the police realized we weren’t press, we just had big cameras.