Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-10-18
All Saints Day in Mexico.
Magdalena Corr. Nogales Record
JOIN H. LEUDKE, Secretary.

This day we have seen things never to be forgotten. San Francisco's birthday was celebrated in church and town, with all the display and devotion 1t was possi- ble to compass with the means attainable. Worshipers are in Magdalena, strangers and pilgrims are here from all parts of Arizona, some from California, num- Der from down the coast" and of course hundreds from all parts of Sonora.
 This morning during the greater part of the forenoon masses were said In church, the bishop preaching Spanish. Several different services were held but the thrOng being so dense 1t was impossible for them all to enter, and many knelt outside en- deavoring to take part in the ceremonies. On either side the church portals scores of beggars with outstretched hands i'm plore aims and offer supphcations. o, these beggars- they beggar description; toothless, hairless, some literally eyeiess, and all showing somewhere the marks Of that dread visitant to their villages, small poX.
 Stands and stalls range on either side of the walk leading into the church, even to the very steps. At these may be bought various kinds of merchandise and all sorts of rosaries; pictures of the be- loved saint abound and are sold on every ndLO. " llllt llSIuc blit CLuICn 1IldSo Neto in progress, immediately in front of the main entrance nine Yaquis fantastically arrayed in all manner of garments, with bright colored paper crowns oil their head, scepters in their left, and gourds with pebbles rattling in their right hands, with wonderfully accurate step, kept time to the music of two brother viOlinists playing on instruments of their own man. ufacture. Being a purely religious dance, prayers, crossing of themselves and mvo- cations on their knees formed great part of the performance, six men and three boys were dancing this dance during the greater part of two days and nights. All the participants as well as lookers-on possessed sedate if not serious counten ance What the real significance of the dance is we were unable to learn, the In dian being ever taciturn and non com municatiye, and particularly so in regard to his own habits and customs. Ut Is a religious dance" that is all we could learn.
 At one and the same time went on the | Yaqui dance outside, the worship of San | Francisco in the center of the building, confession in several different places along the side walls, and in an adjoining room ] six babies held by fond papas and ma mas were screeching at the top of their l lungs. protesting against the ceremony of | baptism with all their strength. We wondered at the calmness, not to say res ] ignation displayed by the father. and whether the wild untutored life hitherto 1 enjoyed by the victims had aught to do 1 with their vigorous protests against these marks of civilization. The scenes direct 1 ly connected with the worship of the saint are superlatively pitiful and repulsive. | Many penitents drop on their knees when within sight of the sanctified editice where lies the evidence of their adoration; and thus approach over mud, stones, whatever is in the way-the city's limits, 1 (the law forbidding any religious demon stration within said limits-this also ex- plains the reason of the non appearance of San Francisco in parade as was former ly the custom) But at the door of the church they are again on their knees, and thus creeping, sometimes with babe in their arms, they approach the sacred i'm age, pausing now and then to cross them selves and whisper prayers. When they reach his feet they breathlessly kiss the toes whereon not moment ago some sore eye or other afflicted member of dis eased frame has been rubbed over and over again. Ugh Having caressed,
 adored and dropped their copper, silver OT SOlu lulO ll6 SlOI DelOW, lut1 pdSS their articles (mostly for those left behind) to the man who stands rubbing them up
 and down the face and form of the wood en image. How eagerly they grasp and
 turn away with the things thus blessed;
 handkerchief to cure toothache, neuralgia,
 headache; rosaries to charm away all ill
 and evil spirits, and how the man per spires as he works When the church is
 full of those who have articles so sancti-
 fled by contact with the image, priest enters and blesses anew by the whole con
 gregation and all the things so eagerly
 held aloft in these hundreds of hands
 In the evening the large plaza was bril-
 liantly lighted with something like 600
 colored lights About o'clock the fire
 works were brought out, and very effec-
 lively managed. Some consternation and
 a great deal of disappointment followed
 the discovery that San Francisco the
 last piece, refused to ''go off, at the prop
 CT time, or indeed at all In the small
 plaza, where is is estimated between
 three and four thousand people were as
 sembled, nothing indicated that thous-
 ands of dollars were hourly changing
 hands. There was no noise, save the in-
 describable mur1nur of large crowd, no
 loud talk, no viva ia' anything it was
 as quiet and orderly as though some } one were dead. In this respect what , contrast with such a gathering in the i United States, contrast unfayorahle to
 the Americans.