The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-10-02
THE FIESTA OF MEXICO.
ONE OF THE MATT 3NAL INsTITU
TIoHs OF OUR " EIGHBoRs.
Singular Customs Among the Poor
CIaN~cs-ErsiivaI Days Given over
10 Ntirth an Gambling.


CIaN~cs-Ers1ivaI Days Given over
10 Mir,h ana Gambling.
The fiesta is national institution in
Mexico, a gala day of which the people
never tire, writes a correspondent of the
New York E'ccajag Post. Nearly every
little town has from one to half dozen
ficstas in year, and the success of ono
seems to be in no wise dependent upon
the size of the town. No fcstal day in
the States has half the pleasures for the
boys that the fiesta has for the full. grown
Mexican. The pure white clement takes
little part in it, except to make money,
and the upper class has almost nothing
to do with it except to look on for a
little while; but for the Indian, the half
breed, and the poorer whites it is nearly
all that is worth living for, thing that
takes precedence OF all else on earth.
Hundreds of miles the Mexican often
travels TO it, sometimes with his whole
family mounted upon donkeys, or in one
OF the pondercus oX-carts used in the ha
cicndas. For the fiesta the choicest game
cocks arc saved; to raise money to gam
bic with the best pig or goat is sacri-
feed, and even the family rations. except
pepper, may be curtaiIed. When he
reaches town the Mexican camps any
where in the street or on the sidewalk as
suits him best. and turns his donkey
loose to feed on banana skins, orange
peel, or the numerous castaway scraps of
masticated sugar-canc which here takes
the place held by the peanut at the
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, cats. and
sleeps, including the family dogs, which,
of course, 90 along to the show. Some
less fortunate and energetic spread their
wares, bottles, or provisions on the
ground upon a bit of mat, and sleep at
night curled up beside them.
Gambling is ever the principal part of
the fiesta. The chicken-fight, the bull
fight, the dance or the theatre occupy
but small part of the day, and seem
mere ripplcs on a continuous current of
gambling. No matter what crowds may
gather at the bull-ring, the CHEEKY rattle
of the roulette table never slackcns, 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-
able device for betting is employed, from
artistically made machines that cost
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 up
ward when the stick stops rolling. Out
side of these gambling booths arc long
lines of portable saloons, generally con-
sisting of two or three bottles OF mescal
or tequila-strong liquors distilled from
certain varieties of the Spanish bayonet,
yucca, or maguly1with two or three
small glasses. These are sometimes
mounted on a small stand sOmtimcs kept
in basket, and often spread upon
the ground beside some gambling game
whose owner cannot afford a booth. The
whole may be presided over by some
dark eyed dame, with a sickly- Hooking
infant on her breast or slung in shawl
over her back.
Though the MeXicans arc good must
clans, they rarely show it upon such &C.
Casions unless the brass band plays on
the plaza. But this will seldom be the
case excepting in the larger cities,
whereas the fiesta at its best can be seen
Only in the country towns. Here the
| dismal wall of that long suffering mar
tyr, the violin, the shlicks and groans
of a clarionct and the tinglc bang, tim
gle-tangle of the guitar will be
about the only sounds that break the
soft murmur of melodious Spanish, or
the gay laughter of the jolly bcggars at
the gaming tables.
Like an olI-time English fair, the Mex
lean fiesta is the occasion when every one
who has anything to sell brings it forth
Around the plaza and for hundred
yards or more down the streets that lead
to it are lines of mats spread upon the
ground, heaped with all sorts of pro-
visions, fruits, candies, pieces of sugar
cane, cakes and toys. Shoes, cotton
cloth, pottery, tobacco, peppers, green
corn and peanuts may all be for sale in
the same heap; and the woman who oc-
cupies the square of ground may deal in
live chickens, combs, shoestnngs, mes
cal, silver filigree work and old car.
tridgcs, no two of which would fit the
same weapon. Every one cooks, eats
and sleeps beside the stock of goods,
and the motley dresses, the motley wares,
the curious dishes of food that are over
cooking, and the curious chaifering for
wares and interchanges of compliments
over bargain of few cents in value
make strange scene through which one
long may wander with little loss of in
tercst.
Thus the fiesta goes on for two or three
days, perhaps, with undated vigor, the
gaming tables crowded nearly all night,
the streets and the plaza crowded by day
and flied by night with outstretched
sleepers. About the fourth day the
crowd becomes visibly less. The loser;
who can no longer borrow, the poor
white who has successfully stalicd hi:
saddle, his donkeys, his scrapc, and hi;
wife's shawl, steal away on foot, along
with the peon who has lost his sandals in
a wager against sixpcnce on the whir
of hand ON a painted dial, and cannot
find a taker for the tempting offer Of
his shirt against tlact Il cents. In q
day or two more the fiesta is over by ex
piration of the orthodox time, and the