Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-05-22
MAY IN MEXICO.
A EL0WEh-FESTIVAL on THE
FiR-FAMED VIGA.
Some Curious Customs of I.odern
Mexicans = May-Day in the
Year GO, and a. ID. 1856.

Though May is by no means the pleasant
est season of year in this section of the
continent, its coming IS annually hailed
vita public rejoiGngs. To the traveller in
Mexico this month is q disappointment,
especially if he happened to arrive in mid
winter direct from q land of ice and snow.
Finding such wealth of fruits and flowers
! here in January, he naturally inquiries,
what must it be in May? ?" But already
in this latitude the hight of the rose season
is over, and gardens have taken on autumn
nal tints presaging the sere and yellow"
Not drop of rain have we seen since last
| October, and the arid earth seems dissolved
in clouds of hot fiea-infested dust, which
has long made life burden and travelling
a martyrdom. In few days the rainy
season will begin-the true winter of
our discomfort" in this land of the Mon
| tezumas-where for many weeks weeping
skies and impossible roads will keep US
close prisoners within the gray walls Of our
casa. But, all the same.
THE FLowEGY GATES OF SPRING
Must be formally opened when the sun
enters Gemini, and all the plants of the
earth are supposed TO begin Towering.
| though we have been reveling in a regular
! northern May for the last six months 4
| common impulse seems TO move the whole
wide world at this time of year, when nature
exerts anew her provocative powerS-the
same which called our ancestors out into
the woods at dawn on the first May
morning to gather green boughs and gar
lands with which to decorate their homes
and churches; which sent the lads and
lasses Ct Merrie England - spinning
around the May poles; which causes the
beltane" festival of the Scottish High
| lands and the May-day feast of curds and
whey to share the honors of the time in
ould Ireland with the shamrock and po-
tato. The instinct which prompts the
mating birds to build their nests at this
| happy season is doubtless akin TO that
which induces the superstltiOus maiden to
steal slyly forth at day break on May morn
ing and anoint her tresses with the early
dews, in order to secure a husband-the
same which, according to the poet, makes
as s. The young mans fancy
Lightly turn to thoughts of love"
The original intention of the present fiesta
i'll Catholic Mexico was, no doubt, TO fifty
| celebrate the close of Lent and the regen-
Grafton of mankind through the risen
Savior. There are those who piouslv call
this season FL mes de Mdrie-" the month
|
entirely in her honor. But away back in
| the morning of Mexicos history, before
| the Aztec race had arrived here or the
| Christian religion been heard of the first
day of this month was made the occasion
OF festival similar to that in which the
ancient Romans offered sacrifices in honor
OF the Psychological goddess whose name
| II bears-Maia, the daughter Of Atlas and
mother of Mercury, by Jupiter So far
back in
THE sHADowY PAST AS A. D. 640
| When the Toltecs possessed all this vale of
AnahUac and their chief diety, Quetzal-
coatl, al feathered serpent" reigned at
| lula, fest; sal occurred here which bore
remarkable similarity to that in the days
of RomulUs. The month which now fig
ures as the fifth of the year was third in
| the Toltec calendar, rs in that of Romu-
| lus-who named it Jfaius, out of respect 10
| the MGtOreS or Senators and mobiles of his
| city, as he named the next month Jiu,i,ls
in honor of the j'nliGres the youth of
Rome who served him well in war.
Acosta, the Mexican historian, tells of
May-day festivals which were held here
| early in the seventh century. He says that
IN QuetzalcoatPs temple, at Cholula, where
now rise the ruins of pyramid more won
derful than that of Cheops, was court of
reasonable Size" in which the Toltecs
made great dances and pastimes. with
games and comedies, on the festal days of
| their idol, the feathered' serpent" The
greatest of these fiestas occurred on the
first day of May. To quote Acosta In
the midst of the court there was theater.
thirty feet square, very finely decked and
trimmed, the which they adorned with
flowers, with all the art and invitation that
might be, being environed around with
arches OF divers flowers and feathers and
in some places were tied many small birds.
comics, and other tame animals After
dinner all the people assembled in this
place, and players presented themselves
and played comedies, some coun-
forfeited the deaf and rheu-
matte, others the lame, some the
blind and crippled-all coming to seek cure
from the idol. The deaf answered con-
iusedly, the rheumatic coughed, and the
hating told their miseries, whereat all the
people laughed. Others came forth in the
form of small beasts-some attired like
snails, some like toads, and others like
lizards. Meeting together each told his
office; and then every one retired to his
place and sounded on small flutes, which
were pleasant to hear They likewise
counterfeited butterflies and birds of divers
colors, which latter were represented by
children who were sent to the temple to be
educated. Then the players retired into
little forest planted there for the purpose.
from whence the priests of the temple drew
them forth again with instruments of
music. In the meantime they employed
many, pleasant speeches-some in pro-
pounding, others III defending-wherewitb
| the assistants were entertained This done
they made masque or mummery with ali
these personages; and thus the feast
| ended
! CENTEoTL, THE AZTEC CERES,
Ages atterward-yet many centuries ago
| the fierce successors of the Toltecs in this
valley of Mexico, made a similar May-day
festival to Centeotl, the Aztec Ceres. The
word Centeoh means; She who supports
us" and the divinity was also called by
| another name signifying =" Goddess of earth
and corn" The Aztecs and Totonacs wor-
SHIPPED this mythical being with all the
devotion which their descendants of to-day
bestow upon the Virgin Mary. They not
| only believed themselves sustained by her
! benefits, but that in course of time she
would free them from the slavery of other
| gods, and abolish the horrors of human
sacrifice. Instead of the terrible serpents
that were twisted around all the other idols
! garlands were twined about the Mexican
J Ceres, and her temples were always adorned
} with flowers, the only sacrifices offered to
her being the first fruits " of field and
vine, and such harmless animals as doves
| quails and leverets.
There is now no fixed date for holding
the Mexican flower festival, each village
| choosing its own time, either in March,
April or May. The first day of the latter
month is most generally selected but in
the City of Mexico and Whereabouts it
usually occurs on Vie11es dc Dolores e. Fri
| day OF Sorrows OF Immediately after
Easter. This year, as heretofore. the PGseo
dc las Flores was held along the Viga-that
picturesque canal which stretches away be-
tween long lines of willows and poplars TO
the far-famed Floating Gardens of the an
! cent Aztecs. The scene along this historic
eauseway was an establishment to foreigners,
being as charmingly peculiar as typical of
a poetic and hower-loving people They
are early risers in this land of the sun.
where breakfast is never taken until mid
day, and everybody enjoys a long siesta
during those heated hours when Americans
are most actively engaged in business.
Long before sunrise the Viga and its boule-
ward were thronged with the aristoeraey
OF the city, as well as with a vast concourse
of plebians and Indians, and by o'clock
| festivities were at its hight For miles along
the tree lined avenue constant procession
of vehicles, horsemen and pedestrians
packed the space between leafy bowers on
either side, while the canal was crowded
with canoes and Venetian-like gon-