The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-10-14
A MEXICAN FIESTA.
singular Custom Among the Middle cIa.ses

The fiesta ia a national institution in
Mexico, gala day of which the people
never tire. Nearly every town has from one
to half-a-dozen ,testds in year, aud the
success of one seems to be in no wise de-
pendent upon the size of the town. The
fiesta is generally held i'll honor of some
saint or the Virgin, aud the morning of the
opening day the cathedral floor may be
thronged with kneeling thousands whose
faces seem radiant with blissful thoughts of
the hereafter.
No festal day in the States has half the
pleasures for the boys that the fiesta has for
the full-grown Mexican. The pure white
element takes little part in it, except to
make money, and the upper clnss has al
most nothing to do with it except to look on
for little while but for the Indian, tho
half-breed, and the poorer whites ii is nearly
all that is worth living for, thing that
takes precedence of all else on earth Hun
dreds of miles the Mexican often travels to
it, sometimes with his whole family mounted
upon donkeys, or in one of the ponderous
ox-carts used ON the hnciendas. For the
Festd the choicest game-cocks are saved to
raise money to gamble with, the best pig or
goat is sacrificed, aud even the family ra-
tons, except peppers, may be curtailed.
When he reached town the Mexican camps
anywhere in the street or on the sidewalk,
IS suits him best, and turns his donkey
loose to feed on banana skins, orange peel,
or the numerous castaway scraps of masti-
Gated sugar-cane, which here takes the place
held by the peanut at tbs American circus.
Some people who have something to sell
erect booths of thin cloth or brush, which
serve also for saloons and restaurants and
in one of these the whole family lives, eats,
and sleeps, including the family dogs,
which, of course, go along to the show.
Some less fortunate or energetic spread
their wares, bottles, or provisions on the
ground upon bit of mat, and sleep at
aight eurled up beside them.
Gambling is ever the principal part Of
The fiesta. The chicken-fght, the bull-fght,
the dance, or the theatre occupy but n small
part of the day, and seem mere ripples on o
continuous current of gaming. No matter
what crowds may gather Mt the bull-ring,
the CHEEKY rattle of the roulette table never
slackens, and around the monte game the
eager faces still beam increasingly. Long
lines of booths surround the plaza, in which,
as well as upon the ground, every conceiv
.ble device for betting is employed, from
rtistically made machines that cost much
money down to an octagonal stick with
alternate sides of red and green, over which
little boys of five years old bet their coppers
on the color that will be upward when the
stick stops rolling. Outside of these gamb-
ling booths are long lines of portable sa-
looms, generally consisting of two or three
bottles of mescal or te2,aaa liquors
distilled from certain varieties of the SPIN.
ish bdyonet, or 'aagitiy-with two or three
small glasses. These are sometimes mount
ed on small stand, sometimes kept in
basket, and often spread upon the ground
beside some gambling game whose owner
,annot afford booth. The whole may be
presided over by some dark-eyed dame,
with sickiy-looking infant on her breast
81 slung in n shawl over her back.