Monday, 21 May 2012

Fiesta de San Bernardino de Siena

The TabernacleYouth selling dessert at 7.20amSan Bernardino in the ChurchFiesta FoodDressing St BernardBernard of Siena
San BernandinoSan Bernadino in his nicheMain EntranceFlowersGreasy PoleThe Start of the Procession
Greasy PoleNeptalí & MoisesThe interior of the ChurchSt Bernard - Procession StatueA young CampesinoMarriage Celebrant
St BernardSt Bernard's UndershirtDevotion

Yesterday was Ascension Sunday here in Mexico. It was also the feast day of St Bernard of Siena. In our parish that meant that we celebrated both - but mostly the Fiesta de San Bernardino de Siena! To make things a little more complicated, we also had the Bishop here to celebrate Confirmations...

The parish also tries to make a little money during the Fiesta - so all the parish groups organize stalls - mostly food. The youth from the Centro de Proyección Universitaria (which I found out this week is a non-geographical University Parish!) organized desserts: flan, brownies, strawberries and cream, cakes etc. These went on sale at 7.00am. And people were buying...

There was also a "Marriage Celebrant" - one of the lads dressed in an old red soutane and surplus who for a small fee "married" any couple amidst great hilarity! A popular activity was the greasy pole - teams attempted to climb it to retrieve prizes. A miracle no-one was killed - particularly the small children dancing around the bottom dodging the prizes as they were thrown down by the chap at the top!

All in all a successful day...

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