It Is a Celebration of the Holocaust

While walking Javier this morning, I saw streamer crossing the streets of Baranca and Chorro. My neighbor Juan greeted me with buenos dias, and after replying, I asked why the streamers were up?

He said, “It is a celebration of the Holocaust. There is a parade of many that will wind up the street and end at the church on Chorro.” He invited me to attend at 8:00.

I declined saying, "I didn’t know what we were doing tonight."

I was puzzled. Why would a Catholic country remember the Holocaust? When I got home, I searched for Mexican holidays for May 3^rd.

To honor and Remember the Holy Cross

Here’s what I found on Mexconnect:

“Each year on May 3rd processions of singing pilgrims carrying streamers and flowers wend their way through towns, cities, and villages of Mexico to decorate the crosses along roadsides and on mountaintops to honor and remember the Holy Cross. All over the country thousands of crosses in streets, parks, cemeteries, and churchyards are visited and decorated each year to honor the cross on which Jesus was crucified.”

“The people with their colorful garlands of real and crepe paper flowers and ribbons bring to mind flower-filled May Baskets, erecting and decorating of a Maypole with the dancers' multicolored streamers, the crowning of the Queen of the May with wreaths of flowers. and the many other colorful traditions of May Day celebrations. All of these traditions are remnants of Roman and Druid agricultural and fertility rites celebrating the beginning of summer in countries and cultures around the world.”

“The Pope canceled May 3^rd celebrations, but in Mexico, the construction workers union had long been celebrating the Day of the Holy Cross as their special feast day. Because the church understands the ability of the people of Mexico to keep traditions they prefer, even when the church doesn't approve, the Mexican episcopate made applications to Rome to keep May 3rd. The faith and desire of the construction unions won, Rome wisely agreed to allow the popular spring celebration also called the Day of the Flowery Cross to continue, just in Mexico and thus avoiding a difficult and unpopular fight.”

Of course, we will have thousands of cohetes (sky rockets).  The first dramatic volley of thousands of joyful cohetes (skyrockets) begins at midnight as each crew attempts to be the first to announce the celebration of the Day of the Holy Cross. This macho rivalry between workers continues sporadically all night and for the entire 24 hours of May 3 with each crew hoping to set off more skyrockets than their competitors to remind one and all that this is a special day.

At every job site in the area, the rest of the day will be filled with a great deal of noise, cohetes, music, laughter, activity, food, and drink as the men return after mass to work, and to celebrate. Most crews fasten a cross brightly decorated with crepe paper flowers and streamers onto the uppermost section of the building, continuing the tradition that began with the building of churches by the Spanish in the 1500s. During the celebration on the day when the cross was added to the top of the newly finished church, the workers were honored with food and drink and allowed a rare opportunity to enjoy traditional dancing. The workers offered burning copal, the local pungent incense, music, and fireworks to frighten any loitering evil spirits from the area. In the 21st Century, puffs of smoke dot the sky marking the construction sites and the crews of joyful and thankful workers, still releasing skyrockets, though they no longer remember originally they were to clear the area of dangerous spirit.

Mike Landfair