New-York tribune., 1868-04-22
MEXICO.

CANAI-AN INDIAN VILLAGE IN FEAST-IlAE
-CURIosITIES OF THE CHURCH-FLoWEK-
WORSHIP.
'''@ ou' 0'D MEXICO March 27 1863
Carnival has gone by in the city-a holiday OF
rags bringing up the populOus rear OF the n'Sguo'
hut Lenten shows and feasts are not over Inc gun
davs of Ouaresima supplement the Carnival pleas
ures These days are celebrities peculiarly iuuN'ib
and sacred to flowers beverages and fruits as many
traveller has told Every day in this church -Dound
country is devoted to q saint; but San jose ana
San Feline have of late been made the subjects
of special celebration - sprnKllng the dus'y
md nrofane commonplaces with holy water
These festivals over, the events OF Lent are abont
and and the last of the line Of floral Sabbaths Will
eoon be danced out AS hint Of the way in which
Montezumas time is recalled by the church IN it's
capacity of nerrymakers, their picture ls interest
ing The Indian sings and dances in honor and by
force of tradition; he has nothing better to live
nnon and puloue and tamalitOs help him along with
most everything in the calendar. Sundays in Mex
leo being holidays In wider sense, the Quareslma
Sundays occasions OF unusual festvity-lively
enough it appears, to withdraw q large portion of
The fashionable frequenters of the PaseO Bucare to
its plebeian rival, the carriage road of La Viga.
, Walking through a mass of dusty suburbs, one
soon reaches the PaseO La Viga. These suburbs.
losing the painted neutral tints that make pleasant
perspective out of the fronts of the capital grow
ashen and dirty the roads powdery and in gusty
weather binding; adobe walls are the accOmpanl-
ment relieved at intervals by tiles and walls
and wayarers remind us equally of the dusty origin
of things. Arrived at the PaseO we bank of
a canal swaTmng with the Indians of the suburbs.
The swarm is in sad sort of harmony with the i'm
mediate landscape. Costumes and faces agree with
the dust whereOn they stand, and the fable OF the
gnomes is revived 1t is impossible to divorce these
Indian visages from the sOil-lmpOssble not to see
that man is made out of the dust of the earth and
that the Indian has great deal more OF IL burnt ana
baked into him than the rest OF II us fbs caOs
with too much of the mortal investment Tor the
patience of soap. But they are SO docile ana slmple
10 all appearance that tho observer Is glad to refer
their dirt to the road and the SOIL and their barefoot
poverty to the times "
and the wonder is how this sha low little water has
room for them all 1t is scarcely 80 feet wide, ex-
ong marShy NY Pgon E w ndS S% Sons @ a hand
ready at once to pole their passengers up 10 Inc |
festive village of Santa Anita, three miles away The
boats are noisy with the eternal 'Ia me voy" II am
Teady of their pOleTs blind guitaris on shore IS
Cackling crazy song for one OF the penny shows |
Iare-breasted Indian women are selling rude refec-
tions and drinks, chica, aqua fresca pulqua pnea,
end the like. beside fruits, lettlces, and flowers.
Meanwhile the boats are being filled with passengers,
and presently the canal is all alive with the motion
of the pOers and the many tinkllng music et harps
and bandoores, the latter dubious qualification |
of the guitar Seated in the center of the largest OF
the canoes fiat boats the player of harp or guitar
strikes up native dance, to which two or three
couple of Indian men and women move on tne moor
OF the boat as steadily as puppets Their motion IS
uuite serious; small steps and rather ingenious ones,
and no great deal of shutting ut least III the boat
The dance is rhymed with song. the path0s ana
bumor of which are rasped with dreadful cacaphony
'And chOTused with the seriousness. sometimes,
however, the melody develops llSelI out vi WIS
dnrance of minstresy and we catch the fragment Of
an unrhymed ditty about love, doves, nlatrlmohy'
and a shoemaker
We are fairly on the stream and quite settled into
our picture. With much noise, laughter harpng,
and polling we glide along the level road and fields,
mast a few haciendas, and great many chiIampas.
These little fields with the size and vegetable char
ecteT of truck gardens have name IN common WIN
8 the floating gardens" of the Moctezuman period.
They are ditched innumerably III order 10 save Ihe
bortculture from drOutb and the nearest garden
grounds for the plentiful supply of lowers for which
from COrtess time TO the present. the lnUlaP farmer
aud reyeler have been famous Most of the vOyagers
are gaIlanded with flowers, all OF whlch DeOng 10
one species and for long way the canal looks gay
Mexie1u poppies or annapolis. All the while the |
dancers are dancing and the gar landed harPers are
playing. A benign and temperate sun Is shmne;
mud we are in sight Of the snowy serenity ana |
IhJiesty of the great mountains.
Eternal Winter crowns the solemn tops
HnS M 4Ta4ef p1re fstaePepSst but never bliehts
& 5c iSp Son6sIinS indian sees the mountains clad
IN gold and purple, bright with the last ,s light
OF The magnificent sun, whose eye OF joy'
Nature behed in animation vast, 80
With his sweet ardOrs waken unto ire
ouiote from the BryantesQue muse of the distin- |
Oni,hed Cuban and Mexican poet, Heredla, whose |
verses are still new to American readers. .,.
The village Of Santa Anita limits the fesal jour,
ney il is q community of thatched nuts ad0Deu
and mnrared stories with the pul9nerla ana the
iroI little church. wCather-beate run-scarred and
resembles nothing than rusty capucnln VINO
has fought through some eamPasn fna eveTy
body eats everybody drinks. EyeryDod eats OUT OF
hand. aud drinks pulque ont OF an earthen saucer,
The pulaue is sour many times inferior 10 the rlch
-maoney milk and-wine that one gets at the panta-
tons of Apam. 1t is not worthy OF men OF madens,
aud partly accounts for the vicious lntoxlcatlons
which at times set these dusky sexes at daggers
ends The open-ar restqurdc'on is better; Indian
women in mother earth's own dishabille, squat
upon the ground and, IN DelghD0rhOo9 10
a pot of melted laid. fry. and sell They
make cakes poison them to the full with red pepper,
and call them tOrtillas. ZamalltOs are mlder
cookery made ont of maize and wrapt up IN husks
nf corn, hot and ready for the fingers. Cha and or
chata excellent but indescribable beverages made
out of seed are sold at the stands On all sides the
cook busy Dancing is gong on, ana the Dahdo-
line is again III play IN the shadow OF the pulque
shOp Parties sfOOt indoors also, IN the round OF
native dances-jarabes, sOrTados, enanos, DaieJos'
and wlatnot. The Indian girls drink their pulqne,
and Keep on dancing as if at match, while Indian
soldier, look on with cunning admiration; Inc
babe dropped 10 enter into the little problem OF
hoeing heeling and shuiing, and crowd OF pulque-
lowing nymphs are round the bandOllnlst or harper
Roaring with energy this ruda bard sometimes I'M
proyises "A song in prolonged blank verse, 10 Whlch
shuiliug and harplng are only as accompanlmehts.
HE tells of wife who refuses 10 cry
when her husband is cOnscrbed because he
aoyes another woman; of a shoemaker who has met
"a melancholy end; of charro. or leatheTn-jacketed
.caballeO who will kill himself upon maidenly prov
locaton; and finally, of a dOye-the palomo OF Mex
Gcan courtships and poetry FL PGtOmo must not be
Sconfounded with La Palomd, song OF the opposite
S,ex the witchery and ingenuity OF which were i'm
ported from Cuban dance. 1t IS dtty OF all sorts,
land one must collect odds and ends to reach It's
hneaning but here is the best part OF ~ run INTO
aonOh nrose What do you there. little dove, IN the
kwine-shOpf Waiting fGr my love untll uesday, my
Aife" Here ends the first verse, PalOmlto WHAT
bare You doing there, leaning against the wall wait
ling fOr my dove till he brings me something 10 edt.
Here comes a chorus of doves and dlmlnuuVe uONes
-" PaomO, palOmito, palomita," &c. lheIc is an
bother verse inviting the palomlta TO step INTO te
fbOat but this is evidently an invention III 1he h'ei
Nst of the polling fraternity.