September 30, Morelos' birthday celebration in Morelia
Just two weeks after the Independence Day celebrations (see previous
webpage), Morelia celebrates the birth of its' namesake: Jose Maria
Morelos y Pavon, a leader of the independence movement. As
before, the streets downtown are closed; stalls fill the streets,
selling food and CDs and mostly pirated DVDs. Again, a long
line
of school children march down the main street, each school to its own
drum and bugle corps. The parade is bigger and longer than
the
parade on Independence Day. We found ourselves at the staging
area at the back end of the parade, where all the horses and kids were
waiting: boys practicing their lasso skills, fathers riding horses with
their kids. It was a relaxed, fun scene - far from the marching
schoolkids and serious dignitaries.
Near the end of the parade (before the horses and kids) are the show of
military (tanks) and civic strength (some kind of civil draft force -
SMN on their t-shirts below). When boys turn 18 years old,
they
are required to register with the local "authorities". About
one-quarter of these boys are picked to perform civic responsibilities
every Saturday for two years (without pay). They pick up
trash or
do whatever the government says they should do. The other
three-quarters of the boys don't "serve" in this way. This is
all
information from several Mexicans in Don's conversation class, so it
may not be completely correct. . . .
Later that night (in the pouring rain) there is music in the plaza (see
rain-drenched gazebo below) and fireworks. We were wet and
cold
and tired and went home before the fireworks.
At the end
of the parade are orange-clad municipal workers who will clean up the
60 tons of trash on the streets!
